{"id":335,"date":"2010-05-21T13:43:41","date_gmt":"2010-05-21T19:43:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/raincitypastor.wordpress.com\/?p=335"},"modified":"2010-05-21T13:43:41","modified_gmt":"2010-05-21T19:43:41","slug":"perhaps-the-paralysis-of-fear-and-power-of-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/2010\/05\/21\/perhaps-the-paralysis-of-fear-and-power-of-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"“Perhaps” – the paralysis of fear, and power of risk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

If you\u2019re climbing a rock face, the thing that spares you from death in the event of a fall is your protection (which is some sort of anchor you put in the rock that will put an end to your falling). \u00a0Of course, the higher you climb beyond your last piece of protection, the farther you\u2019ll fall if you fail. \u00a0This can have the effect of unnerving the climber, which ultimately negates the climber\u2019s skills, causing him\/her to freeze with fear and eventually fall.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s terrible irony that the very thing they fear, ends up happening, precisely because they\u2019re afraid of it happening. \u00a0\u201cFear\u201d it turns out, is one of the worst enemies, just as Roosevel<\/a>t, and Joshua<\/a>, and the angel<\/a> all said. \u00a0It has the power to strip us of our capacities, freezing out the kind of risk necessary someone\u2019s going to embody the generous, just, wall breaking, bridge building, life restoring character of Jesus. \u00a0Live too carefully, and you\u2019ll end up looking religious instead of righteous \u2013 painfully boring, and ridden with anxiety.<\/p>\n

I think we usually become better at careful living the older we get, because acquiring more<\/em> is the social equivalent of climbing higher. \u00a0As we amass stuff, or social status, or net worth, it becomes increasingly tempting to live carefully, fearful as we are of losing what we\u2019ve worked hard to acquire. \u00a0But we didn\u2019t acquire much of anything by living fearfully, and so we run the risk, like the climber, of substituting \u2018prudence\u2019 for courage, of \u2018moderation\u2019 for wise risk. \u00a0If our motive in so downsizing is \u2018preservation\u2019, we\u2019ve lost already, even if we win. \u00a0Risk is inherent in any worthwhile endeavor and the old man Caleb reminds us<\/a> that we needn\u2019t lose our stomach for it as we grow old, or climb higher.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d suggest that this \u2018fear of loss\u2019 weighs, not only on families, but on the psyche of entire nations. \u00a0Recent gridlocks in our nation\u2019s capitol are rooted in, among other things, a fear that any course of action will run the risk of loss. \u00a0We don\u2019t want to raise taxes or cut revenue, for fear of losing \u2013 votes, popularity with the voters, security. \u00a0We don\u2019t want to regulate banking for fear of losing \u2013 political favor with lobbyists, the mirage of greed free \u201cfree markets\u201d, whatever. \u00a0So we freeze, or act so feebly that our actions are functionally meaningless. \u00a0We\u2019re like the climber on the rock face, thirty feet above his last piece of protection and too afraid to go up or down. \u00a0He\u2019ll remain there until his strength gives out, and then he\u2019ll do what all people paralyzed with fear do: he\u2019ll fall.<\/p>\n

Jonathan took on an entire garrison with this scant assurance: \u00a0\u201cPerhaps the Lord will work for us\u2026\u201d \u00a0He know that the important thing wasn\u2019t succeeding or failing, but doing the right thing. \u00a0He knew that falling while trying something great was better than freezing and not trying anything at all because of fear.<\/p>\n

The degree to which fear \u2013 of loss, or failure, or rejection, infects us, both individually and in our national psyche, is astonishing. \u00a0We hear it in daily conversations, see it in the way news is delivered, and live it by staying home and watching TV when there are whole truckloads of living to be done. \u00a0And sitting there in our fear, you know what will happen: our fears will come true.<\/p>\n

One simple verse in Psalm 73<\/a> is, for me, the most powerful antidote to fear: \u00a0\u201cWho do I have in heaven but you O Lord, and having you I desire nothing else on earth.\u201d<\/strong><\/em> If Christ is meaningful to me, the real basis of satisfaction, then I\u2019m liberated from needing $$ success, or the perfect reputation, or success in every endeavor \u2013 I\u2019m free to climb \u2013 both literally and metaphorically, knowing that weather I land at the top, or in a heap, my most important Companion will be there with me. \u00a0And that, it seems, ought to be enough. \u00a0 This is the \u201cwhy\u201d of intimacy with Christ: a byproduct of intimacy is contentment, and a by-product of contentment is courage, and courage, God knows, is what we all need these days.<\/p>\n

I welcome your thoughts.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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