Brave

A few weeks ago, Velvet Ashes, a blogging community I follow, featured a week of Bravery. What does it mean to be brave?

A lot of people think that I am brave. I left a small town and I moved across the world, to a country where I didn't know anyone.

The truth is, that wasn't bravery. That was sheer, not thinking, not considering, not even realizing the extent of what could actually happen or how my life could change.

I've been thinking about the women around me that are truly brave.

Like, my mom...My mom is brave. My mom has seen three daughters travel around the world, through storms and airports and sickness and other people becoming family. My mom has gone through little to no communication for weeks and months on end, not sure if her daughters were safe. She's seen her other children grow up, spread their wings, make wrong choices and right choices, learning how to let go and surrender of her own flesh and blood. My mom is brave.

My sisters are brave. They've grown up, traveled, met people, blazed trails: across the world and at home, in relationships and friendships.

My friends are brave. They've married, given birth, are learning to parent. Some of them have said good-bye to children, wept over graves. They've learned vulnerability.

Other friends have left my hometown, made lives for themselves in the city, They've left in order to free their personalities from the confines of conformity and expectation.

Others, have followed their soul cries, emotions bleeding into the hearts of Africa, Asia, South & Central America, the South Pacific.

I have aunts, cousins, friends, myriads of women in my life that are brave every day. Free just to be themselves, no pretense. Women who bloom under trials and cares, who choose to live beautifully in a hard-pressed world, who choose to give of themselves every day for the good of others.

These women are the women I commend for their bravery. These women are the ones I look up to every day, young and old alike, there beauty and their grace in a fallen world, astound me, and draw me closer to Christ.

Because no matter how difficult life is, they choose to continue going forward. They choose to not give up. They choose to continue reflecting the face of Christ to the lost and broken world around them.

Who are the brave in your life?