14/04/2015

Good morning. I’m not a very brave person. In fact I can probably count on the fingers of one hand the times when I’ve been really, really frightened of doing something – and still done it.Thirty years ago. Standing on a gantry at the top of a huge high aircraft hangar, wearing a harness with a wire attached to a device that the instructor promised would slow me down before I hit the ground. And then stepping off into the void. I don’t know how long I stood there – probably no more than a few of seconds. But I didn’t like heights. I mean, I really didn’t like heights. In those few long, long seconds I consciously worked to conquer my fear. I know it’s a cliché, but it did feel like a battle going on inside my head. And you’ll gather I can still remember the occasion vividly.I’ve happily done things which afterwards, in the cold light of day, with time to think about what might have happened, perhaps seemed a bit courageous. And I’ve been in quite a few dangerous situations, but without time to think – or the option of taking a step back from the edge and saying, “I’m not doing it.” Time to think and the ease of taking the soft option – that’s when courage is called for. And the danger doesn’t need to be physical, or even obvious to anyone else.Lying in bed at night being frightened about what might happen, and then getting up the next day and doing the right thing, that requires courage – whether it be standing up for an unpopular cause or flying to the moon. Lord God,give us this day the courage to do what is right – not what is easy;give us the strength to stand against the tide – even if we seem to be making ourselves unpopular;and remind us that each time we overcome our fears, we become a little more free, and a little more brave.Amen