What are you afraid of?
It is an easy question to ask, but not an easy one to answer honestly because it puts you at risk. If people know what scares me, perhaps they will think I am weak or will use the information against me. The problem with that way of thinking is that it gives fear power to control you. The things that we are afraid of, if kept in the dark, can have the power to paralyse us.
Take the wasp as an example. I saw one on an afternoon walk the other day. If you have ever been stung by a wasp you will know that it is not a pleasant experience. You will also be far more likely to avoid contact with them in the future. But these feelings, if given the chance, can change our perspective of the insect. Rather than having a safe respect for the creature, we can become fearful of them. My afternoon walk would have been a very different experience if I had let the fear of the wasp hinder my appreciation of the nature around me. The wasp I saw that day was doing a very important job. It was not out on its own personal mission to sting me, but instead was on a very different mission pollinating a blackberry flower. If the pollination did not happen the fruit would not develop later on in the year.
I believe there are similar experiences in our lives. We can give past experiences the power to paralyse us from stepping into our future. Failed relationships that stop us stepping into fulfilled Godly marriages. Failed exams that stop us trying to step into our dream career. Failed business ventures preventing us running with a new business idea. Low self esteem that holds us back from believing we have anything of value to add to those around us.
But God wants to use our past for His Glory. He wants to turn tears into joy, pain into healing, fear into hope and death into life. The bible puts it this way:
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
So I ask you again…What are you afraid of? Is the thing you are most fearful of the very thing that will launch your future fruitfulness? Will you fight the fear of pain for the fruitfulness of pollination?
