Piloting Faith: The thing about fear...
A Word for the Day...
The great human capacity that separates us from other animals is our capacity to hope. We each have an imagination that lets us visualize a possible future, one that is better than what we are living now. But I've also discovered that we have a flip-side to that extraordinary gift. We have the capacity to worry, to fear unrealized futures as well.
When I consider the fears that hold us back, I see them as:
The Fear of Judgment - from others and ourselves;
The Fear of Disruption - from the status quo;
The Fear of Failure - that we will not accomplish that which we committed to achieving;
The Fear of Success - that we will accomplish that which we committed to achieve and it will change us;
The Fear of Enough - that, in the end, we will never have enough or be enough.
Journalist and businesswoman, Soledad O'Brien, once said: "I've learned that fear limits you and your vision. It serves as blinders to what may be just a few steps down the road for you. The journey is valuable, but believing in your talents, your abilities, and your self-worth can empower you to walk down an even brighter path. Transforming fear into freedom - how great is that?"
If you consider the strongest messages repeated over and over throughout the Old and New Testaments, they say the same thing. The human journey - when lived well - is to transform fear into freedom. God has always, and will always, hope for our liberation...which comes when we choose to liberate ourselves from own fear.
- Rev. Cameron Trimble, author of Piloting Church: Helping Your Congregation Take Flight
Prayer for the Week
People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.
Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.
Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today will often be forgotten.
Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.
Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway.
- Mother Teresa