I'm pretty sure I could have one of the strangest fears of all fears... The fear of being too happy.
I love Reba. I'm not necessarily talking about Reba McEntire the country singer (even though she is one of the classiest women in entertainment.) But I love Reba, the sitcom. In one of the episodes, Reba perfectly described this very unique fear of mine... 'the going good blues.'
What are the 'going good blues'?
"The feeling we all get when things are going really good, but we're just waiting for things to go bad." ~Reba
"The feeling we all get when things are going really good, but we're just waiting for things to go bad." ~Reba
Perhaps my fear isn't necessarily of being happy as much as what comes after the natural high of things going well, feeling blessed, and having fun. If I allow myself to feel joy, success, enjoyment, satisfaction, delight, contentment... Then sadness, grief, disappointment, dissatisfaction, and discontentment might soon follow.
That's really what I want to avoid.
However, I can tell you from experience that completely shutting off emotions in order to avoid the negative feelings is also not a fun place to be. It's lonely there and there's no satisfaction in it.
It is not the Lord's will that we live in fear, especially the fear of being happy. He wants us to celebrate the blessings He has given us and the salvation we have found in Him. Christ tells us in John, "I have spoken these things to you so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete." (John 15:11)
So, in the words of Reba, "The key is not to worry about what could go wrong, but just enjoy all the things that are going right."
A friend and I were talking and he mentioned the famous quote from Marianne Williamson called "Our Deepest Fear" and how well it applies to the subject of this blog.
ReplyDelete“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”