In my last blog, I mentioned that we have just returned from a "vacation" in Puerto Rico. I put vacation in quotes because often going on a vacation is harder work than staying at home in one's normal routine. Nevertheless, we prepared to take our annual business/vacation that we have been privileged to go on for 19 years.
This year's trip was to Puerto Rico and I was really looking forward to being at the beach, reading, and resting. The reading and resting did occur, but beach life was a bit disconcerting for two reasons: wind and iguanas. The wind blew at 30 mph the entire trip and never died down, not even for a minute. Wind and good hair days are not compatible. Even with the wind blowing constantly, I did venture out the first day to try and take a nap by the pool to rest from the early morning trip. Shortly, after dosing off to sleep, I hear this terrible noise above my head in a palm tree and someone shouts,
"look at the lizards". When I opened my eyes to check out the
"lizards", all I saw were two rather large creatures, fighting like there was no tomorrow. Mind you, the so called
"lizard" was actually an
iguana. The thought of iguana's fighting overhead made me a bit anxious.
The next morning I spent several hours studying my Bible and spending some much needed time with the Lord. One of the comments that I read in a devotional suggested that if you want to be a fearless person, you must face your fears, head on. I actually did not give that statement much thought until much later in the day. Shortly after noon, I ventured back out to the pool to try and get some sunshine. As I moved my beach chair in the position of the sun, I looked up to see a giant iguana about 2 feet in front of me, meandering across the grass. Needless to say, I immediately jumped on the chair and began looking up to see if there were any iguanas on the palm tree above.
Now, in my humble opinion, a lizard (which can frighten me from my fence gate when I walk by) is less than three inches long and are relatively harmless, even though we are not friends in any way, shape or form. A baby iguana, like the ones fighting in the trees the day before, are less than a foot long. But the iguana that I encountered at the pool on day two was not a lizard or an iguana, it looked like a dragon to me and had to have been at least 3 feet long. Not my personal idea of a friend or pet!
Quickly, I began praying that my husband would get out to the pool just in case I needed someone to defend me from the dragon. Fortunately, we did not see another dragon for several hours and then feeding time must have arrived. Right beside my chair struts a four foot dragon/iguana, who is not a happy beach lizard. He is followed by a younger, greener iguana, who scurries along at a much perkier pace. I only had two choices:
stand on my chair and scream (which only put me about 3 inches higher off the ground than the iguana, who climbs palm trees) or to jump off of my chair in the opposite direction and pray that the mad iguana had not left his vegetarian lifestyle to consume a human.Part one of the decision was easy,
I jumped! Part two of the decision was a bit more difficult. I made the decision to
face my fears. After all, there were two familiar sayings that flooded my mind at the same time. The first was
"that which does not kill you, will make you stronger" and the second was from the morning devotional,
"face your fears if you want to be fearless." So for the next 30 minutes or so I followed the two iguanas around the pool deck to observe their behavior and conquer my fears about dragons. The older, more gray colored creature who was anxious, made his way to a group of resort guests chairs and became even more anxious as he felt trapped. This one reminded me of familiar human behavior. We run in a direction full steam ahead, not knowing where we are going and then we become trapped and anxious about the predicament that we find ourselves in. When trapped, the old iguana finally stopped long enough to evaluate the situation and look for the nearest place of refuge. For him, it was a group of shrubs where he could disappear undercover, and he did. Instead of being trapped and anxious because we run frantically in some direction that looks convenient, should we not always seek refuge in Christ alone! If we first run to Christ, then the word promises
that the steps of the righteous are ordered.
The second iguana, who was apparently younger and more vivacious, did not run in fear; instead, he ran from chair to chair looking for food. When he finally found a willing family who was not afraid of him, he camped there for a while enjoying the fruit that was being thrown in his path. Willing to take a risk that the older iguana was not willing to take, he became vulnerable so that he might enjoy the blessings in store for him. Often times when we are willing to open up and become transparent, as humans, the blessings of the Lord become more obvious to us and to those around us. I admired the courage of the second iguana.
For me, I faced my fear of "lizards" with a much larger variety, thanking God that the iguana that I could see was not going to harm me. I still had some concern for the remainder of the trip about the iguana that might be lurking in the bushes that I was unaware of as I walked throughout the resort. That fear reminded me of what the scripture says about the devil,
"he roams around like a roaring lion seeking those whom he may devour." I was also reminded that
"we wrestle NOT against flesh and blood (the dragon/iguana/lizard) but against powers and principalities of the air." Our battles belong to the Lord and we need to march forward in faith not fear that the God who made us, loves us with an everlasting love and will protect us and guide us through this life.
So, I conclude that fear is often like the iguanas that I encountered in Puerto Rico -
to some it is a lizard, to others an iguana, to me it was a dragon - it is definitely a matter of opinion!
