Discovered this quote from Mark Twain and it captured my thoughts, as fear is something we regularly encounter…
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.
Except a creature be part coward it is not a compliment to say it is brave; it is merely a loose misapplication of the word.
Consider the flea!—incomparably the bravest of all the creatures of God, if ignorance of fear were courage.
Whether you are asleep or awake he will attack you, caring nothing for the fact that in bulk and strength you are to him as are the massed armies of the earth to a sucking child; he lives both day and night and all days and nights in the very lap of peril and the immediate presence of death, and yet is no more afraid than is the man who walks the streets of a city that was threatened by an earthquake ten centuries before.
When we speak of Clive, Nelson, and Putnam as men who “didn’t know what fear was,” we ought always to add the flea—and put him at the head of the procession.
—Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar.m
Courage takes many shapes and forms, and I am watching a very dear and truly amazing friend go through the most painful, terrifying process. After prolonged dialysis treatment, including the ability to give herself the treatments at home, hat process failed, and her life became horrifying … way past humiliating. She’s a feisty, brilliant, talented, generous person who has been to Hell and back in her life from an early age. Here are her words from a few days ago:
“Update on my health: cannot stand or walk. Cannot sit upright for more than five minutes. As my doctor explained to me, kidney disease impacts the heart so the heaviness in my arms and upper body is heart related. I may or may not live to see another summer but I can hope. The dialysis isn’t cleaning my body as well as it should. Blood pressure is off…I’m just a mess but hanging in here. Your prayers are welcome. God will call me home when He’s ready for me! I’ll be able to walk and run in heaven so don’t feel bad for me! Praying physical therapy helps but we’ll see. Regardless the kidneys and heart impact the body and each other.”
Now that’s courage!