Courage comes in many forms, but the ones we often use to explain courage aren’t always the ones that really show up in our lives. Maybe you have saved people from a burning building or rescued a stranded pet or smiled in the face of screaming white supremacists. But maybe your courage hasn’t always come in such grand moments.

Showing up takes courage. In fact, since our world-reshaping pandemic, showing up takes a lot of a very special kind of courage. The tweet above sets the stakes, and speaking for myself it reminds me that often there is suffering and marginalization happening in the world that is hard to see. It demonstrates how much showing up, being in a place with a people, being willing to sit in uncomfortable spaces, or even just to sit in a space that is for others but still needs you, is courage.

We are a third place. We are an inside place that is also outside. We are a community of belonging, but one you have to volunteer yourself into. And even if you don’t think of it that way, you are being courageous when you arrive on Sunday morning, or participate in a Zoom meeting, or reach out to someone who needs to connect. It’s important to see that as the act of courage that it is. Because as @donni explains, we need to keep showing up. Everyone needs a third place.

Allan T. Georgia, MDiv, MTS, PhD

Sometimes it is hard to tap into our spiritual selves or find time to nurture our intellectual curiosity. Here is a section that reflects on some nourishing materials from around the web and related media channels in order to get us thinking, get us feeling, and get us reflecting on the lives we are living in this big, beautiful world. **Some Adult/Mature Themes May Appear in Links and Other Attached Material**