For the beauty of the earth, For the beauty of the skies,
For the love which from our birth Over and around us lies,
Lord of all, to thee we raise This our grateful hymn of praise.

Friday, May 3, 2013

Five Minute Friday: Brave


(click above for today's other FMF entries)



"I've never prized safety, Erich, either for myself or my children. I prized courage." Line from an obscure Jimmy Stewart movie.

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Being brave is not something I ever really wanted for my kids. Oh, sure, I paid it lip-service. What kind of mom openly hopes her children will be cowards. But isn't this what I wanted? Children who lived lives of middle class comfort. Dressing primly and properly to attend church on Sunday, tithing the requisite 10%, then going on their happy way until next Sunday rolled around. Then, God set in my midst Mr. Great-heart, whom, upon hearing that there were countries where Christians were persecuted and didn't have access to bibles thought that he should just do something about that. He was 4 or 5. I verbally encouraged him, and, yes, I was proud that he'd do such a thing, but inwardly I was probably happy he was the only one of the five who did.

Lately, not so much. Lately I feel this desire to pray that all my boys will be that brave. That they will look at the injustice that the world perpetrates and feel called to do something, regardless the risk. If they do, I must do the thing I really don't want to do...be brave myself. Coz that's what it comes down to for a mom. If her kids are brave, she has to be twice as brave. She has to support them in their battle, and wage her own in her heart and mind. I didn't really want to be brave. I wanted a life of comfort and ease, like everyone around me in our middle class America. I wanted to call what I was living brave, when it really wasn't.

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10 comments:

  1. Sara, I love this. I love the quote you used and I love that you're wrestling with middle class comfort. You are truly brave.

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    1. Thanks. Also for stopping by and leaving a comment. :)

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  2. Your vulnerability is indeed BRAVE. Wow...that's so true...we want to call things brave when they really aren't. Thanks for the challenge to the heart. Happy Friday!

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    1. Thanks. I've learned that being real helps others feel safe enough to be real as well, and that frees us to open ourselves to serve God/others coz we're not all sitting around worrying about what people are thinking about us. :D Thanks for leaving a comment. :)

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  3. Wow, so good, Sara! My kids are still so young that I haven't really had to encourage them to be brave about much else than getting shots without kicking and screaming. But as I read this, I felt what you were saying...that fear of encouraging them to be brave in such a cruel world where they will be hurt. I'm with you. I want their lives to effect this world for the better...for Jesus...and that means I'll need to brave and pray for them to be brave.

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  4. That's very good. Really hits home for me. I always said it was easier to be brave for yourself than someone you love, but maybe I am just not as brave as I'd like to think I am. Again very good, you should write a blog or something.

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  5. Delighted to meet you. I hope you don't mind if I splash around to get to know you a bit more. This looks like a refreshing place to dip into some goodness.

    I'm also on the hunt for ideas to splatter some joy into our summer. I would love to hear your ideas. Come splash with us!

    http://justsarahdawn.blogspot.com/2013/07/splatter-it-up.html

    Splashin,
    Sarah

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  6. It's my 10th blogiversary and decided to check up on some of the mommy bloggers I used to follow.

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