In Jeff's comment on my refusal to set goals which required jumping out of perfectly good aircraft, he came up with a plausible and essentially possible goal of overcoming my fear of heights. Unfortunately, I misspoke (miss-wrote?) when I said that I had a fear of heights. If I truly had a fear of heights, the goal of "overcoming my fear" might be a good one.
But in reality, I learned in my youth, that my fear is not actually one of heights (acrophobia) but one of falling (bathophobia = fear of falling from a high place). You (and Jeff) may say, "so what." The goal of overcoming the fear is still a good one. You may even argue that overcoming one's fears is a noble goal, a good goal. But, I wonder.
When we discuss our talents and abilities, our gifts and riches - we quickly (and rightly) give credit to God for these. So, the question is, do only the obvious good things come from God? or do all of our natural traits come from Him? Perhaps the fear of falling is a gift from God as much as other gifts are. Perhaps it's God's way of keeping me from doing something ridiculous, like jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft, bungee jumping, or leaning periously over the edge of a tall building.
Recently, a small business owner in our neighborhood tragically died at a young age (he was around my age) from simply working (as I'm sure he did every year) on the vent system of his Dairy Queen. The vent was on the roof. He fell, struck his head, and summarily died.
My fear of falling doesn't keep me from climbing a ladder, or even working on the chimney of my two story house. What it does keep me from doing is working on it if there is ice on the roof, or doing it in a haphazard manner. I do it VERY carefully and with a healthy respect for the unstoppable power of gravity. Fear is not a bad thing...it has kept the human species alive in the face of danger for centuries.
Fear is not to be overcome, it is to be respected and managed. It is to be used to make us stronger. Fear makes us weary and careful. Facing our fears makes us stronger. Overcoming it though? I would propose that we should never seek to "overcome" our fears, but to instead leverage them. Facing your fears and not letting them overcome you is the definition of courage. Having no fear is the definition of insanity.
As always, your comments are welcome.
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When I talk about "overcoming" fears, I don't really mean eradicating them completely, I simply mean stretching yourself by doing something you're afraid of. Given that your fear is actually of falling, not heights, I wouldn't consider it as important, though I would still personally recommend Bungee-Jumping (I think sky-diving may actually be somewhat dangerous), just as a way to overcome your fear.
ReplyDeleteI think there is a difference between caution and fear. If something makes you nervous, makes you cautious, or makes you think twice, that's fine. If you are truly afraid of something though, I don't believe that comes from God. God tells us repeatedly not to be afraid (Over 100 times listed at http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_times_does_the_Bible_tell_us_to_Fear_Not), and I find it to be one of the primary recurring themes in the Bible.
Just my .02