I wrote this blessing for myself, during a particularly challenging week. It is not just for me, though. It is for you, too. I hope it will be a gift for you, for the days you need some courage.
A Blessing for Courage
May you know that courage is not always stoic and even-keeled or brash and risky.
May you know that courage can wear different faces:
It can sneak around your shoulders as you are overwhelmed by tears.
It can steal into your heart when you think all that lives there is fear.
It can pour down your shoulders and out through your fingers, mingling with a righteous anger.
It can live in your breath as you sit with the hard things and just breathe, in…
And out…
I was going to write you a blessing to summon courage,
A prayer that would gird you with it like armor, but look:
Courage is already here.
So instead, I pray:
May your eyes be open to its presence.
May your heart be clear and spacious enough for courage to spread out, move around,
and stretch its way into showing you what it might mean to live your courage.
And when you know where your courage is leading you,
May your steps be strong and firm.
Courage is already here.