Five Minute Friday: Roar

Written Friday, January 6th, 2012

The first Friday of the new year. I'm linking up with Lisa-Jo. She calls it "Five Minute Friday" and we just write...without worrying if it’s just right or not.

For only five short, bold, beautiful minutes. We let our mind and our words and our heart fly free; wild – no editing, no over thinking.

Today's topic: Roar.

Ready? Set? Go.

I haven never touched a lion's mane or sat next to one. I have never been face to face with a lion and listen to it roar. But I have been that close to a tiger! When I was in Thailand I visited "Tiger Kingdom" where they have tigers of all different ages in huge cages. The cages are so big...when you step inside you don't feel like you are even in a cage. It was like they each had their own little jungle.

We would walk right up to the door of the cage and they would let me walk right in. With only a Thai guide holding a tiny bamboo stick as protection. Yes, you read that correctly, I walked into a cage that was home to a real, live tiger with nothing for protection except an Asian guide holding a stick.

They let you pet the tigers and lay on them and take pictures. I've always loved tigers. They look so mysterious and majestic and beautiful, I was so excited to see one up close. I was with a small group and I was the last one to walk up to the tiger. He was sitting there so peaceful and quiet.

I walked up behind him and all of a sudden I was really nervous. I began thinking "What if this tiger freaks out and attacks me?" I looked around the cage trying to make a plan of escape...just in case. I took a deep breath and inched closer and knelt down behind him. Now I was scared out of my mind! "What was I thinking?" "Why am I sitting next to a TIGER?!"

Everyone was looking at me and taking my picture and telling me to pet the tiger and lay my head down on him. But I just couldn't. The thoughts just kept raging in my mind. "What if... What if... What if..."

So what did I do sitting next to that tiger? I prayed for protection. And then I reached out my hand to do the thing I was most afraid of in that moment. After a few minutes the tiger whipped his tail up and smacked me in the face with it! I was frozen as I felt the sting on my face. What do I do now? I looked over at the Thai guide. He just laughed. The tiger wanted to play!

It's like that a lot in life. We begin adventures with excitement and soon we let fear slip in and it can paralyze us so much that we forget what we were doing in the first place. No roar, just fear.

Lift up your fears to God. He can handle it. And He can give you peace while He helps you work through it and move past it. He created us to do so many things...not to walk around paralyzed by fear.

Stop.

Thanks for spending five minutes with me today.
-Tiff