Facing Fears

Since this is all about enjoying life, few things make me happier or feel more alive than going to the circus. I'm not sure when it started, but when I was little my parents would take us to the Ringling Brothers anytime it would come to town.

So, every year that it comes to Nashville I head to get tickets. As I was sitting there last night with three of my closest friends my heart always skips a beat whenever the trapeze artists come out. I'm deathly afraid of heights. I've always said that if I was going to bungee jump or jump out of an airplane I'd have to be knocked out and pushed over. That is the only way you'd get me down. (Thus the reason I probably wouldn't be so great on the Amazing Race...)

So last night when Mr. Trapeze Man took off, I leaned over and asked my friend Karol, "How do you think they get past the fear?" She said, "Because they've already fallen and they know what it feels like." I said, "That's good." I realized there was so much truth in that statement. That so much of fear is what is perceived. It has nothing to do with truth. But everything to do with what we perceive might be.

Kind of like my mother Saturday night. I had gone out to dinner with friends and got in the car and saw that she had called me four times. She never calls me that much. But we had been talking earlier that day and I had to get off the phone because I was lost and had to figure out where I was going. She didn't hear from me again so had come to the conclusion that I was really lost! A perceived fear.

Gets me to wondering how many things in life I have missed because of a perceived fear. Wonder if I really would enjoy bungee jumping? I'm thinking not, but just for the sake of argument. I don't want to live my life afraid. I want to live my life in that perfect place of love that casts out all fear. Granted we need wisdom, but not fear. A healthy respect, but not fear. My friend Tommy said last night as we left the circus that it was that respect that kept them safe. Not fear.

My, what we can learn from the circus. May this new year be a year where our fears no longer hold us captive. May this be a new year where being alive and enjoying the moment is not apologized for. And may this be a year when we'd no longer live our lives by things we perceive, but only by things we know to be true. And when we're through let's grab some friends along for the ride. Granted I doubt we'll be as cute as this group, and hopefully not as large, but I've learned that living is a lot more enjoyable when you're doing it with others...