Fear

We really do have nothing to fear but fear itself. In fact we have nothing to fear INCLUDING fear itself. The wisest of the Jedi once said, “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” How many times have we all felt rejected (“fear”), blamed the other person (“anger”), and created a fight (“hate”)? The situation is multiplied because this leads to real rejection and creates mutual distrust, perpetuating this cycle of fear (“suffering”). But “you’re the only one capable of making yourself feel guilty, sad, enthusiastic, or whatever.” Charles Swindoll says that “life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it."

“Why do we take refuge in the darkness of fear rather than step into the light? One reason is because it’s easier…It’s easier to do nothing than to do something. It’s easier to criticize than it is to create. It’s easier to sit back and regret missed opportunities than it is to pounce on them. And finally, it’s easier to watch the world go by and waste your life than it is to think up and make things happen. It’s also no fun.”

So how do you beat it? The same Jedi said, “Named must your fear be before banish it you can.” We can’t fix a problem that we pretend we don’t have. We are so unwilling to accept responsibility for our fears, as if circumstances have tyranny over our emotions, but then they just keep mounting and mounting until we’re ready to burst. Only by accepting that we really are afraid can we begin to conquer it. In other words, fear only wins if you ignore it. If you feel emotionally numb, you’re probably afraid. If you’re telling yourself all of the reasons that you’re okay, you’re probably afraid. If you don’t know what you’re afraid of, you’re probably very afraid indeed. Isn’t it ironic that probably our biggest fear is admitting we’re afraid? This is the hardest fear to overcome, but it’s also the most crucial to living life in freedom.

Sometimes we have this awful feeling like we’re on a tightrope and that all these little things we do might knock us off and send us to our doom. So we never even look down, and we spend our lives building little safety nets and living like this:



But most of the time, if we’d just open our eyes and see the ground mere inches away we could walk the rope with a smile and embrace the world of adventure that is waiting at the end. “When fear knocks on the door and courage answers it, there’s nobody there.”

Many times, however, situations are beyond our courage. This is where faith comes in. All of our safety nets would do nothing to catch us anyway, and we seem to know that (don’t they always feel so uncertain? Isn’t that why we always seek reinforcement?). But a big net is there even though we can’t always see it. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39).

1 - Imagineering by Michael LeBoeuf

"All of us are born with a set of instinctive fears--of falling, of the dark, of lobsters, of falling on lobsters in the dark, or speaking before a Rotary Club, and of the words "Some Assembly Required." – Dave Barry

“Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared.” - Eddie Rickenbacher

“I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is over self.” – Aristotle

“Clarity is obtained when you can separate your sleep dreams, your fears, your fantasies and your reality.” - P.J. Varsalona

"Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is." – German Proverb

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” - Frank Herbert

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." - 1 John 4:18