Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
John 14:23-29
Fear
has been a very powerful force in my life, such a powerful force that I was
driven to write a book about how I have dealt with it so I could lay it all out
once and for all and take a good look at it. It was published last September. It
was entitled Between Courage and Cowardice:
Choosing to Hard Things for Your Own Good. It is an autobiography that traces
the personal battle that I have waged against the fears that have dominated my
life from age six to the present time and how I have, or have not, chosen to
stand up to them. It is a book that I
had always wanted to write, but one I was actually afraid to write. I almost gave up on it several times in the
process. It was like getting lost in tall weeds. To get it done, I had to once
again stand up to my own fear and cowardice and not let them talk me out of it.
Looking
back over my life in such an intense way, I realize that even today I am still battling
my fears. Finding myself standing
between courage and cowardice all the time, I still need to push myself to
choose doing the hard thing, rather than the easy thing, for my own good. It
still happens after all these years. I get on a plane by myself heading out to
some far-flung diocese to face hundreds of priests and bishops and realize that
I am overcome with fear and doubt – fear of rejection and doubt about my
capabilities.
Even
though I haven’t had a disaster yet, on the contrary appreciative acceptance, I
have the need to talk myself up and my demons down every time I take off on
another speaking trip. I can still
remember being paralyzed by the same fear and doubt before opening the box my
first published book arrived in – fear of rejection and doubt about my ability.
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
I
have come to believe that many people never become all they can be because of
two things. (1) They are intimidated by the judging voices of others. (2) They
are intimidated by their own self-doubting voice. Both voices say basically the same thing.
“Who are you to do such and such? Who
do you think you are, anyway? If these demons are not slain, we will end
up “settling” for a life marked by dullness. Angelina Jolie said this, "If you ask people what they've always wanted to do, most people haven't done it. That breaks my heart."
I
have learned the hard way that the secret to a rich and full life is to face
your fears, stand up to your own cowardice and do hard things for your own
good. What I have learned from years of doing that is that you end up amazed at
the great things that can happen to you, if you do!
Another
thing I have learned is that it takes an amazing amount of concentration of the
will to overcome embedded negative messages from childhood, but with dedicated
practice it is indeed possible to overcome even emotional abuse and psychological
neglect. I believe I am where I am today
because of my determination to not allow fear and doubt control me. I am very
happy that, with God’s grace and the help of good friends, I have been somewhat
successful!
The
third thing I have learned is that there is wisdom out there about overcoming
fear and self-doubt that others can share with us. As you know, I collect
motivational quotes and I regularly share some of my favorites on this subject on
my blog and in my homilies in hopes that you can learn from them as well.
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
Fear probably defeats more people than any other
one thing in the world. I once read that F-E-A-R stands for “fantasy events
appearing real.” I read somewhere that, statistically, about 90% of the things
we worry about never happen, so Jesus was right, “fear is useless, what is
needed is trust.” How we handle fear determines whether we experience adventure
or whether we are limited by the fear of it. Without scary, we don’t get to be
brave!
I would say that my life has been enriched every
time I have gotten up the guts to look fear in the face and say “No, you are
not going to run my life! I may fail, I may get hurt, I may be laughed at, but
again I might not, so be gone!”
Fellow believers! These words are spoken
to all of us today by Jesus himself. "Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” So I say to you, “Do not listen to the discounting voices of those who do not believe in
you! Do not listen to that discounting voice in your own head that does not
believe in you! Tell them both to shut up and listen instead to God’s encouraging
voice in your own heart – that tiny whispering voice that gets drowned out by the noise of the world – that tiny whispering voice that you may not be able to
hear because of the noisy, negative self-talk that goes on in your own head –
that tiny whispering voice of God who is telling you not to fear, but to be
strong! Take it from one who has been there! God has great plans for you – he
wants to take you to places you cannot even imagine for yourself! Do not let
fear hold you back from becoming who you really are and all that you can be!”
Henry Ford may have said it so well
when he said, “Those who think they can and those who think they can’t are both
right!”
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
