Borrowing Courage From Others

Last year, we were fortunate enough to spend the first four months of quarantine in Hawaii. We arrived there just before lockdowns happened and decided to stay since schools were closed back home and we were just entering mud season (when the snow melts down from the mountains into town, making for a muddy mess for a couple months).

Back then, COVID-19 was so new and scary. The news was quite dramatic and scary, too. Life as we knew it was not the same; masks were required, public beaches were closed. There was social distancing at the grocery store and limits on the number of milks and cleaning products one could purchase per day. Karen (the best human in the world that helps raise my “super seven” kids like they are her own) and I were keeping the kids sheltered from all the crazy in the world as much as we could. We homeschooled and parented them, and navigated the beginnings of a global pandemic.    

One day, while doing homework with the kids, one had an assignment to write about someone with traits, characteristics and/or skills that were admirable. While helping brainstorm ideas and consider different people, I came across a picture of Mother Theresa and was reminded of her legacy of impact. I was reminded of her day-to-day acts of kindness to those in need. She always found a way to make the world a better place, one day at a time, one person at a time.

I printed out her photo and taped it to the bathroom wall.

If we were going to break down the day into small acts of impact for good, she was going to be my family patron saint for these crazy times.

Every day I brushed my teeth and “talked” to her. When I needed a time out from life, I would go in the bathroom, check in with her, trying to channel her superpowers. She symbolized so much strength and hope that I needed to borrow at the time. I can hardly go back to those months and not smile thinking of her and how she helped me through. 

Sometimes courage is borrowed.

Sometimes we lend it out.

It’s okay that it isn’t always from within. 

True courage is allowing yourself to be on all sides of it, including taping it to the bathroom wall. 

In case you need to borrow a little courage today or in the future, I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes, from another great Theresa, St Theresa:

May today there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others. May you use the gifts that you have received and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content with yourself just the way you are. Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise, and love. It is there for each and everyone of us.