Day 119 - Living in the absence of Fear

What would you do if you were not afraid?

Seriously - if fear did not exist for you, what could you accomplish that you could not, or would not, now? Who would you be?

Chris bought us a great book from the Faith Christian bookstore in Scarborough a few days ago called "Fearless" by Max Lucado, and it's had me thinking about the fear we all harbour in our souls all the time. Here's a quick excerpt about the book I just pulled off of the website:

Each sunrise seems to bring fresh reasons for fear.

They're talking layoffs at work, slowdowns in the economy, flare-ups in the Middle East, turnovers at headquarters, downturns in the housing market, upswings in global warming. The plague of our day, terrorism, begins with the word terror. Fear, it seems, has taken up a hundred-year lease on the building next door and set up shop. Oversized and rude, fear herds us into a prison and slams the doors. Wouldn't it be great to walk out?

Imagine your life, wholly untouched by angst. What if faith, not fear, was your default reaction to threats? If you could hover a fear magnet over your heart and extract every last shaving of dread, insecurity, and doubt, what would remain? Envision a day, just one day, when you could trust more and fear less. Can you imagine your life without fear?

I wonder who I would be if I could just trust in God all the time and not let even the thought of being afraid enter my consciousness. What new adventures would I go on? What leaps of faith would I take? Who would I approach / talk to that I wouldn't now? How far out of my comfort zone would I go? And would I even have a comfort zone?

As I approach my 30th birthday (less than 3 months away now!) I've been wondering about what my 30's will hold. My twenties have been quite eventful - and although I haven't done a lot of the things I thought I would have done by now, I've done a lot of other things I never thought I would have done by now! I think one of the main things my twenties have taught me is that we are all responsible for who we become, and for where we take our lives. While I believe God has a plan for us all, we are still the vessels for that plan, and have to take responsibility for ourselves and follow that path we know we should be following.

In my early twenties, I really truly believed that things would just happen. Although I'd always been focused and a hard worker, there was always part of me that would hold back. When I wanted to be an actor, I kind of just thought to myself "well I'm talented, so something will happen, some door will open for me!" I was always afraid to take those steps for myself. Well eventually I learned that while sometimes doors will open for you - most of the time you have to open them for yourself, and sometimes just getting to that door requires a lot of hard work and sacrifice. When I decided to become a singer/songwriter instead, I still held that belief inside me. And even when I worked hard and doors started opening for me, I was afraid. I held back, and guess what? Certain doors that had been open closed again. This was a few years ago, and it's really only been in the last year that I've gained the confidence and grown up enough to really make a go of it and pushed those fears aside.

I still let fear hold me back in other areas of my life though. I hope that as I enter this new chapter of my life I will be able to put my whole trust in God and let myself really be myself in every situation and with everyone I encounter.

Imagine a world where we all did this? Where we all stepped outside of our self-consciousness and really stepped up to the plate? We all have so much to give and it's a shame when we hold ourselves down and don't really live.

Life is short. I don't want to live my life at 50%, 75% or even 99%. I want to live life, not just go through it, not just going through the motions and getting through the day.

Anyway - perhaps I'll do a review of "Fearless" when I'm done reading it. I'm not expecting some great "ah ha!" moments or anything, but I am hoping for some good insights into why we live with fear the way we do, and what we can do to cast those fears aside and really just live in the trust of God's plan (while still being responsible for our own lives and our own happiness). It's a good read so far, so I have high hopes for you Mr. Max Lucado.

'till next time . . .