What Are You Afraid Of?

I know what you’re afraid of.  No I am not talking about, bugs, gators, snakes, spiders, all those common things we say we’re afraid of. There are as many phobias, it seems, as there are people who populate the planet.  But I know what you’re afraid of, really, really at the core, down deep inside, in the inner sanctum where only you and God reside.  It’s not the fear of dying.   It’s not the fear of poverty, or even the fear of sickness.  It’s not the fear of being hurt.  It’s not the fear of never becoming a millionaire.  It is, though, the fear that we all share.  And that is, the fear of being insignificant.

You know that fear.  It starts early in life when you wake up to realize that unlike the safe cocoon your parents have provided, the world chooses up sides.  Some people get picked, others don’t.  Some people are beautiful, others aren’t.  Some people have athletic bodies, given to them by nature; unearned but much applauded by those who look on.  The rest of us have bodies that we constantly fight just to keep in line for the rest of our lives.

And as you filter through these emotions you have when you go to school, and middle school and then on to high school, and on to college, you soon realize that your greatest fear is that you’ll be irrelevant, insignificant; that the world won’t be any different except deplenished by the little space you are taking up.

That’s why you want to be listened to.  That’s why you want to create stuff that reflects the inner you; your conviction, your knowledge, your understanding, your views of the way the world should work.  That’s why you want to create beauty.  That’s why you’re unsatisfied with the status quo. That’s why you want to change things and make them better. That’s why you come in to a room and think, “I would have chosen a different color, a different sofa.  I certainly wouldn’t have hung those pictures.”  Is that you being arrogant?  Not at all. That’s you being you.

Believe it or not, we’re all created creative; created in the image of our Maker, the ultimate, generous artist, the One Who creates ultimate beauty, the One Who can take the blackest night and turn it into the brilliance of a sunlit day.  A God Who can take broken lives and mend them and turn them into a song, in to a crescendo of praise and goodness.  That same God created you.  Stuffed inside your human body is a heart and soul, a mind, a unique combination unlike we’ve ever seen before.  And you’re dying to be heard.  You’re dying to let what you know out to inform the world and make it a better place.

The question is, why don’t you?  The answer is, you fear, by everything you’ve seen and heard, that you were one of the unlucky ones, created without significance, without gifts, without talents, without anything to crow about, without any reason to “moo” out loud.

Let’s face it.  Since you were born, you’ve been told to stand in line, behave, wear your seat belt, put on a helmet and prepare for the worst.  Thinking crazy thoughts and drawing weird paintings is ok when you’re in the first, second, or third grade.  But by the fourth grade, you’ve got to get with the program.  And what is the program?  The program to bring you into conformity and convention. Yuck. Just saying those to words leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

If you’re going to “moo” out loud, add your verse, make a difference in the world, you’re going to have to learn to defy convention and conformity. They are not your friends.