Are you willing to take a risk?

Have you ever let “What ifs” or “shoulds” stop you from taking a progressive step?

“What if I fail…”

“I should try this new adventure, but…”

Check out the article “Does stepping out of the boat mean I have to get my hair wet,” by Julie Voorhees.

Among other revealing points, she wrote,

Many of us bury our true selves under the clutter of everyday shoulds. We get stuck in the perceived safety of avoiding risks: of failure, of not being good enough, of abandonment, of harm, of rejection. Our risk avoidance robs us of living valiant and contented lives….

The more we understand Life to be God, infinite Spirit, the “What ifs” and “shoulds,” fall away, and we start to experience more of the grand adventure life is meant to be.

Go for it!


Julie's insights will help.

The power to be spiritual

“God has not given us vast learning to solve all the problems, or unfailing wisdom to direct all the wanderings of our brothers’ lives: but He has given to every one of us the power to be spiritual, and by our spirituality to lift and enlarge and enlighten the lives we touch.”

~ Phillips Brooks, Episcopal Pastor of Trinity Church in Boston

Don't fear the boggarts

Anyone a Harry Potter fan?

If you know anything about boggarts, you’ll love what a friend wrote below that grew out of her prayers to conquer the “boggart” of fear regarding an aggressive physical condition she was defeating.

Enjoy…


Dear Evan,

I want to share with you an insight.

I am rereading the Harry Potter books in anticipation of the last of the series coming in June. In chapter 7 of year three, there is a description of the boggart in the wardrobe that really set me straight.

Here it is.

"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces, wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks…

“What is a boggart?” Hermiones put up her hand.

“It's a shape-shifter,” she said. “It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most....”

“The boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a boggart looks like when he is alone, but when he is let out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears."

Later on in the book, the author shares how to disarm the boggart.

"The charm that repels a boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a boggart is laughter."

That was my wake up call. I could see that what I was afraid of was simply a product of my own fearful thinking. Just saying that was funny.

The idea that popped into my thinking was, "Perfect love casteth out fear".

So my first job was to make sure that the boggart had no place to hide in my thinking. Light, that was my key, to know that the light of Love could shine into every mental nook or cranny.

I shined the flashlight of love into my thinking, and the fear dissipated. The boggart of error now had no place to hide.

It had taken a shape that was the most fearful to me. When I saw that, it made me giggle. I felt so empowered, so free from fear.

Mortal mind cannot grow or flourish where it is not feared. I was sooooo free from worry. The happiness I felt was simple and clear. I knew for sure that "There is no spot where God is not."