Monsters Under the Bed

I am afraid of needles. In fact, I passed out when I got my ears pierced! I don’t think that makes me a coward, though, because I have killed poisonous snakes, climbed mountains, been in an airplane that was on fire, and stood face to face with a gun wielding gang member without panicking. I just don’t like needles.  Or motorcycles (to be fair, I think that’s more logic than fear). It’s easy to laugh at our idiosyncrasies and pretend they are the sum of our fears but we all know there are scarier things than spiders. Individual fears are the proverbial Monster Under the Bed. They lurk until we are alone, lying in the dark, recounting our day for God, weighing each thing carefully.  Fear is the Joy Stealer, Heart Crusher, and the Dream Destroyer. It bites our heels and hisses in our ears. It binds our hearts and breaks our lines. Fear is a thief.

What do you fear?

I fear not fitting in. I fear that everyone around me has such good friendships that have grown over a life time of living in one place that I, as a relative newcomer and ARMY brat, will never be able to understand on a level that allows me to truly ‘belong’.  My fear robs me of the comfort of life-long friends. Every time someone says something nice, my fear whispers to me about how truly kind they are to include the new person. It makes me want to be like them but it doesn’t allow me to accept that they might actually consider me a deep and true friend. A very few wise people have caught on to this fear of mine and are slowly helping me overcome it, with the power of love and insight provided by God, but it lingers. Fighting fear can be a long road. I only become a coward when I stop fighting.

What does your fear rob you of?

And what about when a nation is gripped by fear? What happens when an entire people group is afraid of the same thing? Economic decline, violence in the schools, the zombie apocalypse… take your pick. There’s plenty to choose from and a quick glance at a history book will tell us that nations in fear have the potential to do ugly things.  What does our nation’s fear rob us of? I am not wise enough to say but history will teach our grandchildren about our fears and what came of them, of that I am certain!

Whether it is a ridiculous aversion to needles or a world-wide epidemic, if we are to be the light of the world then we must stay on our guard against fear. We must not become reactionary, fear-driven people but rather a people that run to God with our needles, spiders, clowns,  fear-driven desperation and even rage. He is big enough to handle them. In fact, He is the only one big enough to navigate through the tsunami of emotions we feel and plot the true course. We only need to follow his lead despite the fear that claws at our hearts. Keep following, Brave Hearts. Keep fighting because though fear bites our heels for a little while, we will crush its head in the end.