dailydatewithgod

An enumerable number of people have shared the following sentiment about courage:  “Courage is not the absence of fear but the decision to go forward anyway.”  I find it curious that one of the most common phrases in the bible which is compromised of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures is about fear:  “Be Not Afraid”, “Fear Not”, etc.  It also repeats that we are not given a spirit of fear.  So why would we be able to fear?   Clearly, it is not useless otherwise it would not be a built-in element of who we are as human beings. While this will most likely be on the top of my list of questions for God, until or if I get an answer we must all contend with how to approach fear.  Like most things, making it bad or wrong or trying to get rid of it have proved futile, at least for me.  God calls us first to recognize when we have taken the element of fear and used it to color our perspective.  In my experience, anything that takes precedent in my mindset besides love will ultimately not go well. We are designed to be the beacon of God’s message of the presence of love in the world.  How can we do that if we are circling the drain overwhelmed by fears?  And yet there are many things to be worried, fearful, or anxious about in the world so it cannot be about pretending.  God invites me on our daily dates to look at fear through the lens of courage.  Courage comes from the heart.  It is about strengthening our connection to the love which is always present within us.  When my mind is occupied by thoughts of fear I can notice that I have disconnected the pipeline to my heart.  Sometimes the most courageous thing I can do is just own up to what I am fearing.  “God, this fear is looping through my mind and I am convinced no amount of love from any source can stand up to it, help.”  From the space of honesty and humility, we can put our fears in the line of sight of courage and marshal whatever resources necessary to allow our eyes to be opened up to the courageous power of love that is alive within us.