"be the love, that fear flees...."

"fear is a liar..."

Zach Williams'  "Fear is a Liar,"  is the perfect keynote for this very short post.

This morning, while listening for a divinely-guided sense of purpose in my day, it was this short statement that rose from silence:

"be the love,
that fear flees..."

That was it. As short and simple as a message could be. But it was enough. Love always is. Love isn't asking us to battle with fear. Love is asking us to trust Its Scriptural promise that:

"there is no fear
in love, but perfect love
casts out fear..."

Love isn't a weapon we wield in the face of fear. Love is the presence that fear flees in the face of.

This Love is not a human endeavor. This Love is not an emotional magic trick that we pull out of our hearts. This Love is a power as irresistible and irrevocable as gravity.

It is trust. It is faith. It is the Truth in all truths. It is the infant's curled hand around the finger of the father humbled and weeping in the face of her first touch. It is the shelter dog wiggling like a puppy when he knows he is going "home."

This love is a yielding, not a working at something. This love is restful, it is not filled with human effort. And this true and undeniable love, starts with the realization that there is Something invisible and indivisible at work in the universe - and it is not our thinking about Love, it is Love itself.

Fear cannot oppose this Love. In its omnipresence, fear flees. Fear doesn't need to be chased out. It doesn't need to be battled against, wrestled with, or approached with trepidation. Wherever this Love walks, fear flees. And this Love walks in the dark cavernous places of our blindness, with as much confidence as it does in the light of our sacred sanctuaries. This Love knows no place where Its presence is not known, felt, and surrendered to in complete abject awe.

We think we are afraid of something - disease, anger, pain, lack.  For example:  "I am afraid of ______, and when ______ is eradicated, I will no longer be afraid."  We think that when this scary somethingness is reduced to rubble, kicked out of our bodies, replaced with a better version of reality -- we will no longer be afraid. We think that fear is the result of something bad being present in our lives.  Get rid of the something and fear will go away.  Not true.

Fear is not an effect.  It is not the outcome - or result - of disease, lack, hatred, conflict, disaster. Fear is at their root.  But like the weed that it is, its root is benign, surface, easily kicked up from the dustbowl of its nothingness.  It may produce a large head of tumbleweed - but it has no hold.  The cultivation of the heart's rich soil releases it. And with Love's sure release, the dandelion heads of disease, lack, etc. are reduced to their native nothingness.

When we are so transfixed and deeply in love with our one first and true Love - God, fear slinks away. It has no voice, no threat, no power to disturb the heart that rests in the arms of the one Love that it knows nothing can separate it from.

offered with Love,

Cate 

"fear is a liar..."

"When he told you - you’re not worthy,
when he told you - you’re not loved,
when he told you - you’re not beautiful,
that you’ll never be enough;

Fear - is a liar..."

I had never heard of Zach Williams. But after watching the "Fear is a Liar," video -- his music ministry in now on my playlist.

I love the message of this song. It resonates with everything that I have come to trust. Fear is not a condition. It is a simply a proposal, a suggestion, an invitation, a lie. And it is never in you -- or me.

In First John, Chapter 4 we read:

"There is no fear in Love."

But this isn't what we are led to believe.  It is the opposite of the narrative we are sold continuously.  For example, I remember, as a young mother, feeling vulnerable because I loved my daughter so much. I interpreted the fierce feelings I experienced - every time she was out of my sight - as "fear." I thought that I was afraid, because I loved her so much.

One morning, when she was getting ready for preschool, I was almost paralyzed by feelings that I interpreted as fear. I thought that my fear for her safety and well-being, was weakening my ability to pray effectively for her. As she ate her breakfast, I opened my Bible at the kitchen table. It fell open to the above passage from I John. And for the first time it struck me that this was not a suggestion, but a promise.  I only needed to accept it.

I had a choice to make. I either believed that I loved my daughter, or I believed that I was afraid. I couldn't have it both ways. There is no fear in love. So, if I loved her, I was not afraid. Period. Well, there was no question. I absolutely knew that I loved my daughter -- I had not a single shred of doubt about it. So then it followed that I had to absolutely know -- with all my being -- that i was not afraid.

Now that didn't mean that I wasn't experiencing some pretty strong feelings.  I was. But, if those feelings weren't fear, what were they?  I realized that needed to move John's inspired promise, from the inspirational to the practical.

I took the time to be still and ask what those feelings might be - if, in fact, they weren't fear. It came so quickly, that it almost took my breath away. I knew in an instant that those feelings were a fierce love -- ones that made me feel as if I might dissolve. But that dissolution was not a falling apart -- no, it was the falling away of the ego. It was a complete surrender of self-determinism, to the presence and power of God - of Love. It was an on-your-knees submission to grace.

In that moment, fear proved itself to be a liar. It had been insisting that because I was afraid, my daughter was vulnerable. It was saying that because I was afraid, I was a sub-standard mom. It was hissing that because I was feeling afraid, it actually meant something -- and that something, was not good. But I was not afraid, I loved her -- and I loved her fiercely.

Fear is a liar. It terrorizes and bullies. But it cannot carry out even one of its dark threats. All it can do is suggest to us that we fold up our tent and go home. That we turn tail and run. That we curl up in a fetal position and self-sabatogue our relationships, well-being, hopes, and dreams by -- well, by just not showing up.

That's where love comes in and flicks fear away like the gnat of nothingness it is. Love is fierce. A mother doesn't curl in a ball when her child needs her. A teacher doesn't run from someone threatening her classroom full of kindergartners. A father doesn't worry about his own well-being while defending his daughter's honor. Love is not afraid -- ever.

Fear is a liar because it tries to tell us that we are weak, vulnerable, and fragile.  But Love -- fear's opposite -- gives a mother the power to lift a car off her child's foot.  It give a teacher the courage to face down a gunman stalking her classroom.

We all love.  And love is the greatest power in the universe. The tiniest infant loves. The most abused puppy responds to love. The most notorious criminal will give himself up to protect his mother. Love always wins. Fear always lies -- and loses.

In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, says that the angel Gabriel has:

"the more quiet task of imparting a sense
of the ever-presence of ministering love"

And then, right on the heels of this statement she says:

"The Gabriel of His presence has no contests.

To infinite, ever-present Love, all is Love,
and there is no error, no sin, sickness, nor death."

And therefore, there is not a modicum, a morsel, or a molecule of fear. To infinite, ever-present Love, there is no fear. It is not that Love fights fear and wins. There is simply no fear in Love -- fear has no place in the presence of Love. It cannot exist in the atmosphere of Love, anymore than mold can exist in sunshine, or darkness can live in the light.

Fear is a liar. And when we know this -- we stop letting it push us around. We stand up to its bullying and refuse to surrender to it's ridiculous threats. Because Love is true, and fear is a liar.

offered with Love,

Cate

"fear is a liar..."

"When he told you - you’re not worthy,
when he told you - you’re not loved,
when he told you - you’re not beautiful,
that you’ll never be enough;

Fear - is a liar..."

I had never heard of Zach Williams. But after watching his  "Fear is a Liar," video -- his music ministry in now on my playlist.

I love the message of this song. It resonates with everything that I have come to trust. Fear is not a condition. It is a proposal, a suggestion, an invitation, a lie. And it is never in you -- or me.

In First John, Chapter 4 we read:

"There is no fear in Love."

But this isn't what we are led to believe.  It is the opposite of the narrative we are sold continuously.  For example, I remember, as a young mother, feeling vulnerable because I loved my daughter so much. I interpreted the fierce feelings I experienced every time she was out of my sight as "fear." I thought that I was afraid, because I loved her so much.

One morning, when she was getting ready for preschool, I was almost paralyzed by feelings that I interpreted as fear. I thought that my fear for her safety and well-being, was weakening my ability to pray effectively for her. As she ate her breakfast, I opened my Bible at the kitchen table. It fell open to the above passage from I John. And for the first time it struck me that this was not a suggestion, but a promise.  I only needed to accept it.

I had a choice to make. I either believed that I loved my daughter, or I believed that I was afraid. I couldn't have it both ways. There is no fear in love. If I loved, I was not afraid. Period. Well, I absolutely knew that I loved my daughter -- I had not a single shred of doubt about that. So then it followed that I had to absolutely know -- with all my being -- that i was not afraid.

Now that didn't mean that I wasn't experiencing some pretty strong feelings.  I was. So if those feelings weren't fear, what were they?  I realized that needed to move John's inspired promise, from the inspirational to the practical.  I took the time to be still and asked what those feelings might be, if they weren't fear. It came so quickly it almost took my breath away. I knew in an instant that those feelings were a fierce love -- ones that made me feel as if I might dissolve. But that dissolution was not a falling apart, but the falling away of the ego. It was a complete surrender of self-determinism, to the presence and power of God. It was an on-your-knees submission to grace.

In that moment, fear proved itself to be a liar. It had been insisting that because I was afraid, she was vulnerable. It was saying that because I was afraid, I was a sub-standard mom. It was hissing that because I was afraid, it actually meant something -- and that something, was not good. But I was not afraid, I loved her -- and I loved her fiercely.

Fear is a liar. It terrorizes and bullies. But it cannot carry out even one of its dark threats. All it can do is suggest to us that we fold up our tent and go home. That we turn tail and run. That we curl up in a fetal position and self-sabatogue our relationships, well-being, hopes, and dreams by -- well, by just not showing up.

That's where love comes in and flicks fear away like the nothingness it is. Love is fierce. A mother doesn't curl in a ball when her child needs her. A teacher doesn't run from someone threatening her classroom full of kindergartners. A father doesn't worry about his own well-being in defending his daughter's honor. Love is not afraid -- ever.

Fear is a liar because it tries to tell us that we are weak, vulnerable, and fragile.  But Love -- fear's opposite -- gives a mom the power to lift a car off her child's foot.  We all love.  And love is the greatest power in the universe. The tiniest infant loves. The most abused puppy responds to love. The most notorious criminal will give himself up to protect his mother. Love always wins. Fear always lies -- and loses.

In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, says that the angel Gabriel has:

"the more quiet task of imparting a sense
of the ever-presence of ministering love"

And then, right on the heels of this statement she says:

"The Gabriel of His presence has no contests.

To infinite, ever-present Love, all is Love,
and there is no error, no sin, sickness, nor death."

And therefore, there is not a modicum, a morsel, or a molecule of fear. To infinite, ever-present Love, there is no fear. It is not that Love fights fear and wins. There is simply no fear in Love -- or to Love. It cannot exist in the atmosphere of Love, anymore than mold can exist in sunshine, or darkness can live in the light.

Fear is a liar. And when we know this -- we stop letting it push us around. We stand up to its bullying and refuse to surrender to it's ridiculous threats. Because the Love is true, fear is a liar.

offered with Love,

Kate