Stop Being Afraid. Come Out of Your Shell.

Catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror, I lean in to examine my reflection. How odd. Something seems to be wrong with my neck. It doesn’t even look like my neck. I glance at my face, almost expecting to find that face and neck are not connected but they are. My heart plummets. I refuse to believe what I’m seeing, but all the telltale signs are there–the beginnings of turtle-neck.

I’m too young for turtle-neck–and how does it happen anyway? I can’t understand it. It’s not like I’m doing any weird stretching or anything.

If you’re a woman, I know you understand, or at the very least, empathize. Did anyone ever warn you about turtle-neck? Not I. This is something I would have liked to have been warned about! Who knows, maybe there was some regimen I could’ve started when I was thirteen, to keep my neck in shape.

The worst thing about it? Now that I know it’s there, I know it’s there! And I’m pretty sure I can feel my neck turtling up a little more each day. I had dreams of getting a little place at the beach, but this really throws a wrinkle in my plans. Haha. I can’t believe I’m saying this… I’m going to have to start wearing turtle necks.

How apropos. At the age of thirteen, I learned to withdraw into my shell and hide from the things in life that frightened me–and that’s pretty much where I stayed while growing up–never reaching out too far… jerking back quickly when hurt… hiding within a self-made shell of seeming protection. The thing is, when you live the life of a turtle, tucked deep within your shell, you’re not actually safe at all. What you are is trapped—a prisoner to fear. If that isn’t bad enough, you actually start to shrivel up on the inside. But we were made to live like that.

Throughout the Bible we’re told, “Don’t be afraid,” when speaking of the trials life throws at us. In fact there’s only one fear we’re told to have: “The fear of The LORD.” Put another way: Revere God. Reverence for God dislodges misplaced fears that can cause you to shrink back and hide… like the fear of the unknown, the fear of rejection, the fear of pain, loss, failure, of being alone… Reverence for God is the antidote for fear. Get to know who God is and come out of your shell as fear just fades away.

Image: Animal discovery