I was born on New Year’s Day. The day everyone vows to make sustaining life changes. For my birthday, my sister-in-law bought me a book entitled “A Mother’s Love.” It is a devotional book that also has pages for written reflection. That evening, I opened to first page and began reading. The first few pages discussed Moses’ mother, and how she was brave when she put her 3 month old Hebrew baby boy into the Nile River to save him from certain death by the Egyptians. The following pages asked me to reflect on how I was brave as a mother.
Honestly, I didn’t know how to answer that question. Compared to Moses’ mother, my life and moments of bravery are minute, tiny. How could my bravery compare to hers?
The next morning I opened up to the January 2nd Daily Guidepost entry. The one page reading told of a Golden Retriever named Gracie. During an extremely foggy morning, Gracie faced the fog barking. She bravely defended and protected her property and owners from the unknown within the fog.
Wait, there is that word again… Brave.
Not more than a few hours later, after breakfast, my two year old daughter wanted to watch a princess movie. Clicking on Disney+, and searching princess movies, there in the first slot of the search was that word again in big, bold Celtic style letters- B-R-A-V-E. Yes, the Disney Princess movie entitled Brave about a bow and arrow shooting, messy red-headed Celtic Princess.
I saw it and nearly choked on a sip of coffee I had just taken.
Okay, God, Universe, Spirit… three times in 24 hours I have seen this word, brave. You have my attention… What are you asking of me?
When I told a good friend of my three “brave” sightings, I was informed that to be brave is not an emotion, but a reaction. When faced with fear or unknown, we can choose how we react. We can panic and run, or we can choose to be brave and courageous.
Last week I finished a book entitled “The Four Winds.” The protagonist was a wife and mother who lived in the Dust Bowl of Texas during the Great Depression. Throughout the book, she was looking for her bravery, which she often found lacking. But when faced with life or death situations for her families survival, she chose to be brave, and as the book ended she was seen as a true warrior.
To try to define how I am brave of a mother is still hard for me. However, I have been thinking about it nearly non-stop since the first day of 2021. I also believe perhaps this year I am going to be asked to be brave in some way. I know that as the year progresses and challenges arise, I will have enough clarity to choose to be brave, to learn, to grow, to change, adapt and fight for my family, friends, and things I believe in. 2021… it is the year I will choose to be BRAVE.
