Consider yourself....

I started off this morning with a post on facebook that read...

"After discussing fear with several people lately, a question that comes to mind and a consideration I pose for all who read this (includes myself).....

Since MANY of us do not like the unknown (or the uncertainty and lack of "control" within the unknown) and may not be willing to embrace the unknown, AND in things and situations that are unknown do we tend to put a fear (hesitation, resistance, challenge, confusion, frustration, anxiety, problem, anger, hatred, separation...), then I ask.....Do YOU fear yourself?

Please feel free to answer and I will post the OTHER question later on today.... ;)"


"Why ask "Do you fear yourself?"  Because the question behind the question is....Do you really KNOW yourself?  Have you dove into the areas of YOU and considered WHO you are....

•  Do you know what your foundation is that you have chosen to build your life on?
• Have you considered the fruits that you want to see in your life and why you would want to see that particular fruit?
• Have you considered how you will nourish YOUR roots to help them to grow and establish yourself and a producer of good fruit in your life?
• Have you considered how you are producing the current fruit that you pick and eat in your life right now?
• Have you decided how you would like to consistently show up in this world as or what you choose to respond to life's circumstances through?
• Have you considered how you want to see your own reflection and embrace what it is that you see in the mirror?
• Have you considered the depth to which you want to experience relationships in your life?
• Have you noticed how you currently connect with those around you and does that match the level to which you would like to connect with others?
• Have you considered what level of energy that you want to be and show up as in the lives of others?  How brightly do you currently shine and does it match the level to which you would like shine at?
• If you do not desire to shine or consider others or nourish yourself or grow or find joy in life around you, then what are you considering and does that match what you would most like in your life?

Now these are just some questions that I may ask myself....in particular during my quiet times (personal, introspective, and reflective time while studying the Bible) and as I go throughout my day.  But they are deep diving type of questions....the kind that you can't help but considering as you go about life and it's many approaches....

Notice that I am not asking about what roles you play in the lives of others, what jobs you currently have, what positions you currently hold, how many businesses you presently run or what you have done or succeeded to do in the past.....

Because IN all of those circumstances and situations, YOU are still the fundamental part of it happening and being the experience that you had or have.

It is not even your name, but at the very core of the life that is happening around you that you see.....how are you choosing to build, shape, mold, maintain the filter through which YOUR life is made viable?

 

When I chose to become a Disciple over 11 years ago...I was already at a point in my life where I found myself trying wanted my slate to be wiped clean.  I was choosing no longer to be defined by what I have done or what labels I was to referred to. (As in Ephesians 4:21-23 ~  ^"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.") It was freeing to know that it is possible to just get to the core of who I was/am and the joy that waited for me there.  And it's all OVER the New Testament...asking you to consider yourselves and your relationship with God and with Jesus AND with others.

And you don't have to necessarily "know" yourself as a finished and done deal.  As I continue to study out the Bible on a consistent basis, I realize that in order to have certain "fruits" of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23 ~ "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."), it does involve a consideration of WHO I am and WHO I chose to be and be of...on a daily, as-long-as-I-am-breathing kinda basis. Especially if I am choosing to grow in my life.

 Getting to know yourself more deeply and choosing to enjoy that which you are and experiencing YOU (and your life) more fully takes away that fear/doubt/uncertainty and builds that faith within yourself and that which you have come from.  You grow in KNOWING....and that KNOWING goes forward with you regardless of the unknown. Faith is that confidence, knowing, and trust in God and his greater vision for your life (Can you imagine?...even bigger than your biggest dream for your life?).  (Hebrews 11:1 ~ "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.")  And when we consider that God can see more than we are able to even dream or envision for ourselves....let's face it, God is coming from a place of being able to see the bigger picture, and through a perspective that is of Love and Truth. If God's vision for us is all good and full of benefit and blessing, why not trust in and have faith that God and life in you?