Bravery in Times of Uncertainty
Anyone who has been reading these newsletter articles knows this hasn’t been an easy season for me. I’ve been honest about my struggles, those that are inward as well as those that face outward. I have been intentional about being the best me I could be and taking one step forward at a time. But a few days ago, I realized that I had forgotten something critically important. I had forgotten that I was light and love. I had allowed fear to cloud my vision and convince me to hide from a universe that no longer felt safe or benevolent.
I don't think I'm alone. I think hiding is a rather common response to living in turbulent times. Uncertainty is no longer the exception; it’s become the atmosphere that we breathe. The unknown is hard and scary. And when things get hard and scary, retreat can feel like the only option.
But uncertain times do not call for retreat. They call for clarity. They call for courage. They call for us to remember who we are and to bring that memory into motion. They call for us to be brave enough to love.
Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III, in his powerful sermon Thriving in Turbulent Times, reminds us that love without justice is mere sentimentality, and justice without love becomes legalism or brutality. But when love and justice walk hand-in-hand, they give birth to liberation and transformation. We are not meant to shine our light in isolation, but to form a collective that will take brave action by bringing light to a world that is struggling in the darkness with uncertainty and fear.
He also says, “There’s always something inside every human being waiting to be activated by the Light.”
I’ve been reflecting on that—on what it means to be activated by the Light, especially when grief has clouded everything. Because part of my forgetting, part of my hiding, began after the loss of my son last August. I don’t need to retell the entire story here, but I name it because it’s real and present and part of the terrain I now navigate. In that terrain, the idea of nourishing what’s been activated by light feels both daunting and essential.
It’s in that deeply personal space where Rev. Moss’s call to collective justice meets the quieter, more intimate courage Kelly Corrigan describes in her TED Talk, To Love Is to Be Brave. She speaks of family life—its heartbreak, its holy moments, its profound call to stay soft and present even when everything hurts. She reminds us that bravery isn’t always big and loud. Sometimes, it’s the quiet act of letting go. Sometimes, it’s standing beside someone you love as they walk a hard road you can’t fix. And sometimes, it’s trusting that love itself is enough.
Her words touch something tender in me. Because to love after loss—to keep showing up with compassion, to keep listening, to keep offering your heart even when it’s broken—that is a kind of bravery that feels both impossible and deeply human. The reward, as she says, is a life filled with selfless love and humble awe.
So yes, this season has been hard. But it’s also been clarifying. I am not here to hide. You are not here to hide. We are here to love. We are here to act. We are here to bring forth liberation and transformation—not through force, but through the brave, steady work of showing up with our whole selves.
If you’ve forgotten who you are, let this be your reminder: you are light. You are love. You are brave.
Let’s keep going.
Namaste,
Barbara Lee VanHorssen
Experi-Mentor
Barbara@MomentumCenterGH.org
