What goes around comes around. Something I did as a child has now come back to haunt me in nightmares.
When I was a child, my older brother and I walked to school together. On our way home, we used to catch all manner of critters and put them into our lunch boxes. We walked into the house quietly and put our lunch boxes on the kitchen counter.
Instead of running outside to play right away, we peeked around the corner to watch our babysitter open our lunch boxes. She jumped onto the kitchen table in a single leap from the floor when she saw our little friends in our lunch boxes. After we saw her amazing gymnastic move, we giggled and ran out to play. Truthfully, we did not like our babysitter any more than she liked our critter friends.
Well, I have not caught critters in over 40 years now. And now I understand why the babysitter jumped onto the kitchen table when she saw our critter friends. Now I fear them too.
Last weekend, I cleaned the huge house we are selling in two days. To my chagrin, many critters had taken up residence in it—the spiders I fear so much!
This house had many cobwebs, and I removed each one,
even though I now fear the spiders I played with as a naughty child.
I refused to acknowledge my fear as I evicted every spider.
How did I overcome my fears and complete this huge task alone?
First, I looked around just one room and made a list of the required tasks. I reminded myself that these spiders could not hurt me and fondly recalled how I placed them in my lunch box with my own hands as a young child. Then I started working to complete each task, the easiest first and the most difficult last. By the time I got to the last few tasks in each room, I was developing confidence that I could do this huge job.
I sucked the spiders into a vacuum. Some of them I knocked into the floor with a long-handled duster and swept away into the trash. I looked under, behind, and on every piece of furniture, too. And I evicted every critter I found there.
Well, my fears manifested themselves in my dreams! Last night I had nightmares about spiders!
Over and over, I kept dreaming that a giant spider had woven a web around me and would not let me go. When I woke up, I had to feel around in the bed to make sure my husband and our two dogs were still next to me instead of a giant spider.
I suppose my nightmares are great revenge for my babysitter. I am not even sure if my babysitter is still alive. Perhaps I should call her and apologize for torturing her with my critter friends and tell her about my nightmares. She would probably have a good laugh.
What are the morals of this story?
Everything you do comes back to you,
so you should always be good to others–
even if you do not like them!
Do you have a big job to do that you do not want to do?
You can do it,
if you break it into smaller tasks and do the easiest ones first.
Remember that an eviction of your fear and lack of confidence
is necessary
and you must continually remind yourself you can do it.
I am proud of my eviction of the spiders!
Let the encouraging words in these near a river posts help you
soar like an eagle above life’s storms.
Yes, overcoming your fear builds your confidence!
Would your life change if you had her spirit?
What does the word fear really mean?
Have trouble sleeping at night?
Enjoy BJ’s encouraging words
on near a river!