Fear is this thing we hate and fear is something we've fallen in love with. When we let that voice in our heads convince us that picking up the phone to call that long lost person is too scary, that trying out for that play is too hard, that reaching out would only lead to heartbreak, that signing up for that class just won't work then we're letting fear win. We crumble in the face of fear and then hate ourselves for falling down. If we hate fear so much, then why do we keep letting it win?
Falling down is no fun. Falling down looks bad. But falling down doesn't have to always feel that way. The question is this: Is the fear of falling down enough to make us quit altogether? Does the idea of failing seem so bad that it keeps you from what you want? Is fear so powerful that it calls the shots and you don't anymore? Then you might be in love with the thing you hate.
If you've got a reason for why fear wins, if you're sticking up for the bastard who delights in seeing you stuck, then your love/hate relationship with FEAR is more twisted love than it is hateful disdain.
What if, instead of letting fear win, you stood up to it. What if you kicked the devil in the diamonds?
I write songs. I have cried a lot over the songs that I've written and I've cried because the songs weren't very good. I cried because way deep down in my gut there has been this desire to get it right but I just haven't yet. I want a good song so bad that the hurt of failing pails in comparison to the hurt of never getting there and the one thing I've learned through songwriting is that I'll never get to that good song if I let my bad songs convince me to just give up.
We are not perfect people. We are going to stumble. Does stumbling make us less worthy? Hell no. What if we were bold enough to believe we were worth it no matter how many setbacks and bad songs, no matter how many times we've messed up? Fear and this world and the devil himself want us to quit because we're not pretty enough or young enough or thin enough or rich enough. We even like to see people quit because then it justifies our own fear-fueled failures.
I tell my kids the only thing you're allowed to hate is the devil because he hates us and he delights in our suffering. We fight back when we start believing that the good enough game does not apply to us and that unconditional love and freedom is bigger and stronger than any boogie man or bump in the road.
For there is nothing to fear. No mistake or setback can change how the Lord of Heaven and Earth sees you. You can be responsible and dutiful and care for others and STILL be brave and still show fear that it has no place in your world. You can look like a fool to people around you who can't understand what you're doing, but be assured that up in heaven the Lord's looking down smiling saying, "That's my girl."