As I approached the bridge I read a sign that identified this as Alligator Alley.  The cloudy day cast an ire glow over the face of the green waters of this stagnant lake.  And just about the time I was about to pronounce this a case of false representation, something moved in the shadows beneath my feet.  At first I could not identify the source of the movement, until I realized that what I believed to be the bank of the lake was actually a prehistoric sized gator.

        He was a monster.  I am sure he was over 12 feet long and I would have needed help reaching around his mid section.  From the sneaky grin that stretched across his hideous face, I had the awful feeling that he had hoped I could not read the sign buried in the thick soupy waters of the place he called home.  And if that was not enough, something stirred in the jaded waters underneath the bridge where I was holding on for dear life.  What was that?  It looked like something small had just floated to the surface; was that a pair of knobby sticks poking out of the water?  Wait, there are two more, covered in green slime and then I realized what I was looking at, an evil pair of large bloodshot eyes blinked at me.

        As I looked down at the flimsy boards that stood between me and those two enormous creatures hoping to get to know me better, I began to feel a terrifying feeling, fear.  Fear is a powerful emotion and will cause us do many strange things.  I have known people who were afraid of just about everything; spiders, bugs, water, darkness, meeting new people, dogs, speaking in public, and even promotions at work.  The psychiatrist might call these phobias or irrational fears, but the fact is we all have things in our lives that make us feel uneasy. 

        What things are you dodging or avoiding because deep down inside, you are afraid?  Changing jobs?  Meeting a new challenge or opportunity?  Are difficult people, tough situations or perhaps loneliness filling your heart with fear hindering you today?  Listen, the world is just a bridge; simple pass over it and don’t fear what lies beyond.  Better to face danger once than to be always in fear.  Don’t let the fear of what might happen hinder you from living your life today.  Fear of the future is a waste of the present.  Courage is a choice; Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.

Something to think about:

• Many of our fears are tissue-paper thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them.

• Fear always springs from ignorance.

• Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.

• It’s all right to be cautious—but even a turtle never gets anywhere until he sticks his head out.

• When you can think of yesterday without regret and tomorrow without fear, you are near contentment.

• Courage is being the only one who knows you’re afraid.

• There is one thing worse than a quitter, and that is the man who is afraid to begin.

• Don’t let yesterday’s mistakes trouble you, nor tomorrow’s fears spoil your day.

• Those who fear the future are likely to fumble the present.

• We need not fear the future as long as we hold to the hand of him who knows the future.

Fear not
Rickey Moore