Now that spring is in full force and the weather is perfect for outdoor outings, I’ve been taking our two daughters to feed the ducks and geese at a nearby pond. I’m honestly not sure if our feathered friends even like bread, but it’s an activity that easily occupies two squirmy toddlers for a good 45 minutes, so I’d like to think the ducks and geese see bread as a delicacy and we are kindly doing them a gourmet favor.
Over the past few visits, our 3-year-old has become increasingly fearful of them. I should mention that there are small friendly ducks at the pond, but mostly, there are large, child-size, aggressive geese who like to dominate the bread distribution. Everything starts out smoothly with our bread buffet. We offer a few pieces to the polite, sweet, little obedient ducks who delicately nibble on our treats. But within a few moments, we are swarmed and surrounded by the geese beasts. Inevitably, these gargantuan geese get too close for comfort, and our daughter feels her bread is in jeopardy, so she screams to the sound of a high-pitched dog whistle and runs away. Well, as it turns out, geese enjoy chasing after mobile bread. So they waddle behind her trying to snatch the bread from her little hands. The whole point of the trip is the give the bread to the geese and ducks, but the very thing that we’re there for is overshadowed by the fear of getting close enough to get hurt.
As she runs from the geese, I chase after her with the other baby on my hip and the rest of the bread in my hand, trying to explain to her that if you run from them, they’ll keep chasing you and they’ll eventually either snatch your bread or surround you until you surrender their snack. But if you turn towards the geese, take a few steps in their direction, tell them to “back up,” they’ll calm down and mind their manners. After several timid attempts and puddles of tears, she eventually masters it and our trip to the pond is safe and friendly again.
As I watched our sweet daughter running in fear from those geese, God offered a timely lesson with a calm whisper to my heart, “That’s the same thing you do with your fears, Megan.”
Wow. Yep. That’s exactly what I do with my fears. I convince myself that I’m not capable of changing or overcoming, so I simply cling to whatever thought I had of success and let the “geese” of my world peck at me until there’s nothing left.
Many times when God has placed a desire, calling, or task on my heart, I drown out the truth of His purpose for me with insecurities. I depend on the untruths of what I feel and assume rather than pressing into His truth which surpasses all understanding. Like our daughter, I’ve seen what happens when I get too close to the scary places. I know I can be hurt or embarrassed or become a failure. But God tells us in 2 Timothy 1:7 that He has “not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” He created us to step out to those potentially fearful places that expose our vulnerabilities so we are forced to recognize our dependence on Him to pull us through.
And just like I taught our little one to step towards the geese and command them to “back up,” we have to “demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and [take] captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). So when we’re fearful and unsure, we have to turn our thoughts to God and what’s true in His scriptures. We have to directly address our insecurities with spoken truth, as silly as it may feel. “Back up, fears! Back up, insecurities! Back up, condemnations! My God is all-knowing and all-powerful. He has called me into this moment for a purpose so surely He will watch over my coming and going both now and forever!” (Psalm 121:8)
If we don’t address our fears head-on, we’re minimizing God’s power in our lives. And usually, the scariest places in our worlds are where He can use us the most. So where are you called today? What person have you been prompted to love unconditionally without being loved back? What secret of your past is haunting you that God is calling you to confess and hand over to Him? Whatever your “geese” are today, don’t let them chase you. Step towards them in confidence and face them head-on in Jesus’ name. I’ll be praying for your courage.
Love always,
Megan
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