Most sane people do not go out of their way to find problems or court trouble. Of course, there are those who, in the effort to garner followers for their YouTube channel, Instagram account, podcast, or other, will seek out drama, but then again, I did say “sane people.”
Courage is not something to sell Hollywood movies; courage is what real people show everyday when we face life’s challenges. Storm Maiden, art print from Steve Henderson Collections
Problems, issues, anxiety, fearful situations — we understandably want to avoid these. Life would be so much pleasanter without financial setbacks, relational schisms, chronic illness, job loss, natural disasters, major disease, or distasteful, sniping people who take pleasure in our misery — the list is pretty endless.
Sometimes we’re hit with something hard and overwhelming. Other times it’s a series of small things that add up and chip away at our energy, motivation, and ability to cope. It’s not a rare thought to wish that we were a child again, and that someone would simply solve all this and make it go away.
Or, that we could run off, run away, put some distance between us and the angst.
Or . . . that maybe Jesus will come back within the next 30 minutes and this will all be over, just over.
But we remain adults. And stay in place.
The artwork, Storm Maiden, shows what it’s like — inside — when we turn and face what it is that we fear. A young woman stands at the edge of a rock at the Grand Canyon. The wind howls. Storm clouds brew. Her dress whips around her legs.
But she stands.
Vulnerable, exposed to the elements, not anywhere near all powerful, she does not turn and run, nor curl up into a fetal position with her head between her hands. Rather, she holds her head high and summons up, somewhere from down deep, the slightest laugh, the slightest challenge back, the insistence that though this is a difficult place to be, she is not giving up her position atop the rock.
That is courage, and we all have that.
Thank you for joining me at This Woman Writes. Posts complementing this one are
This Woman Writes by Carolyn Henderson 
True words of wisdom! 🙂