I've been ruminating a lot on the words of T.S. Eliot that I posted last week.

"To do the useful thing,

to say the courageous thing,

to contemplate the beautiful thing,

that is enough for one man's life."

The words are beautiful. I'd say that'd be quite enough for one man or woman's life.

I find I often copy down beautiful words in hopes that they will materialize in my life, but more often than not, they don't.

I don't do the useful thing.

I don't say the courageous thing.

I don't contemplate the beautiful thing.

I lock myself in my comfort zone.

I seize up when given a chance to do or say something brave.

Or self-focus clouds my ability to even see an opportunity to serve or encourage someone else.

I reject beauty. I cling to the critical.

***

Sometimes I feel like a hypocrite for writing. For sharing prayers that haven't yet taken root. That I only hope will begin to bear fruit in my life.But it's a step. A first of step of bravery. To write it. To say it. To want it. To pray it.That's what affirmations are, right? The first step in transformation. In claiming our identity as children of God. In living a life that more closely matches our words.Although she's not T.S. Eliot, today I wanted to share the bold and beautiful--and hard to live up to--words of Sarah Bessey in her prayer/exhortation to Be Bold in an Ordinary Way for She Loves Magazine.I've followed Sarah's blog for awhile now and if anyone could use her words and her vulnerability and her raw and honest faith to inspire me to do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, and to contemplate the beautiful thing, it's her.Please check out her beautiful post, maybe even read it out loud when no one else is around, and take the first step toward ordinary boldness in our ordinary lives.Be Brave in an Ordinary Way

Let me be brave in an ordinary way first.Let me mother out of my best hopes instead of my worst fears. Let me love ferociously into the mundane corners of our life. Let me find God in my laundry pile. Let me take off my masks, admit my imperfections, tell my stories. Give me grace to be the one who jumps first.

Read the rest here.