I’ve read the first three chapters of Bravehearts. If I’m going to be honest, I need to admit I saw myself a lot in the first two chapters. The author, Sharon Hersh, writes that her mom recently told her that everything she (her mom) had accomplished in life didn’t take much talent (pg 4), and that’s how I’m feeling right now in this season of life (I’m a stay-at-home of two little kids). I saw myself throughout pages 14 – 16 where she writes that women are filled with longings that never end – even when I get what I long for, I move on to longing for the next thing – and that, sadly, reality seems “often to answer my desires with disappointment” (pg 12) Hersh writes that we “take on the work involved in relationships to try to satisfy our longings. Our longings become the goal of our heart’s work rather than a means to an end” (pg 16). I didn’t really understand what she was getting at until I read the 2nd chapter, where she further explains how longing for relationship is a holy longing because God Himself longs for relationship. So, my longing isn’t a weakness, but a strength. Woo-hoo!

This really gave me something to think about – that I’m not a weakling because I want to love and be loved. What especially helped me believe this is her assertion that God was not ashamed to love us first (pg 26). This may seem like Christianity 101 to some of you, but you know how it is, we can forget the simple truths – the too-good-or-simple-to-be-true truths – that first drew us to the Gospel. The parables of the prodigal son, the lost coin, and the lost sheep show us that we are valuable to God, that he loves us and wants us back. Hersh writes that “holy longing invites change, promotes growth, and calls us into relationships that are life-giving” (pg 27). She writes that “longings are a means to this end, they are a force to lead me into an intimate relationship with God and to transform me into an extravagant lover” (pg 25). This convicted me a bit, because too often when I think about my desire for relationship and my longings in general, I mostly get down on myself or the world for one reason or another, instead of actually allowing these desires to propel me into action.

I’ve dwelled on just a part of what Sharon writes about in the first three chapters, but this is what jumped out at me. This is what I’m taking away: God is not ashamed to love me, even though I didn’t love him and continue to love (very) imperfectly, and therefore I shouldn’t be ashamed of my desires to love and be loved. Instead, I should claim them as the strength they are and allow them to lead me into meaningful relationships with others.

Is there anything that struck you from the first three chapters, or from what I’ve written about?

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