“Embracing newness” feels a little scary right now and, truth be told, I’m afraid that I won’t be able to answer student questions, that there will be problems I cannot solve, that I won’t be knowledgeable enough, that I won’t look and feel like a good teacher.
In many ways, this fear is a good thing—if I didn’t have some healthy fear, perhaps I wouldn’t be conscientious about planning and preparing. A healthy fear motivates me to provide the best educational experience for my students. This kind of fear can be useful information in many situations to move us forward.
But, fear can also be an indicator that something is not right, either within us or in our environment. We can become immobilized by fear, overwhelmed by what could happen that is out of our control. Feeling incapable of escaping it, this kind of fear is a prison.
He writes, “Yes, fears, for a Christian, are always foolish. Why should we be afraid? Of whom should we be afraid? ‘What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?’ says St. Paul (Rom 8:35).
Sometimes I forget that trusting God really works—it may not predict or change an outcome, but my fears are calmed. Sometimes I think that my efforts, combined with worry, can somehow accomplish more than trusting in God can. I choose control over faith. I choose foolish fear—foolish because it is impossible to control everything anyway. I can plan, do my best, and, then, trust in God. I need not be a slave to fear.
I am no longer a slave to fear / I am a child of God / You drowned my fears in perfect love / You rescued me / And I will stand and sing/ I am a child of God.