"I DON'T WANT TO!"

"I don't want to!" demands the child.
"Well, why not?" returns her brother.
"Just because," she cries.
"Because is not a reason!"

Honestly, I think I've had this argument with myself before. I may not wrinkle up my nose and cross my arms, but my own stubbornness has at times kept me from doing things I know I was supposed to do. Now a days they call stubbornness "strong willed" or "obstinate". I usually see it as "disobedience". What I have come to learn in myself is that when I'm feeling challenged to do something my "I don't want to just because" response usually means it is something I SHOULD do. It's true that "just because" is not necessarily an answer and if we dig a little deeper inside the "I don't want to" we usually find either stubbornness, fear, or both.

We had a great speaker at my church's Ladies Day of Inspiration and she spoke about things that rob you of your joy or "Joy-busters". I took home a new way of looking at worry, fear, & anxiety. She referred to them as "fantasy", which is exactly what they are. We dream up, concoct, imagine any number of things that COULD happen and we allow that fantasy to create worry, fear, and anxiety within us. These fantasies are not based on reality and yet we often allow them to hold us back from doing the things we feel called to do or if we do it anyway we are miserable the whole time."What if" can swallow us up and keep us from experiencing the peace of Christ.



I think most of the time the "what if" is scarier then the "what is".




What are you being called to today?

What truth are you "rejecting" because you are just being stubborn?

Is it really fear that is holding you back?