Defining Fear {Day 1}

One of my dad’s often heard phrases was “the best place to start is to start.”  That advice has stuck with me and often comes to mind in times when I have a project that feels daunting.

As we find our feet firmly planted on Day 1 of No Fear, I wonder if the best place to start would be to define fear.

There is of course the official dictionary definition

noun

1.a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc.,whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid.

2. a specific instance of or propensity for such a feeling:

3. concern or anxiety; solicitude:

4. reverential awe, especially toward God:

And then there are our own definitions. The ways our story, our life, has informed our experiences of fear. We each have had different childhoods. Different interactions. Different temperaments. Different personalities. All of that plays into our naming of fear.

I recognize in writing this that for some of you reading this, your fear feels crippling. It has paralyzed and dramatically impacted your life. For some of you, your fear may be invisible. You have become a master at managing it and you keep it a safe distance from your heart.

Some fears play out on center stage. Some are subtle. Both impact our life and our choices and our relationships. Leaving us to wonder if life can really be any different or is this as good as it gets.

Fear has rooted itself into our lives. Some of those can be quickly uprooted. Others are going to need some serious weed killer. But ultimately how strong the roots feel isn’t the biggest deal. Their strangling hold can never overpower the stronger name of Jesus. The one who wants to replace fear with even deeper, unbreakable roots of love.

“Perfect love drives out fear.” 1 John 4:18

It doesn’t say perfect love sometimes drives out fear. Nor does it say that perfect love drives out fear for some fears. Nor even perfect loves drives out fear for some people. Nope. It is for all for the time. For all the fears. For all people.

Rest in that for now. No trying to figure it out. No guilt about what you fear. No shame in how much you fear. Rest in a perfect love. A love fierce and complete. A love that knows you and sees you with ever knowing eyes, and it doesn’t shrink back. Never.

That seems like a good place to start.

I am participating in Write 31 Days. Click right here to see all the amazing topics!  I am writing on 31 Beauty Full Days.  You can read the intro post here.  And you can also always click on the button on the sidebar to see all posts in the series.

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