How often fear motivates our actions, and inaction ultimately makes our choices for us. I must admit that grad school and all it entails frightens me quite completely. I have never done this before, and I fear I cannot keep up with the work. I fear that I will run out of money, and that I am leaving everything important to me behind. I fear the consequences of choices I have made and those of the choices I have yet to make. Isn't life easier if we cave to these fears, and only do as much as is necessary to get by in this life?

Maybe so, but that is not living. True living is motivated by a sense of what it means to love and to reach out to those around us. If we look to love, then every action takes on more gravity. And if we consider that we have a model in Jesus Christ, then it all becomes a little clearer. Loving is not easy, as exemplified by the life of Christ. But in following His example we can live lives that extend beyond our ability to control their effects, or even to control where they ultimately lead. It is in pouring out of ourselves that we understand the depth of what lies within us. We cannot sit idly by and hope that something will come our way; that the person who appears in need, is not; that Christ came, but that His message was only for the people of His time. These are the thoughts that lead to relativism, that remove the dignity from life. For if there is no greater story, or greater truth, why live at all? Isn't then our whole existence asinine? Why were we given such a great ability to reason, beyond the capabilities of any other animal on this earth? And why did a man named Jesus Christ walk the streets of the Middle East proclaiming Himself the Son of God, if He were not? There is so much truth contained in His teachings, so much good advice to take from His Beattitudes and Commandments, that almost no one can deny the wisdom contained therein. Living a life in the way He describes does lead to a more fulfilling existence. And all of this success along with the fact that He claims to be the Son of God, one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. We cannot accept His wisdom and not accept that He is God.

Hence how does this apply to the fears that seem to often motivate my life? Well I can take heart in knowing that Christ knows my innermost being, and came to die so that I might live beyond this existence. I then have no fear of death, which is all it takes to lessen my fears about life. So what if some situation may take me to a place for reasons I do not fully understand, or that my life may be put at risk when I am following some of the deepest desires of my heart; if I do die I am assured that there is a just and loving God who will greet me upon my death, and show me the mercy that I have merited by the faith I have lived out.

The fears never go away, but they can be lessened. God loves us all and is watching out for our every move. Thank you Lord, and would that you would watch over and keep us all near your heart that we may discern your truth and live it daily for the creation of your kingdom here on earth!