Burying Fear.

In an effort to celebrate the long-awaited vacation at the beach, the father bought a special ball for his son. Using the newest technology, the ball was designed to bounce off the water like no other. Throughout the vacation, the father waited to see his son use the ball, but it was never taken from its box. After a week, the father asked why his son wasn’t using the ball, only to be told that the boy was afraid he might lose it.

Jesus once told a parable about three individuals being given gifts by their wealthy master. Two used the gifts and increase their value; the third buried his in the ground for fear of losing or wasting the gift.

The ball, and the boy’s fear of losing it, is a modern example of holding onto gifts rather than using them as they were intended. There are many others, but the truth behind them all is that we were given the various gifts of our lives for a purpose. How sad it is to see fear paralyze a recipient’s use of such gifts.

If you and I were to look at all we’ve been given, we might focus on the things or talents we possess, the security we enjoy, and leave the inventory there, but I have recently been reminded that some of the gifts we have been given are the cuts and scrapes of life. Like the gifts we call “good,” these painful gifts can be incredibly important as well. Fears, unfortunately, keeps us from using them so we bury them in the ground.

With the help of Diana Greene, a remarkable photographer, I have embarked on a creative and spiritual collaboration that will be a book, once we find the funding. It is entitled “Finding Home: Portraits in Courage,” and tells the stories of the men of Prodigals Community. Through words and photographs, the men use their stories to bring to life the horror of addiction and miracle of recovery.  Like the boy with the ball, or the countless others who live by fear, the men could have buried their stories, but they have come to know them as the gifts they are. Instead, they have taken what they have been given and offered it to the world.

Their stories are now increasing in value, just as their invitation to you and me to do the same is growing louder. May we, like them, bury our fears, not our gifts.

(Finding Home: Portraits in courage is now on display at the Winston-Salem Public Library, 660 West Fifth Street, Winston-Salem NC)