Becoming Fearless

Steinbeck once wrote that if one is never afraid, one can never be courageous. That idea frustrates me because I've always wanted to be fearless. That seems like it would be such a free state of being, to never be held back from anything out of fear.

I really like extreme sports, at least the ones I've tried, para-sailing, scuba diving, zip lining, cliff jumping, rock climbing.....maybe its because they give me this idea that I am being fearless. But I don't think those activities every elicited true fear in me, and without true fear there cannot be true courage, which I think is what
Steinbeck is getting at.

There are certain fears I think are programmed into us. I don't think anyone is born fearless. We have fears for our physical well being, fear of heights, fear of dangerous animals. We have fears for our emotional well being, fear of rejection, fear of loneliness. We have fears for our spiritual well being, fear of hell, fear of the unknown. I think we are faced with low levels of fear inducing stimuli on a daily basis. Sometimes we don't even recognize our responses as fear, we call it anxiety, stress, reflexes, or personality quirks. Whether or not we recognize it I think there are a few underlying fears that heavily influence the way we live our lives. Fear of failure, fear of ending up alone, fear of loss, fear of aging, fear of looking foolish, fear of poverty, fear of disease, fear of conflict.

I think Steinbeck knew that everyone is sometimes afraid. Anyone who isn't is lying or a fool. But I think the point is that it is necessary for one to experience real fear in order to ever know or display real courage. Only when one has experienced true fear can one possibly understand the immense courage it takes to choose a fearless response.

Denying fear is not courage. Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear - Ambrose Redmoon

Courage is finding a reason, and a means, to face fear. Courage is choosing not to be chained down by fear. Courage is recognizing fear, naming it, and overcoming it anyways, because we know that a life lived in fear is no life at all.

If fear is everything negative imaginable, all darkness, all sin, all terrible emotions, and if courage is everything good you can think of, then becoming fearless isn't about eliminating all fear from one's life. To be fearless is to be filled less with fear than with truth, hope, love, courage.

"For God did not give us a Spirit of fear or timidity, but a Spirit of love, power, and self discipline." 2 Timothy 1:7

Your love is like a waterfall.....

Overwhelming,

Uncontainable,

Unstoppable.

The Lord is our refuge and our strength, an ever present refuge in times of trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth may give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Psalm 46:1-3