Fear or Faith

Bubba and Matt walked to the fence that surrounded the shelter's yard and looked beyond it to see the world they hoped awaited them. Bubba turned to Matt and said, “The most important decision we can make is to choose faith instead of fear. All of our negativity is rooted in fear. Complaining, anger, jealousy, and sadness are ultimately caused by fear that expresses itself in negative ways. Fear of the unknown causes us to protect the status quo when change would be beneficial for us. Fear of being powerless causes us to complain. Fear of failing leads to inaction. Fear of being hurt leads to anger. Fear of not being good, successful, or smart enough leads to jealousy. Fear of not being loved leads to sadness. Fear holds us back from living the life we were born to live. It paralyzes us from taking positive actions and makes us bark at people who come to see us, turning them away. But thankfully, there is an antidote to fear. It is faith! And what do fear and faith have in common?” asked Bubba.

“They both begin with the letter F,” said Matt.

“True,” said Bubba, “but I'm talking deeper than that. Faith and fear both believe in a future that hasn't happened yet. Fear believes in a negative future. Faith believes in a positive future. So I ask you, if neither the positive or negative future has happened yet, why not choose to believe in the positive future? Why not believe that great things are coming your way? Think about it. Fear says that a family will never adopt you but faith says that a family will surely adopt you in the future. Which one will you choose?”

“Faith, for sure,” cheered Matt.

“You got it,” Bubba said. “When you choose faith, you tap into the ultimate food source to feed the positive dog inside you. Faith helps you overcome the fear that sabotages your joy and success. It helps you get through tough times when you want to give up. Faith fills you up with hope, optimism, and inspiration. Telling yourself a story of faith changes you from a victim to a hero, and your belief in a positive future leads to powerful actions today. Because you believe in yourself and the future, you take the actions necessary to create it. Best of all faith helps you turn challenges into opportunities, which is so important because if there is one thing that can cause us to feed the negative dog it is the challenges we face in life.”