We stepped through the door of the laundry room in our newest rental property. My husband pointed to a hole in the back of the wall. “That’s the dryer vent,” he said, “And we’re going to clean it.”
He proceeded to unfold a series of flexible sticks with a brush on the end and cram it into the wall. I watched wide-eyed in my skinny jeans and new sweater.
After a few minutes, I got a chance to join the fun. “I’m going to pull the brush back out and I need you to stay by the hole in the wall and make sure it doesn’t get stuck.”
I crouched down, cute boots and all, and peered into the tiny black space in front of me.
Y’all, what hubby failed to mention is that when the brush gets ready to exit the building so does all the lint it’s collected. Do you remember the Monty Python movie when the soldiers are attacked by a killer rabbit? I had a flashback of that scene as the mother of all dust bunnies came flying out of the pipe and exploded all over me.
I got so startled I fell over. And I might have fainted if the sound of hysterical laughter from my husband hadn’t kept me conscious.
Because my life is one big analogy, I found myself pondering the dust bunny as I laid in bed that night. While my skinny jeans got covered in fluff, no real harm was done. I just felt like I’d been attacked by a killer rabbit. My reaction didn’t match the reality.
It’s often the same way with fear. What we imagine is often far worse than what comes to be. And even if it does happen, we discover we’re more resilient than we ever knew (and God is more faithful too). But the only way to find that out is to stare fear in the face and let it explode all over of us is needed. Not what we fear but the fear itself–which many times turns out to be worse.
What are you really afraid of?
And if that happened, then what?
And what about after that?
Keep going until you’ve gone all the way down the pipe of your fear and pulled every little bit back out. Then hold it in your hands and see if you’ve got a killer rabbit or a dust bunny. You might even find yourself laughing a bit about what you thought was in there.
The secret is not letting all of that fear grow in the dark.
Then stand up, wipe off your skinny jeans, hand it all to God and go out there and change the world…
I believe with all my heart you can.
* THANK YOU for helping my new book, You’re Already Amazing, go to #1 on the bestsellers list of Barnes & Noble.com! Woo-hoo! Haven’t gotten your copies yet? Amazon now has it half price for a limited time and you get free shipping when you order four (stock up for Easter and Mother’s Day gifts!). Y’all are wonderful. *
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