So, Like, What Are You Afraid Of?

Yesterday my 60-something mother took her first plane ride. 

Ever since I've known her (a considerable time) she's proclaimed she would never, ever, fly in a plane. No way. Don't even go there. My dad, though, had flown before, you know, when he was in the Navy--back in the 1950's.

Somehow my brother talked our ground-loving parents into flying out to see him in Texas. Kudos to him. My mother said she'd go through with it because she's older now and is prepared to go to Heaven if they crash. 

Good ol' optimistic Mom.

Fear. There's a good, common-sense kind and a life-spoiling, regret-making kind. I hate that latter one.

There's a saying: "It's never too late to be what you might have been."

Huh! Try becoming a gymnast, a firefighter or a professional football player when you are 50 and you've just sat in a chair eating pretzels  for the last 40 years. Try becoming a young and up-and-coming executive when you are no longer young and instead, clueless. Unmotivated.

Lesson? Whatever you are afraid of--get over it. Now.

Here's a 'saying' which is true:

We have different gifts, according to the grace given us....Romans 12:6

The most famous people throughout history--the inventors, great thinkers, world-changers-- are remembered partly for their inventions, changes, but also? For fulfilling precisely what God created them to do. 

Have you ever watched someone, or read what an author wrote and been struck by the thought, "He's doing exactly what he was meant to do on this Earth."? You stare at what he's accomplished and it's as perfect as can be in this imperfect world. 

It rings true somewhere inside you and you almost shiver with awe.

Well, what are you waiting for? Don't you think it's time to do what you were put here to do? I hope you're not waiting for all the fear to go away--God is huge about this helping us walk on water stuff. He purposely gives us something to do that's beyond our own ability so that we'll always need His capable hand. And if He's in the mix we will accomplish incredible feats.

In the words of that great philosopher, Nike-- Just do it.

The rest of us are waiting for the pleasure, the help we'll derive from watching you fulfill your calling.



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