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Our English word courage comes to us from the Old French corage, meaning ‘innermost feelings’. It is derived from the Latin cor, which has the same meaning as the modern French cœur and Spanish corazón. It means ‘heart’.
To be courageous, we find, is to have a full heart. Not bruised and divided, but healthy and whole.
And like physical courage can be cultivated through training in the company of others, so too can emotional courage. The psychological fears that buffet us—failure, rejection, accusation, abandonment—are overcome through training.
Every act of kindness, every encouraging word is training us—strengthening us. Every secret broken, every relationship rekindled, every instance of engaging that person in the conversation we’ve avoided—training. Every act of confession, every admission of need and request for help…that is the training that slowly, but surely, heals and fills our heart.
Every choice to return to the table of sonship, no matter how far we’ve run and how long we’ve waited, leads to a heart that overflows, because it has first been flowed into by the One who will never leave nor forsake us.
And it is out of that overflow we can write that text, make that call, carve out that time to share, listen, engage with that one person who needs us. Who is waiting for us.
That is what sons of a good Father do. It is how we love deeply in the frequent small things so we can respond courageously in the rare moments of dramatic sacrifice. It is why we do it together, neither going it alone nor leaving any brother behind, loving one another as we were first loved.
Because courage, after all, is not for the faint of heart.
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