So we start another week. Do we have to? Well, yes, we do, cuz I don't want to stay around in last week, do you?
I want to say a few more words about fear. It really is an easy topic to talk about because so many of us are eat up with it. We like to think we aren't, we like to think we are brave and courageous. That we have No Fear, (wasn't that a logo a while back?) which would be the absence of fear.
Fearlessness in not the same as the absence of fear. When we are fearless, we are very much aware of the fear we face. I think about it this way. When we lived in Hawaii, I was afraid of two things. Getting burned alive by a volcano eruptions and the high dive at the pool. Now we lived on Oahu, and the active volcano was on the Big Island, but I was still had this fear. One year, we took a family trip to the Big Island and they have a chair called Pele's chair. (Pele is the goddess of the volcano.) You could sit in this chair and make a wish. My sister did just that and wished the volcano would erupt, because it had been thinking about it for years, but hadn't busted through the surface. So what do you think happened? Yes, my fear had come to life, we were going to die from this eruption and it was going to hurt really bad!
So what does my family do? You would think we would get on the first plane out of there and head to Alaska! BUT NO!!! We pack up and drive right down where the hot action is so the kids could see this once in a life time flowing of melted earth! You know what happened when we got there? It was hot, hotter than anything I had ever experienced, but it was also beautiful. In fact it took my breath away at life in the making.
Now the high dive, it was a horse of a different color. It couldn't come after me, I had to go to it. I had to look at this long and hard. I did, one day, climb those bazillion steps up to the top and I jumped off without killing myself. I became aware of my fear and saw it as a compass more than a barrier. (I did not know all this wisdom at the time, I was in the 3rd grade)
Fear can become a way to know what to do next, not an evil demon to be extinguished!
When we deny our fear, we make it stronger.
When we reassure the voice in our head, that everything is going to be ok, we actually reinforce it.
Pushing back on fear doesn't make us brave and it doesn't make us fearless. Acknowledging fear and moving on is a very different approach, one that allows it to exist without strengthening it.
Life without fear doesn't last very long, you'll be run over by a bus (or someone one in the church) before you know it. The fearless person, on the other hand, sees the world as it is (fear included) and then makes smart (and brave) decisions.
I want to say a few more words about fear. It really is an easy topic to talk about because so many of us are eat up with it. We like to think we aren't, we like to think we are brave and courageous. That we have No Fear, (wasn't that a logo a while back?) which would be the absence of fear.
Fearlessness in not the same as the absence of fear. When we are fearless, we are very much aware of the fear we face. I think about it this way. When we lived in Hawaii, I was afraid of two things. Getting burned alive by a volcano eruptions and the high dive at the pool. Now we lived on Oahu, and the active volcano was on the Big Island, but I was still had this fear. One year, we took a family trip to the Big Island and they have a chair called Pele's chair. (Pele is the goddess of the volcano.) You could sit in this chair and make a wish. My sister did just that and wished the volcano would erupt, because it had been thinking about it for years, but hadn't busted through the surface. So what do you think happened? Yes, my fear had come to life, we were going to die from this eruption and it was going to hurt really bad!
So what does my family do? You would think we would get on the first plane out of there and head to Alaska! BUT NO!!! We pack up and drive right down where the hot action is so the kids could see this once in a life time flowing of melted earth! You know what happened when we got there? It was hot, hotter than anything I had ever experienced, but it was also beautiful. In fact it took my breath away at life in the making.
Now the high dive, it was a horse of a different color. It couldn't come after me, I had to go to it. I had to look at this long and hard. I did, one day, climb those bazillion steps up to the top and I jumped off without killing myself. I became aware of my fear and saw it as a compass more than a barrier. (I did not know all this wisdom at the time, I was in the 3rd grade)
Fear can become a way to know what to do next, not an evil demon to be extinguished!
When we deny our fear, we make it stronger.
When we reassure the voice in our head, that everything is going to be ok, we actually reinforce it.
Pushing back on fear doesn't make us brave and it doesn't make us fearless. Acknowledging fear and moving on is a very different approach, one that allows it to exist without strengthening it.
Life without fear doesn't last very long, you'll be run over by a bus (or someone one in the church) before you know it. The fearless person, on the other hand, sees the world as it is (fear included) and then makes smart (and brave) decisions.
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