If you’re always happy you’d never get the chance to be brave…” Emerson, aka. “Tiny pants”
There is a woman in our town that takes walks down the road almost every day. She walks a distance and then finds herself on a street corner and dances, lifting her hands, twirling around, and waving at those passing by.
I’m not sure why she does this; everyone has their opinions on the matter. What I do know is that I have three boys that think she’s hilarious. They’ve dubbed her “the dancing lady.”
On a random Tuesday afternoon, my nine-year-old pointed out “the dancing lady” as we drove by. “Mom, she’s just always happy, isn’t she?”
I glanced to the right while driving, “Yeah, I guess she is.”
Emerson continued watching the “dancing lady” as we sped on past her.
“I think I’d like to feel like her all the time,” I commented casually with a smile in my rearview mirror.
“I wouldn’t want to.” He reflected while watching the world pass by outside his window.
“What do you mean?” I asked, meeting his pale blue eyes in the mirror.
“Well, if you were always happy, you’d never get the chance to be brave.” He stated matter of factly.
I couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, that’s true.”
We pulled into the driveway a few minutes later, and he ran off inside, on to the next thing, with no clue how profound his words were.
The chance to be brave
I have kept those words close to my heart.
There is wisdom to be found in the words spoken by my nine-year-old on that random Tuesday afternoon.
I believe children can be brave in ways many adults don’t know how to be. Mostly because I’ve watched my boys do scary things repeatedly, despite the fear they felt.
Like when my middle son was brand new to baseball, his coach called him in to be the pitcher for the first time. (He is his mama’s son and deals with anxiety as well; *sigh* sorry, son.)
He was terrified to pitch but wanted to try.
I watched him walk up to the pitcher’s mound, heart pounding, palms sweaty, and nerves on edge. He was anxiously glancing my way every once in a while for support. Everything he was feeling was telling him to run, but he stayed. He pitched.
Was he the best? No. But he did his best.
He walked a little taller after coming off that pitcher’s mound with a few strikes under his belt. He wore those strikes— as well as the walks— as a badge of honor.
Because he chose bravery.
Humble like a child
It’s no wonder that Jesus gave instructions for people to become like a child;
Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18: 4
Children see things through eyes unpolluted by the world. They realize, unlike most adults, that maybe they don’t know it all. They still live in a world of possibilities and believe in the likelihood of the unseen. Faith in a God that doesn’t make sense on an intellectual level isn’t all that hard for a child.
It humbles me when I look at things from their perspective.
When I’m upset or anxious, my very first thought is not a chance for bravery or humility. My first thought is preserving my perfect environment — “How do I get rid of this?!”
Instead of chasing down happiness at every turn, I can choose bravery instead.
Sometimes simply being content right where we are is choosing brave. Contentment in those challenging moments isn’t easy, but it’s worth it. And we can be assured that something bigger and better is being built from them.
I am still amazed by his comment.
I’m a proud mama knowing he’d instead take the opportunities to be brave over being happy all the time.
It sounds a bit like the faith God asks us to have.
To trust this isn’t all there is—the bad, ugly, and all this in-between—there’s so much more. We just have to choose brave in the meantime.
Have faith like a child and choose brave
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to miss my opportunities to be brave. I realize they can come in the tiniest of moments.
And I’ve come to find that wisdom often walks right alongside in these moments to choose brave.
Like out of the mouth of my nine-year-old son on a random Tuesday afternoon.
Wow! What a powerful insight! I love being happy–but he’s spot-on in saying that doing hard things puts a hold on our happiness. Maybe for the lady, walking out of her house is the brave thing, and the dancing is an expression of happiness that comes with her accomplishment!
Anita, you could be right—people have even said that she is worshipping. I’m not sure, but it is nice to see someone showing joy so openly. 🙂
That is so cool! Can you make that a Printable? I’d love to hang it in my living room as a daily reminder!! I want to recognize the opportunities, and choose brave!
Absolutely Aryn, I’ll have to figure that out and get it on here! So glad you enjoyed this!
Wisdom, and he may not even grasp the profound, but we do.
Exactly, Rebecca 🙂
Such wisdom from one so young, I love the faith and innocence in which your 9 year old just spoke out this powerful truth, just as matter-a-fact as could be. How often have I(we) wanted to skip out or let those brave moments pass us by? I fully believe that if we listened more to the young ones, we would get more revelation and wisdom just like this one from your sweet boy. Thanks for sharing today, we are neighbors at #RaRaLinkup
Blessings,
Debbie
PS.. if you are looking for another place to link to on Thursday’s I would love if you would consider joining my linkup #TuneInThursday – it opens Thursday 3am PST and runs through Sunday night. you can find it at debbiekitterman.com/blog (Please feel free to delete the link if you think it inappropriate).
Thank you for stopping by Debbie, I would love to link-up at #tuneinthursday! You’ll find me over there for sure this Thursday. 🙂
I do think that it’s amazing how deeply children can think and how much they can share with us, I’m blessed by my boys more often than I am able to share!
Wow…very insightful boy! Not always easy to choose brave as we weather the hard things–even knowing that it grows us, grows our faith and that God can use it to make us more like His dear Son.
Thank you, Janet, for stopping by—and no, it certainly isn’t easy.
How amazing is your kiddo to have that kind of perspective so young?! Love that he’s picked up that lesson and that you’re willing to pass it along to the rest of us. I feel like I need to print it out and post it in my office! ❤️
Laura, I know, I was honestly a bit taken aback by his thinking. He’s a pretty deep little thinker, that sweet boy. 🙂 Yes- feel free to print it! I may make a cute little painting of it. 🙂