What makes you brave (a five minute post)

On Fridays, the wonderful Lisa-Jo over at The Gypsy Mama leads us in writing, free and wild, for just five minutes. Not editing or worrying or second guessing. Won't you come join us, and let your words fly free, too?

This week it's about brave.

It is the smallest word, just five letters to spell out how we take our hearts up in our arms and keep walking. How we hold heads high and march towards the truth. How we slide off the chair and out the door. How we let the bright unrelenting joy of the truth carry us.

What makes you brave is not scaling a cliff face. What makes you brave is not the grand gesture, the big risk, or the obvious moment. It is the smallest, quietest moment where you sit with yourself and you are brave enough to be empty or brave enough to be still or brave enough to say, "I love you" even when the answer is uncertain or the outcome is difficult.

What makes you brave is that you always side with more love. What makes you brave is that you let love win, always, over what you wanted or what you imagined. What makes you brave is that you go out on a limb to tell someone that they are lovely and loveable and worthy, even when you might not know them well or you don't know how they will hear that news.

And it is the smallest word with the biggest sound. Brave. Sing it. We are brave who let love overflow from us, and who are willing to fling our hearts open even when it looks stupid. We are brave who arise. We are brave who love beyond the boundaries.

Love,
Hilary