Courage

What exactly is courage? It certainly gets confused with risk-taking and bravado sometimes, but that isn't a good definition, do you think? Courage, I believe, can be defined as "getting one's feet wet, despite being afraid of the water."

Another way to look at this is to take a stair at a time toward the heights of fear, or to step out in faith, like Indiana Jones in The Last Crusade, when he is instructed, basically, to jump into thin air. It isn't really that nothing is there... it's that without faith, it cannot be seen. Without courage to take action, faith is mere belief. And I say this not lightly, but to encourage.

Peter stepped out of the boat, and ended up walking on the water. Lepers were healed, blind saw, deaf heard, and dead were raised... and they still can be today. Indiana jumped, and his way appeared. This is where faith meets courage, or action.

Action plus belief, we read, equal true faith. Courage combined with belief. That's faith. Faith takes courage! And both are needed to grow...

As life coaches, as clients, as people with fears, as people who love, we all risk something at some point in order to grow.  If we refuse to move forward, we automatically stagnate, or worse, go backward, and so, in spite of our fears, we take baby steps; sometimes, we leap.

What is courage? It is the hand that holds faith as we walk through life... to help us become all that we can be!

Photo from WeHeartIt.com