Tripping Over Typeset

It was raining like crazy today and Matt seriously has a moat around his tower fort in the backyard.

I have vowed to go nowhere.

My ½ and ½ is running low and I’m out of flavored coffee…. but I’ve got a Dunkin’ Donut bag stashed away in the freezer so I think we can hold off the store emergency errand for another day.

It’s days like these when I want to hunker down, drink something warm and cuddle with a good book.  But with no place to go it’s a great day to get some writing and computer work done that is looming over my head.

It’s a toss-up on which will win out.

One choice takes little energy or effort on my part.  I can get lost in a book, hunker down and no one will know I savored the day away except you because I write it and you read it.

The other option is sitting down and plunking things out on the keyboard… that takes effort.  That takes focus and it takes work.

Words don’t always come easy.  And there’s the self-doubt whispering “This doesn’t matter anyway.”

That’s what fear likes to whisper. It keeps us hunkered down.

It’s comfortable to hide away.

It’s uncomfortable to put ourselves out there and step into something new.

And maybe your thing isn’t typing out words.

Maybe yours is inviting others over and opening up your home.

Maybe it’s attending that new group at church where you’re not sure who will be there, what will happen, who will talk to you and what they will think of you…. And you’re biggest fear is going it alone.

You may not know this about me but I hate going places alone.  Seriously… I get quiet, sweaty and literally clam up.  I stand against the wall and search for anyone I know…anyone else who looks alone.

I whip out my phone and pretend I’m doing something important before someone in the crowd of people sees the neon sign flashing… “I’M HERE ALONE!”

Recently I attended a ladies’ event…. alone!  I almost backed out.

I knew some ladies who were going to be there. And yes, they would call me their friend.  But they all had their own friends from their own church and their own small groups.

No one from my church was going.  No one from my crowd of people would be there. I was going alone.

I wanted to hunker down and stay home but the weather was fine so I had no excuse.  And to top it all off, in an-optimistic-moment weeks before, I had said “sure” to volunteer as a discussion group leader.  Now I couldn’t back out.  They were counting on me.

I had to go.

I am not always brave.  In fact, I’m rarely brave.

Yet I’m learning I need to be brave.

Brave is stepping out from the wall and saying “Hi”

Brave is typing out words even if it doesn’t seem profound, brilliant or awe-inspiring.

Brave is having faith that the process of taking that next step will bring us to the next one…. the step of persevering and overcoming the fear that holds us back.

As we overcome, we gain faith to do more.

Our imagination and fear can override the truth He has for us.  And when that happens we hunker down and stay comfortable.

Yet there’s a quiet whisper inside that speaks… “You are more than this.  I have more for you.” 

“Being brave is uncomfortable… brave will stretch you…  but you’ll grow and you will become more than you imagine now and more than you think you can.”   He whispers that to us.

God can do anything. Far more than you could ever imagine, or guess or request in your wildest dreams!  He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. – Ephesians 3:20 (The Message)

So today, friend, be brave.  Walk in the confidence that you are not alone.  He doesn’t leave us standing against the wall but He gently leads us to greater things for our good.

Jump into the conversation:

• What keeps you from stepping out into something new?
• In what areas do you need to be brave?
• How have you learned to be brave when you would rather hunker down and stay comfortable?