Fear Sabotages Flourishing

About three weeks ago, I did something that I have never done before. I signed up for a 5K race for the morning of Thanksgiving. I decided it’s about time I put my “positive thinking” to the test. You can read more about it in my post I Am What I Dream To Be.

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t just sign up and think that was going to make me a runner. I had developed a plan to prepare for it and with my plan I fully expected that I would in fact run a 5K on Thanksgiving Day. It’s been three weeks and I’ve been using the Couch to 5K app to help me train. Ironically, the very thing that I struggled with in the past—running—I now am starting to crave. Yes, if I go more than three days without running, I really start to feel sluggish. It’s amazing to think that the fears that kept me from running really hid something that I needed and I am really beginning to love it more and more. What is exciting in that is that my fears no longer are sabotaging my ability to flourish. I’ve realized, “When I’m just being myself—it’s good enough to be great! God made me a certain way and I just gotta be that!” —Brian Buffini

It’s funny because I think that fear does that to us in a number of ways. I heard a compelling story yesterday about some kids that were going on a family mission trip. Their parents were talking with them before the trip and they wisely asked their children, “So what is the thing that you are most afraid of?” For these kids, they were going to be ministering in a nursing home and for them they were afraid of what it would be like. You see these kids had healthy grandparents—so they didn’t have any prior experience with nursing homes. On the way home from their week of service, the family debriefed their experience and hands down the kids most favorite part was serving in the nursing home. I was so proud of those kids and those parents because they stepped into their fears and what happened? They flourished. They served others with all they had to offer and in return—they loved it too.

So my journey of walking in the truth—I am a runner—it’s produced in me an expectant heart. It’s awakened in a me a new awareness. I’m not dwelling on the past, but allowing it to point me to a better future. It’s helped me to look more closely at where there are other fears in my life.  What could these fears possibly be? Are they hiding from me gifts and blessings? My eyes are being opened to the possibilities of becoming more and more The Best Me. How about you? What might be some fears that are sabotaging you from flourishing in a healthy way?