Fear Is Never Enough

We all battle fear at some point in our lives. But, as Zach Williams sings, Fear Is A Liar

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When he told you you’re not good enough

When he told you you’re not right

When he told you you’re not strong enough

To put up a good fight

 

The words. Those words smacked me in my face.

When I first heard the song “Fear Is A Liar”, I was taken back to elementary, middle and high school times. I was never the best “anything”.

I mean, I was good at things. Maybe even the best speller once. Those multiplication tables had nothing on me. But was I ever good enough?

I don’t think so.

I was good at sports, but I was never the “best” in my mind. I was good at school, but I definitely wasn’t the top of my class. I wasn’t ugly, per se, but there was a boy in elementary school that called me the Spanish word for monkey. Yup, 40+ years have gone by and I still remember that.

My friends were prettier, girlier, faster (sports), smarter – they were everything I wasn’t.

They were…enough.

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I’m amazed at how some memories resurface through music. As much as I love music, there are occasions where I find myself in tears over sad and painful memories it stirs up.

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“Fear is a Liar” is one of those songs. But this time, they weren’t so much tears for me as they were for others.

Yeah, there were a few for me, but I also am keenly aware of the struggles of others. I see people every day either online or in person not reaching their full potential because of fear.

They don’t feel like they fit in. They don’t think they’re making the right choice vocationally. They lash out at others’ successes. They’re intimidated by the unknown. Their circumstances have them in chains emotionally, intellectually and spiritually.

And, when they try to do what they think is right, their inner circle or society beats them back down telling them they aren’t enough.

I’ve even seen/experienced it from a racial/cultural perspective. Not black enough. Not Hispanic enough. Not white enough. And so on and so forth.

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Social media today is filled with people who are trying to be enough. Skinny enough. Pretty enough. Followed enough. Liked enough. Influential enough. Funny enough. Diverse enough. Tough enough.

But who or what defines enough? Follower counts? Number of likes or shares? Some social analytics program? 

So many people in the world are trying to fit into another’s definition of enough. Why? I think it has to do with fear.

We’re afraid of not being enough because we want acceptance. We want significance. We want to be valued. We want to matter.

We want to be loved.

Where there is love, fear cannot remain.

Love, knowing we matter or are accepted, significant or valued enough to be loved, washes away that crippling, can’t-move kind of fear. Love, the kind that forgives, isn’t concerned about likes, shares or follows. 

Love’s concern is for you. 

Fear shows no such concern.

And that’s why I have tears with this song. I see people who are so bound up in fear that they cannot see beyond their own hurt and pain. They keep trying to overcome it with trying to be enough whatever. But, that level of enough keeps eluding them. 

Why? 

Fear is a liar. 

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Knees Down, Prayers Up

Sunny