Feeling Powerless

All I have to do to feel powerless is read the media for a while.

There is so much awful news out there and it is collected and documented so well that it’s exhausting. It can squeeze the energy right out of you. The scope of the bad news is overwhelming all by itself but the intensity of the feelings it provokes feels like a fire inside. The urgency of the message demands action but I don’t know where to begin.

So, I don’t.

I forget about the power of Almighty God. I bury the lessons of the most difficult times in my life beneath an intense mound of emotion. I forget who I am. I make excuses and plans (which can also be excuses) and I feel inadequate to the task.

I make lists and I write. I read new books. I pray. I clearly see what needs to be done but by the time I write it all out the day is gone.

I tell myself I need more money (true) or more time (true) or that I’m not qualified to save the world (undoubtedly true) or that nobody cares (definitely not true!) I point out the better things I should be doing and say it’s not my fault.

But it probably is. At least part of it.

Because, after all of my thinking and planning and worrying and praying, if I don’t do anything then I might as well have just chucked it all and gone to the beach. And I hate the beach.

Action Kills Fear

So, I guess I might as well just do something.

Because doing something has a curious effect. Doing something kills fear. I know this to be fact scientifically and by hard personal experience. I know this to be true spiritually. Action requires so much of our attention and energy that very little is left to feed the fire of fear.

So fear smolders out. Soon, the blazing fire is just a pile of cold ashes. Nothing more.

The Good Remains

But from the ashes of fear rises the phoenix of determination. Hope sits untarnished in the burned-out emotions, purified by the flames. Courage has been forged in the crucible. Love is untouched and even refined in the furnace. All the good things remain.

We are born to action.

Life moves. God breathes it into us. Faith laughs at the test which scared us so because Faith sees the victory ahead and celebrates the coming joy.

This is the beginning of my joy. This is the start of my new adventure. My feet stepping quietly onto the trail in faith with a new song in my heart. May it be a song of praise to the Lord most high.