Fearless?

I've been thinking about fear lately. It seems like every time I turn on the news, or even watch commercials on T.V. there is something new they are saying we need to worry about, avoid eating or doing or warn our children about. Regularly in my email inbox I get warnings from well meaning friends about cell phones causing cancer, some new scam to get my money (if I had any for someone to get!) the list is endless. I think what surprises me most about the emails is that the friends who send them are usually fellow Christians who should know where our security lies, in the profound love of Jesus.
You can call me crazy if you want to-I've heard it before. I am well aware of the pitfalls and dangers of modern life, I do read the reports, take the information under advisement, but I have never been much given to worry. Twice I married worriers and they could never understand my utter faith that things would somehow work out. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. (Matthew 6:25-32)

Fear and worry hinder and dog us in ways that are hard to appreciate. It seems right and wise to be concerned about What we hear & see says: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large... “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” (Numbers 13:27-33) Indeed there are "giants" in the land, but in knowing who we serve “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
Fear can be a good thing, when it causes us to pause, consider our actions, but it ought not keep us from living in a land "flowing with milk & honey" We are not called to live recklessly, but confidently and without fear, since "perfect love casts out all fear (1John 4:18). If we are living in the Father's love we have nothing to fear.
When I was a little girl I knew my parents loved me and I had everything I needed. I was safe in their love. As a parent myself I have worked to ensure my children did not worry about food, shelter or security. This is the security the Father's love provides for us, whatever we need He knows before we ask and it is His good pleasure to provide it.
Please, don't think I am advising against wisdom, caution, or Godly concern. We need to be aware of the perils around us, but we are called to be overcomers, to rise above fear, to live boldly. Our bodies are "temples of the Holy Spirit" (1Corinthians 6:19) and we need to pay heed to our health, to eat well, to exercise, to rest, but not out of fear of dying or aging (neither of which we can avoid). I am naturally shy and reticent, I guard my true self fiercely. I avoid new and unfamiliar surroundings. But I have come to see I might be missing out on where I am supposed to be. Even posting this blog is a risk for me, putting my thoughts, my words, out there, exposing this private side of me. I have decided to try to live without fear, to speak & act as my heart leads, to keep caution but abandon fear. I want to face down the giants keeping me out of my promised land.
What is fear keeping you from doing or being? What would your life look like if you let go of the edge?

Dive

My feet still feel the weight of his shackles

Sometimes

When I hesitate in doubt & fear,

listening to lying whispers

echoing back at me

My toes curl over, grip the edge

Cool water caresses my feet

Warm breezes ruffle my hair

I turn my face to the sun,

See your smiling face, your outstretched arms

And I set myself free

Dive into the ocean of You.