Fear is the opposite of faith.

Matthew 8: 26 "Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?"

When we have that kind of faith and trust in the Lord,

we have true security and serenity in our lives. ~ Oaks

Fear is the antithesis of faith. ~ Hinckley

Recently, a friend of mine revealed a new concept to me.

All humans are either driven by anger or fear.

Interestingly enough,

this is in direct correlation with our flight or fight modes.

If you fear, you want to flight.

Anger makes you want to fight.

I have been reading some evidential arguments

for fighting being a healthier reaction to terrorism.

In fact anger is a driving emotion.

It builds energy.

While fear is an energy draining emotion.

It creates digression.

No energy.

It made me think of this poem that I wrote.

I will choose the faith, not the threatening fear.
Observe the children at play and not their danger.
I will hear the laughter, not see the tear.
The love of a friend, not the threat of a stranger.

Life is not lived if we choose to retreat.
If all we see is wrong then we have failed our test.
Let us not all give up, stay home, be beat.
Choose to live and give and take from life the best.

It's not my best work,

but nonetheless telling of my unchosen emotion.

I don't like fear.

I am an anger girl for sure.

I'm not chiding on fear.

I get it.

Fearful people have their place in this world.

They are needed to balance out us angry folk.

But, what if we all tried to overcome

either our anger or our fear?

My husband is full of fear at times.

He has come to learn of it's debilitating effects.

He is overcoming it.

I just asked him if he had fear conquering strategies.

"Only one", he said.

"Fear is the opposite of faith. I am going to choose to have faith."

I asked him how that translated into

conquering the fear in those moments

that seem to have nothing to do with faith.

You know, like, how does he find the courage

to fix that dishwasher when he has never done it before

and he's afraid because he doesn't know what he is doing?

What does that have to do with faith?

He didn't answer.

My thought is that if we have faith in God,

he will give us faith in our own abilities.

So, back to the picture above.

Sophia hates to have her picture taken.

People trying to force her to get her picture taken

isn't so good for the final shot.

I think we are like that.

We have to choose to have faith.

When we choose it, we open ourselves up to God.

And we will get the perfect final picture.

And then we can look straight into

the lensof whatever fear we have,

and smile.

Because we know that God is over all.

And even if that picture isn't the way we wanted it to be.

Or even if we are getting a picture,

we never wanted at all.

It will be God's will,

and that is all that matters.

Because he knows what is best for us.

And when we believe in Him,

we can have trust.

Perfect trust.

And then we will also have peace.

And interestingly enough.

I would say that peace is the opposite of anger.

Hmmm.