Fear - It's a given thing

I remember laughing as a teenager at the Movie "The Replacements". 

In one scene the American Football players are asked to list their greatest fear... You would expect something profound like losing or not being good enough. But, their immediate answer was "Spiders". I remember just laughing at the explanations they gave. 

I guess failure is something that is part of what it means to be human. We cannot escape the fact that we will fail at something or someone in our lives. It's part of the human experience. 

I have failed many people and many things in my life. I have failed at marriage, I failed at school, I have failed in relationships, I have failed in life. 

I wonder what it is about failing that we a scared about? Why do we fear doing things that have any form of risk in them? 

Is it not the action that causes fear but the repercussions of that action that we fear. The judgement the person? The ridicule that comes when we fall short. The pain in the face of the people we love. 

The question then for me is how do we allow the people around us the opportunity to take risks? What does that look like when we become a person that people are not afraid to take a risk with or around? What would that relationship look like? 

I wonder then if our understanding of fear is given to us by people? 

Maybe this is what makes the crying women who cleans Jesus' feet so compelling? She failed in so many ways but that is not Jesus' concern. His concern is her wellbeing. 

Did she mess up again? Probably, but that's not the point. The point is that she had the opportunity to face life again. She risked again and there lies the miracle in this story. She had the ability to be vulnerable all over again. 

When we have failed I think the hardest thing is to face those we have hurt. To get back on the horse that kicked us off. It's easy to walk away from a failing but its harder to try again.