Lenten Journey: Being Courageous

About eight years ago, a test flight for one of several companies working to develop the space tourism industry ended in tragedy. The co-pilot was killed and the pilot was severely injured. Early reports had extremely little information about what happened so the news story to which I was listening included a lot of commentary on the courageous nature of test pilots. “They courageously take risks that most people don’t want to take,” one reporter said. “They make a decision to live life to the fullest.” It was this last statement that caught my attention.

Without intending disrespect for the deceased, I want to challenge this commonly held notion that “living life to the fullest” and “living courageously” are the sole possessions of the adventurers and explorers in our society, those that push the limits of safety. In fact, this notion has the potential to be both dangerous and dismissive.

Dangerous in that it romanticizes risk to the point that “risk for risk’s sake” becomes the greater value. And dismissive in that it looks the other way at other forms of courageousness and fulfillment.

Is there not something FULL about living a life unaborted by tragedy? A life that sees a person through the full cycle of birth, growth, discovery, deep connectedness through intimate relationships (and possibly the creation and nurturing of new life and the intimacy of connectedness to that life), and finally the natural ending of that life. Is there not something courageous about welcoming the intimacy, the joy, the pain, the stagnation, and the growth that comes with living a life in its completeness?

I understand the admiration we have for people who push the limits of our knowledge of land, sea, and space. But as I sit regularly with people whose pathway is discovery and recovery of the self, I have equally great admiration. This is an inspiring journey, a journey of the spirit that breathes life into bodies that have been pushed to their limits. And it is a journey that requires courage because it involves risk of the heart, that most fragile organ that calls us to “live life to the fullest” by loving, connecting, and trusting.

This is courageous work, self-discovery and transformation. How are you allowing yourself to be cared for? To be supported and given the strength to live life, one day at a time, to its fullest?

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You are welcome to take this journey in solitude in your own personal journal or share your reflections. If anything that you do makes you think you might want to continue a journey using Spiritual Direction, now or in the future, you can make an appointment with me through my website: 

www.RedRocksSDC.com 

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