Lost Tails and All
Jesus takes our fears seriously. In fact, He takes our fears more seriously than we do. Let that thought marinade in your mind for a second. Before He left earth, He left no doubt about it. More than any other command, Jesus urged us to not fear. Of everything we know the Lord said to us while dwelling among us, "fear not" topped the list. If you think about it, what stops us from sharing our faith with strangers? What hinders us from loving the unlovable, forgiving the unforgivable or attempting the impossible? Fear, fear and more fear. It's no wonder He encouraged courage.
Well, before we say goodbye to Aslan tomorrow, I wanted to hopefully encourage you with one more principle that I drew from C.S. Lewis in his children's tale. In a cute, comical scene, Aslan is talking to Reepicheep; a brave, sword-fighting mouse who has lost his tail in a great battle. While Aslan tells Reepicheep that the shortened tail becomes him well, Reepicheep dramatically offers his sword to Aslan saying that because of his deformity, he must resign from duty. "All the same, great King. I regret that I must withdraw, for a tail is the honor and glory of a mouse." Then Aslan delivers probably one of the strongest lines in the film (perfect for mice and men.) He replied, "Perhaps you think too much of your honor, friend."
Wow. I actually pressed rewind to hear that again. Perhaps you think too much of your honor. What a powerful principle and a perfect reminder for us during courage week. Guys, when we focus on our abilities, inabilities, physical or otherwise, we get wrapped up in our own honor and ego. We think if we're not whole, we're not us. But with God, we're whole. We're enough. Lost tails and all. Jimmy Peña
For Discussion: I can relate to Reepicheep. I used to be pretty fit and strong; put together. (True story.) Honor intact, I had the world by the tail. Then I started losing spinal disks and colon function. LOL, yeah, that'll do it. Many a day I offered God my sword, withdrawing from duty. Like Reepicheep, I thought too much of my honor. But God had other plans. So I kept typing, He kept healing. Yeah, I used to think I was put together with muscle and bone, when in truth, I've always been held together by a thread. And that's enough.
