You Make Me Brave

A few months ago, Riley and I jumped on the Movie Pass train. If you’re unfamiliar, Movie Pass is a company that allows you to watch one movie a day, everyday, for $10/mo. As  you know, going to the movies is quite expensive, so this deal seems like it’s too good to be true. We think so too, so we’re milking Movie Pass for all they’re worth because we’re not sure how they’re managing to stay in business. We go see so. many. movies. It’s amazing!

Anyways, we went to see the movie Hearts Beat Loud, staring Nick Offerman. I have to admit, I really enjoyed it. If you’re an individual who enjoys a good movie soundtrack, it’s definitely worth your time. There is one line in the movie that has stuck with me more than any other quote from a movie for a long time, and I find myself saying it often.

“You have to be brave before you can be good.”

Think about this, how many times do we stop ourselves from ever trying something new  because we’re afraid of being bad at it?

For me? a lot.

Over the last six months I’ve been given opportunities to practice my public speaking skills. Public speaking terrifies me, but it’s always been a skill that I’ve wanted to improve upon. When I think of this quote, ‘you have to be brave before you can be good’, public speaking comes to mind.

Public speaking is only one example of something that seems terrifying, but there are many more that come to mind that might be true for you. Parenting, sharing a talent like music, writing or dancing, marriage, making new friends, asking for help, leading, finding a new job or forgiving someone. These are things that we would like to be good at, but often take a lot of courage to actually do.

Being brave continues to live as my life motto for the year. I’ve been writing about being brave, pursing opportunities to be brave and calling out bravery that I see in others.

Over the last few days, I’ve been considering getting another tattoo. This time last year, I made Riley promise to not let me get another tattoo for at least 10 years. He thought this was a stupid idea to begin with, so he most definitely will not be any voice of reason for me in this moment.  Anyways, I’ve been contemplating getting the phrase ‘be brave’ on my arm. I love this phrase but the more I think about it, the more I wonder if this is really what I want to remind myself.

Thinking about bravery in my own life and examining what it’s looked like and what I want it to look like, the more I realize that I cannot be the source of my own courage. I can’t rely on myself to always do the brave thing or to even read the words ‘be brave’ and have the willpower to actually do the brave thing. Instead, I like the pharse ‘You make me brave.” This is a reminder that I am brave already. I am made brave by the power of the Holy Spirit at work inside me. There’s no more mustering up the courage to do something brave. It’s who I am. It’s who God is.

Anyways, whether you agree with getting tattoos or not, I hope you’ll be encouraged. Often times we do have to be brave before we can be good. But there’s awesome news for those of us who know Jesus as Lord. He makes us brave! I can trust that. I can be proud of that & I can move toward the scary things I face knowing full-well, He will be there first. He makes me brave.

Photo by Daryn Stumbaugh on Unsplash