The "F" Word

It's that dirty little F-word that compels us to do things we wouldn't dream of doing were we in our right minds...that dirty little F-word that makes us turn on people we love and scream at strangers, run from our responsibilities, hide in closets, hoard our possessions, lock our doors to keep out strangers, and generally behave badly.  It's that dirty little F-word that makes our stomachs churn and keeps us up at night.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt said we've nothing but this dirty little F-word to fear, and he was right, of course.

These days Science is telling us a lot about this dirty little F-word; that it's been a part of our survival tool box for a long, long time, that without it we would likely die out as a species, that the part of our brains that reacts to perceived threats--the so-called "reptilian" brain continues to be an important part of our personal survival...and who would argue.  "Duck and cover" or "run like hell" seem to me to be appropriate fear responses in our 2nd Amendment obsessed, fear-driven society.  

But we're also learning that, in many ways, this dirty little F-bomb of a word can truly be the death of us.

So the next time you find yourself pacing the floor..maybe you can stop for just a moment, and ask yourself what it is that you fear.  Is it something over which you have no control?  Then perhaps your energy would be better spent on something more constructive than wearing a hole in the carpet.  

And the the next time you're rolling around in the sheets with the fear of that which may never even happen keeping you wide awake...maybe take a moment in the wee small hours of the morning to consider that love--as trite as it may sound--may truly be the answer.

And maybe the next time it seems that life is crashing down around your ears your eyes will be opened to a new reality, and you will see that it was a house of cards all along, and that the only constant in this world God made is the foundational love God has for it...for US...for YOU.

It's all a big risk, of course.  And what you're giving up may be your life.  But who knows?  In giving up your life...you may just find it.

And what's to fear in that?

For you see, in the inevitable end, God has already won--love will never die....and you have nothing at all to fear--not even fear itself.