Be Brave
April 28th, 2015 | Author: Alexis Grace
Being brave is an honorable character trait.
But I think we tend to forget that often times ‘bravery’ is also very closely intertwined with another honorable character trait: honesty.
I’ve been reflecting on this for a few months now, but it recently became very clear to me. In this light, before you can truly be brave…you have to be honest. For example, how many times have we had to tell someone, (like our parents!) the truth about something we really didn’t want to, because we knew it would get us in trouble? Probably more than we can count.
But as Christians, we are not only called to be honest with each other…we are called to be honest with ourselves, too. And if we are really being honest here, (haha, no pun intended,) sometimes that is the scarier of the two scenarios. Why? Because we have to face ourselves. We have to acknowledge things that are just hard to admit. Maybe we are afraid it might make us look weak, or foolish, or cast some other negative shadow upon us.
I know that for me, I need to work on being more open with myself, as well as with others.
It’s easy to think about things that bring you happiness and smiles. But it’s harder to think about things that make you feel vulnerable. And I hate feeling vulnerable. I’m learning though, how to be honest with myself and confront my fears. I’m learning to be brave.
So that’s what I need to work on. But what do YOU need to be brave about? Be honest with yourself. Is it forgiveness? Gratitude? A troubled relationship with someone? An eating disorder? An addiction? Think about it really hard.
When you’ve figured it out, I encourage you to do these things:
1. Pray.
2. Talk yourself through it.
3. Pray.
4. Write about it. Whether it’s in a journal that you want to keep, or on a piece of loose-leaf paper so you can burn it later.
5. Pray.
6. Confront the problem(s).
7. Pray.
8. Overcome. (Philippians 4:13, people.)
So I challenge you, to be brave.
It won’t be easy.
Facing yourself never is. But it will help you grow as a person. You will be more honest with yourself, and others. You will grow closer to God, and others. But perhaps most importantly:
You will overcome.
You will be brave.
~Alexis
Posted in Uncategorized | 
Tags: be-brave, brave, bravery, Catholic, Catholic-teen-blog, Catholic-teen-website, Christian-teen-blog, Christian-teen-website, encouragement-for-teens, faith-encouragement-for-youth, faith-for-teenagers, faith-for-teens, fear, feeling-vulnerable, honest, honesty, lessons-learned, life, vulnerability, vulnerable
Hi Alexis,
I’ve known several brave folks who have not been completely honest with themselves or others. I agree that bravery and honesty are related but bravery does not necessarily depend (totally) on honesty. I will say, however, to be completely honest with oneself does require a great deal of bravery. I know in my 63 yrs on this earth I’ve not always wanted to look in the mirror and confront myself but when I have done so the growth has been exhilarating more times than not.
Two items I would add to your list are 1) get a trustworthy friend/spouse/ spiritual director who is not afraid to be honest with you and 2) Pray
Be Well and God Bless
David
_Rejoice in the Lord Always!-
I ABSOLUTLY love this Alexis!!! Amen
I agree. Honesty is perhaps with faith as the most important traits. In order to have trust in a relationships your friend or later your spouse you must be able to know that he/she is honest. If they aren’t always honest then you will find it hard to believe them.