Hope: Courage Required

I’m learning that hope requires courage.

To step off of the shore into the temperamental ocean of hope is daunting.  We never know what awaits us.

If we’ve been disappointed in the expectations of hope, it’s a scary thing knowing that disappointment may crash over us again.

But there is great reward when we take up courage.  If we don’t take courage and allow our hearts to stay far back from the seam of the ocean meeting the shore, we will never move forward.  We will miss so much.

Does this make hope easier, knowing that if we don’t dare to do so we will miss out?  Sadly, no.  If we’ve been hurt, no amount of feel good sayings makes the trusting in hope an easy task.

But I’m learning.

Learning to pick up my sword and give my mightiest roar as I take slow steps into hope.  A friend reminds me often that baby steps are okay, and I’m grateful for the encouragement these words offer.  This same friend calls me Braveheart.  Instilling deep within me that I have the strength to breach the waves.

So, I’m reminding myself to take courage, to take heart.  I’m learning that it will make this journey to learning to hope again easier to endure.