Life with a beard, life without fear ...

I know ... a woman with a beard? No, it's not about my beard ( I do NOT have a beard), but it is about my fear.

Here's the handsome man and his manly man beard ...

Honestly, this man grows amazing beards each year. But, in past years I was always "afraid" of what other people might think about us when he let his beard get full. I didn't stop to think, "Do I like it?" or "Does he like it?" or anything like that. Seriously, I just let fear of what others thought take over and I cringed because people might comment.

Well, this year has been vastly different. My husband is a manly man and he grew a manly man's beard. I embraced it, as I embrace him ... WHOLEHEARTEDLY!

You know what? A LOT of people DID comment on the beard. They LOVE it. And, I laughed at myself for my fear all these years. After all, what does it matter what other people think about his beard? It's HIS beard, HE likes it, I like it, and that's enough. Plus, in cold winter weather it keeps his cute face warm!

So, yes, this is an odd odd post, but there's a reason. Do you love your spouse? Do you support them wholeheartedly? Do they know this? Do others know this? He supported me and Liz and Shoshi when we got red streaks put in our hair for a fun memory. He supports me in my art/craft business. He believes in me as a teacher, mother, doula, friend, wife... I owe it to him to return the favor. He is an amazing amazing man who's stuck behind us through thick and thin!

I've been happier when I quit being afraid of others and instead focused on the love I had for my husband. Plus, it's not every man that can grow a beard this awesome. Just sayin'!

Whom do I fear?

Over the past year I have worked through some hard feelings. In the end I was left with this... fear man or fear God. I wanted a life with NO fear, but as I read through passage after passage of scripture I realized that I have must have some fear. A healthy fear. A fear of God.

fear
noun1.a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real orimagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid. Synonyms: foreboding, apprehension,consternation, dismay, dread, terror, fright, panic, horror, trepidation, qualm. Antonyms: courage,security, calm, intrepidity.2.a specific instance of or propensity for such a feeling: an abnormal fear of heights. Synonyms: phobia,aversion; bête noire, bogy, bogey, bugbear. Antonyms: liking, fondness, penchant, predilection.3.concern or anxiety; solicitude: a fear for someone's safety.4.reverential awe, especially toward God: the fear of God. Synonyms: awe, respect, reverence,veneration.5.something that causes feelings of dread or apprehension; something a person is afraid of: Cancer is acommon fear.

  [feer]  Show IPA

Fear is something I've battled my whole life. Fear of bugs. Fear of failure. Fear of rejection. Fear of being lost. Fear of being LOST. In the end, fear was ruling my life, and I wasn't allowing God to rule.

In Genesis Abraham feared man, more than God, and his wife, Sarai, ended up being another man's wife, for a while. But in many more examples when people cried out in distress God answered and told them that he would bless them and help them since he saw that they feared him. But, what I learned was that the one fear and the other fear were not the same. The one fear was for temporal things, and was for a loss of comfort and pride. The other fear was actually a healthy respect, a true recognition for our omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God. It was a fear for the eternal.

Proverbs and Isaiah are full of verses that link fear and knowledge... again, that respect or recognition for who God truly is.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 1:7
"Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently but they will not find me, Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord."
Proverbs 1: 28-29
Then you will discern the fear of the Lord And discover the knowledge of God.
Proverbs 2:5

God promises us that we will know him, or have knowledge of him, if we have a healthy fear of him. So, now, when I pray to live my life without fear I am learning to acknowledge that there is one fear I must have, or perish... fear of God.

I pray you find this fear as well and lose your other fears of things temporal and less important.

Shalom,
Kim