REVISIT-WHAT DO YOU FEAR?

PRACTICE: What do you fear?

If this question had been posed to me a year ago, my answer probably would have been, “I fear the unknown.” The unknown could have been the next place for me personally/professionally. It could have been where or what would happen to my relationship with someone close to me. It could have been the political and racial climate in this country. It could have been anything under the sun I suppose. WHAT, WHOM, DO YOU FEAR?

Well friends, family and foes, I have lived /living through the unknown and the worse part of the journey has not been the unknown but the fear itself. It has been my experience over this last year that the anticipation (fear) of what might happen is always greater than what actually happens.

If I have learned nothing else since March third, I have learned this truth. On March 3rd- tornadoes ripped houses from their foundation, leveled businesses, took lives and completely devastated parts of my community. On March 13th, fear of the corona virus shut down my work and closed my already struggling community. Food, water, and essentials were scarce. A cloud of fear and panic settled upon me and my neighbors. We didn’t know what was going to happen so we let the fear of what might happen rule and reign.

Six months later, I am alive and well. Six months ago, I was filled with fear and anxiety of how I, my family and friends would survive. The fear experienced in the last two weeks of March had the potential to paralyze me. I chose to let it mobilize me instead. The fear of lose of control had the potential to cause me to throw all caution to the wind and continue life as usual. I choose to let it propel me to think and plan strategically and to execute with premeditated caution.

My fear in March didn’t allow me to see the oasis that I could create in and around my home for my family, selected friends, the birds, bees, butterflies and frogs. My fear didn’t allow me to dream about all the new things that I would learn to do both personally and professionally.

I have stared the unknown in the face, knocked it to the ground. The tenuous character of fear will never allow it to leave me permanently. I keep knocking it down and it keeps raising again for the next round. But then so do I!

Psalm 94:19

PONDER THIS THOUGHT— “Only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” FDR’s first inaugural address.