Year of NO FEAR

Catchy little slogan for my new years resolution.

I can kind of picture a Nike swoosh along side of it or something cool and very commercial.

Actually, my son Grant suggested we all have a fire on New Years day..."a fire where we write down emotions and painful things from the past year...and then we burn the slips of paper."  What a cool idea for a 17 year old I thought and very deep and profound.  When Grant is "in" with an idea everyone else wants to be a part of that activity..good thing he proposed it and not me.

I started to think about this past year and I wanted to make my thoughts count.  My daughters were writing feverishly.  The pressure was on....Michelle had some great and profound truths to share.

My grand thought?  I am tired of going through life and worrying about what people think, how to act and engage others socially, afraid for my children and their future, afraid of the past and missed opportunities...every where I turn it's always more fear.

In the Bible "fear not" is mentioned more than 350 times yet somehow the deep soaking realization never penetrates.

I wrote that four letter word down F-E-A-R.


So much of life is a mindset and we wear a groove with whatever it has become.  Time for a new groove and new track,,,,heck..time for a new day...new beginnings.

I watched the paper burn and the ashes rise into the cold January sky...wifts of smokey prayers rising from hopeful people.  God, I just don't want to be afraid of things....I want to trust you in all things. And there it is...it boils down to that truth...I want to trust Him in all things.  If we are honest that is difficult and the more the waves roll in and the storms of life shake our lives...the more that faith and trust are tested.

Someone said to me when I lost my job two years ago "now you are blessed because you are going to know the blessing of having everything stripped away from you."  I don't know if I agree wholeheartedly but I do know the more we live day to day...the more I have to look to God and my faith and trust each day...there are no laid back moments.  I see where he was coming from. It forces me to acknowledge Him more because I am not relying on my own abilities alone.  In life when there has been an abundance I find myself furthest from Him relationally.

And so 2012 has become my year of "NO FEAR"....no I am not a surfer painting this message on my t shirts and wake board....just painting it on my heart and mind to not ride emotions up and down as much because I have seen God open doors that never existed and create windows out of nothing...bring pieces together that don't go together but he uses everything in combinations we never imagined would happen. It's all a strange and wonderful recipe....I know now that I have put it out there that I will be tested to see if it's sincere.......

That was a great way to start the year...short ceremony...long in thought...giving up regrets...and pressing on in this journey.  No Fear......