This is not fear

I just listened to one of my old pastors deliver a sermon about fear, and I gotta tell you, it freaked me right the hell out.  Seriously!  When Franklyn Roosevelt said "there is nothing to fear but fear itself" he had NO CLUE how right he was.  There are so many things to be afraid of, and they can all kill you if you fear them hard enough.

Fear, anxiety, stress, it all causes all kinds of crazy things you need to be afraid of.  Prolonged stress engages the body in sympathetic "fight-or-flight" behavior, which wears out your energy levels leaving you vulnerable on a biological level. 

Fear leads to anxiety, anxiety leads to stress, stress leads to anger, anger leads to destruction, destruction leads to death, and death leads to the DARK SIDE!!!


We fear the opposite of whatever we hope.  If we hope for one thing, we fear it's negation.  If we hope for peace, we fear war.  If we hope for a job, we fear not getting one, or we fear getting one and losing it. We fear making the wrong decisions.  Fear is therefore, a marvelous indicator of what you value.   We fear losing what we love, and we fear gaining what we hate.

Now that you know more honestly what you value, go read my blog on value.  lol, Jay-kay!!  <3 <3

There's a commonly used tarot card spread, called the Celtic cross, where the ninth position addresses "secret hopes and fears" as though they are the same thing.  Divination is the wrong way to address fear, and I'll get into that, but I like the beauty of this idea.  All fear can be an opportunity for great hope if we simply pay attention to it, see it for what it is, and turn it around.


The truth is, I've been putting off writing this blog for awhile, and it was probably because of fear.  Sure I can talk a lot.  But I'll never say a thing if what I say has to be perfect.  I don't advertise this blog well, because I don't want to start something I won't see through, even though I know from past experiences that I have no problem entertaining whenever large people are gathered, sometimes for years at a time.  So far my blog's entire demographic is females ages 18-25.  How do I even relate to females ages 18-25?? Aaaah!  Help!  You know I've actually got, like, three whole blogs written up that I just haven't posted?

Fear has been known to keep people from getting things done.  We repeat negative affirmations in our heads.  We want a job, we'll say "oh, I probably won't get that job," and negative attitude manifests negatively.  We want to go on an awesome trip to a country we've never been to, we'll say, "oh, the economy sucks, my job doesn't pay well, it's just not gonna happen."  It seems perfectly rational to me, and nobody can talk me out of it. 

It's all incredibly self-oriented thinking if you really look at it.  I don't want to bash self-interest, I think it's important to take care of yourself.  I think it's important to take your future into consideration. 

I like the way my old pastor said it the best: that if you're planning ahead, and you're doing everything you can, you're good. God will take care of you.   But if you try to foresee the future and control it, you're trying to BE God.  And that isn't good for you.  You will not succeed, and you the stress of the responsibility will make you sick.  Jesus said it, pastor Mark said it, now even doctors are saying it.

That's why divination is the wrong way to address fear.  Divination attempts to grant you knowledge and power that you do not need.  It's actually Biblically a sin, and it's probably BECAUSE it's so hazardous to your health.  Kinda like how God wouldn't let the Jews eat pork for the longest time because they couldn't cook it properly.  Or how your mother wouldn't let you eat your dessert first because you wouldn't have room for the food with all the actual nutritional value you needed.

Jesus was also the person who said "do not be afraid, little flock, for your father has been pleased to give you the kingdom."  Did you know that "Fear not" is the most common command in the whole entire Bible?  I wonder if it's important...

"FEAR NOT!!" 

That's not very comforting though, is it?  Fear not, or ELSE!  That's why it makes me more fearful.  But I think what's often missed is the replacement of fear.  Remember my blog about how you have to replace everything you get rid of in yourself?  Fear is not an exception.

Jesus calls us a little flock, like sheep.  He's ALWAYS calling us sheep.  It's unnerving.  Sheep are not scary, and they have a lot to fear.  Wolves, lions, Wallace and Gromit films... but whenever He calls us sheep, and he says don't be afraid, he tells us why.  And that "why" is not usually anything to do with our own powers as prophets and controllers of the future, or our lives.  He usually re-frames our focus on who our Father is, and how much He loves us and will take care of us.

I've probably used this passage before, but here it is again, cause it's so darn apt. 

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?  Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
    
“Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, 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, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!  And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well."  
--Luke (in the Bible) 



All the world is a womb, and death is the real birth.  We don't always have to understand why something is the way it is, but we certainly don't need to be afraid of it.  In the grand scheme of things, all those monsters out there, all those demons of fear, the faceless enemies that keep you from acting - on faith, on understanding; acting at ALL really - they're silly little paper cutouts. 

Do all you can, for yourself, for others, and for that which you worship as god (food, money, other people's opinions, or God Hisownself), and if the lattermost happens to have the ability to, let it take care of that which you have no control over. 

--J.M. Gatewood
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