My apologies for not writing this last week! I spent Thanksgiving weekend with my family in Disneyland. We had such an incredible experience. I for one cannot adequately express just how much I love Disneyland! That may be a bit dramatic, but it is nevertheless true – that place provides an atmosphere and an inner feeling that is hard to reproduce anywhere else in life. The critic will complain about the crowds and the expensive nature of the park, and yes those critics are right, but when you successfully navigate both of those factors you are given an experience that is memorable and sustains you for months. There is magic in the park – you just have to let out your inner child and find it!
I attempted to write an article a few days ago about things I learned from the trip, but for some reason it just didn’t flow as it should have. Now, after a revelatory sequence of Sabbath meetings, I have found the topic that I need to write about! I hope it connects my thoughts from the last 2 weeks in an easy-to-follow manner.
I want to talk about “fear”. In my last article, I discussed what it means to “wait”, and I feel this topic today will bounce off of that. I might dare say that these two principles, when combined together and handled in the wrong way, can lead to a rather slippery slope and pull us down to where we don’t want to go. I hope what I say today can help us understand how to defeat fear.
Might I begin with a story:
At Disneyland there’s a roller coaster formerly called “California Screamin’” but now called the “Incredicoaster”, after the movie The Incredibles. This coaster is a fan-favorite in the park and one of my favorites all time. I was keen to ride it right away, but others in our party were not nearly as keen as I was – they may not admit it, but I would say fear was a dominant
factor in diminishing their keenness. However, after a bit of convincing and even begging, 4 of the 6 of us in the family agreed to ride. As soon as we did and the rush was over, those who had just an hour ago fought against riding changed their perspective and wanted to go again. After 2 more rides (which is difficult to do in busy Disneyland), we convinced the final 2 members of our party to come with us, and all 6 of us enjoyed the thrill ride together.
This reminds me of a favorite quote of mine from none other than the noble, the great, the wise – Will Smith. He tells of his experience with skydiving, which rivals the experience some of us had with the Incredicoaster. He says that the entire time leading up to the experience, he was terrified and did not want to go. But then, as soon as he was pushed out of the plane, that moment of fear becomes a moment of exhilaration. He then says something that has stuck with me, and quite honestly was a massive motivator for me on my Mission.
“God placed the best things in life on the other side of terror. After the moment of greatest fear comes the moment of greatest bliss.”
As soon as everyone got on that coaster, fear was gone! Fear could have prevented the thrill of the ride. In actuality, if fear did not even present itself during the ride, what was the purpose in letting it exist anyways?
When we fight fear, even as it stares us in the face, we experience growth and joy. What to us at the time seems like a great stumbling block becomes the opposition required to stretch us and help us reach our potential. Thank goodness we have fear, for without it, what would motivate us to stretch ourselves?
I have often thought of the 3 benchmark Christlike qualities – that being faith, hope, and charity – in this way:
Hope, the light at the end of a dark tunnel.
Faith, the action of stepping towards that light.
Charity, the power that not only propels us but changes us and others into who we need to be.
A good friend of mine summarized that thought for me into a picture.
Fear, manifest in myriads of other forms, is the ultimate opposer of these 3 qualities. The irony is that fear literally has no chance – none, absolutely none – against these qualities when we use them correctly. Fear is a façade. It is a holographic brick wall that stands in our way. It attempts to block our hope (the light) by diminishing our faith (our will to move towards the light). Once we realize it’s a façade, we can bypass it and continue on.
The trick is having the strength and making the decision when we stare that fear right in the face. Oh have I had fears since coming home from my mission! I look at where I want to be 5-10 years from now – graduated from college with a nice job, married with kids, living in my own place with my own car – and I realize that I have NO IDEA how to accomplish that! Well, I know how, but I don’t know how it will all work out. It’ll be scary getting back into school after so long outside of it, and it’s been scary already going on dates again! But I have learned some valuable lessons that get me through these fears.
Faith, hope and charity do more to defeat fear than anything else.
Faith: It has often been said that faith and fear cannot exist in the same place. It is important that we exercise faith when we are NOT fearful. Those consistent habits prepare us for when fear comes. For example, I have developed a rock-solid relationship with my Heavenly Father, a gift earned through years of consistent, daily, meaningful prayer. Now, as I face fears about school and everything else, I have something to rely on. Had I not exercised diligent faith unto prayer for years before now, I would not be in the position that I am in now to consult my Heavenly Father for help. And so too in many other ways – when we act with trust in something or someone greater than us, we conquer our fear.
Hope: Having a light to stare at, something to hope for, can deliver us from the darkness of fear. A good friend in her mission homecoming talk shared a principle similar to this today. She said that sometimes it’s enough just to hear that things will be okay – they may not be at the time, but they will be someday. While fear makes us focus on the darkness of a present moment, hope chooses to highlight the potential for a bright future – potential that can be realized because we follow Jesus Christ. If He is our focus – He who is “light everlasting” – no fear can ever be strong enough to block that light.
Charity: In a form of “spiritual alchemy”, we are promised that by extending ourselves to serve others, we look in the mirror and find that there is more of us than there was to begin with. By sacrificing, we actually gain much more than we lost. That power of being charitable towards others also does much to dispel fear. Fear demands that we look into ourselves – our own weaknesses, our own bad luck, our own despair – while charity invites us to look outside of that and lift others. A favorite quote from none other than Mickey Mouse – one who is wiser than even Will Smith – goes like this:
“Sometimes you care so much for somebody that other feelings disappear. And then, there’s no room for fear or doubt”
When our souls are filled with nothing but love for others and ourselves, fear has no place. Charity is the fuel on which faith and hope function, creating an engine that obliterates fear in all of its nasty forms.
When fear seems to overwhelm us, as it has me many times, let us remember that it is a façade. Hiding behind that façade are all of life’s greatest blessings and joys. As we develop faith, hope and charity on a daily basis, we will be prepared to face life’s fears.
A question for us to ponder: What can we achieve if none of our decisions and actions are short-changed by fear?
Love you all heaps!
Adam Simpson
Thanks Elder Simpson!!!! :D your blog is AMAZING!!! thanks for taking the time to do this :)