Courage to Be Loved

It takes courage and willingness to receive such unconditional love and support. ~ Voices of Recovery (Kindle Locations 1476-1477)

Courage to love is real enough,
caring for those who have chosen
consciously and deliberately
to act with valor, to be heroic.
But courage to be loved?
How can that take courage?
It's not a deliberate act,
not a willful doing, not audacity,
not grit, not having sufficient moxie…
How can courage be required
to stand on the receiving side,
to be loved without having earned it,
without heroic acts to convince
not only the watchers but the doers
of the merit of those who act or don't...
Surely it is. Certainly bravery manifests
for those who have spent their lives
believing they have no merit, deserve nothing
except degradation, scorn, defeat.
Those who accept the gift of recovery,
who surrender and turn to power beyond themselves,
those who give up control and decide to live
stand with courage to accept those gifts
they never could have earned. Those who achieve
the courage to be loved.