Walking Through Puddles

Often when we think of courage we think of heroic, fearless examples who-against all odds-achieved the unthinkable. We tend to think of big moments. We honor those who have saved lives. Who have risked their lives. We applaud those who have been brave enough to make significant changes for humanity. Those who have gone to bat for the underdog. We look up to those who have conquered enormous obstacles. We cheer them on. We hold them up. We want to emulate them somehow. But sometimes we feel so inadequate to even try and relate to their bravery and their incredible contributions to the world, that we don't realize that courage is something we all can attain. Something we all can be.

This afternoon I took my two dogs on their usual afternoon walk. Ernie is a dachshund mix. He is basically just an overgrown weenie dog. The other one, who we recently added to our family, is Sammie. She is part Yorkie, part beagle, and part dachshund. She thinks she is part wolf, until the windshield wipers turn on in the car and she fears the world is ending. Both Ernie and Sammie are sweet as can be and have blessed our lives more than I can begin to describe.  

As we were walking around our neighborhood we came to an intersection where we started to cross the road. There happened to be a massive puddle in our way. It wasn't very deep, but it took up several feet of space in front of us. I thought nothing of it as Sammie jumped through it like a fish. But poor Ernie held back, cringing at the thought of getting his big clown feet wet. He started bracing against the leash, trying to avoid any possibility of going through that horrifying puddle. I gave his leash a gentle tug and coaxed him to keep walking. He looked at me with his beautiful brown eyes of his, hesitated one last time, and took a step. The look of fear never left his face as he hurriedly rushed through the puddle. He did manage to somehow survive, in case you were wondering.

Now I know this is maybe a little bit cheesy. And maybe it's just a dumb, silly thought I had as a result of this experience. But I think it's important that once in awhile we stop to acknowledge that courage doesn't always have a brave face. Courage isn't always being history book heroic. It isn't always about making huge waves or blessing thousands of lives. Sometimes courage goes entirely unnoticed because nobody knows what you are personally facing, or how scary it might be to walk in your shoes. 

Courage isn't just about vastly changing policy. It isn't just doing the unthinkable. It isn't always about conquering your foes when the odds are stacked against you. Sometimes courage is doing something that is personally terrifying to you, but you proceed to do it anyway. 

And you might not give yourself any credit, because you think that the only reason you're managing to walk through your puddles is because someone is pulling on your leash and prompting you to take another step. And maybe that is the only reason you're still walking! You might even have to be dragged at times. But that doesn't mean you're just a big, ridiculous baby who is incapable of overcoming hard things. It just means you're pretty lucky to have someone in your life who has full confidence in you, even when you lack all of it. There is a reason people believe you can do it. And I think trusting each other is one of the most courageous things any of us can do. How important it is that we protect that trust by cheering each other on for both the gigantic, as well as the seemingly small things that life throws our way. 

For most dogs, including Sammie who is half the size of Ernie, walking through puddles is nothing short of a party. It's a good time. It's exciting! It's fun! It's definitely no big deal. 

To clingy, pathetic, overgrown dachshunds, walking through puddles can be terrifying. And while I definitely won't hold it against you if you laugh at Ernie's "courageous demonstration of nobility and determination," we shouldn't be so quick to laugh at each other's fears, anxieties, or self-doubts. Or how we choose to face them. 

We all have different gifts and talents. And we all have different weaknesses. Something you feel extremely confident in might be someone's literal worst nightmare. Your puddle of fun might be an ocean of doom to someone else. You just never know. And you never know what trials others are quietly enduring. Something that might appear to be shallow and insignificant to you, might be causing someone else to sink. 

I'm not saying that we need to put each other on a pedestal for merely putting on pants and leaving our houses. I'm not downplaying the many historical and present courageous heroes and heroines who have left our world a better place. 

I'm just saying that next time you see someone struggling with something that is a piece of cake for you, or something that you can't relate to at all, realize that other people might find that very same thing daunting, or humiliating, or unbearable. 

Sometimes we don't stop to try and understand what someone else's experience might be, because we are so focused on how we would handle, or have handled, such an experience. 

Part of what I think courage means is recognizing that life is far more than about us. And I hope at the end of my life that I look back on how I chose to live, and see that I encouraged people to walk through their own puddles-whether they were big or small. I hope I can gently pull a few leashes along the way and offer words of sincere encouragement. As one of my best friends put it, "At different times of our lives, we are all drowning. The point is to help each other stay afloat."

Courage isn't always about doing big, grand things. I have ALWAYS had a ginormous love for people who have strived to improve humanity in big ways. Ever since I was a kid, I have loved reading about such people who have literally changed the world. They have become my heroes. And while I will always immensely revere folks like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Anne Frank, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Muhammad Ali, Corrie Ten Boom, Elie Wiesel, and many many others, my overgrown weenie dog taught me something today.

Sometimes courage is knowing you are going to have to face something you don't want to face. Sometimes it's hard to put on your big girl shoes. It's hard to find your game face. Let's be honest-sometimes it's hard just to put on pants and interact with other humans. Courage doesn't always look pretty or composed. In fact sometimes, you might risk looking like a total idiot or a big scaredy cat. Your face might be filled with dread and you might look like a nervous wreck, because you probably are. Courage doesn't mean you're always brave right in that moment. You might not even feel brave at all. Because sometimes the obstacles in your way seem bigger and deeper than you ever anticipated. How will you make it? Why can't you just handle it like so-and-so? Why can't you just get over it?

Courage isn't always done confidently. Courage just means that you keep on walking, with or without swag. I think it's critical to remember that the person who is gently tugging at your leash, believes you can do it, regardless of how you perceive yourself. It's perfectly okay to feel doubtful and inadequate. But there are people cheering you on for a reason. Often I think this is how we acquire courage. We coax it out of each other. 

Puddles come in many forms. Some of them we walk through daily, maybe even constantly. Some of them eventually evaporate. But we all have to walk through them with our own kind of courage. Walking through your own puddles doesn't automatically vanquish any fears you may have. It just means that you are brave enough to keep on walking. And often, it is because there is someone tugging at your leash, telling you that you can do it. So you put on your Nikes, and you just do. 

I'm grateful for all the people in my life who keep tugging at my leash. I literally look up to you, sometimes while I'm drowning. Thanks for helping me keep afloat by throwing me lots of flotation devices, for swimming alongside me at times, and for cheering me on from the shore. 

I'm especially grateful for a God who somehow has the time, with all of the other people in the world He loves, to remind me that I am capable of getting my feet a little wetter than I usually want to. I am grateful for His influence in my life that is felt every day. I am grateful He knows when to yank the leash a little harder because I'm too stubborn or too afraid to carry on. 

And one last shout out to Ernie, the bravest dachshund I know, who taught me today that you don't always look cool when you have courage. You don't always accomplish amazing things that change society. Sometimes you just get to enjoy a walk with the people who love you the most, because you-yes, YOU-were brave enough to get your feet wet in the process. 

Happy walking!