Fear Is Not a Bad Thing….
There are times when fear is good. It must keep its watchful place at the heart’s controls. There is advantage in the wisdom won from pain.
—Aeschylus
If you think on this one in relation to your own life, you will doubtless see the truth in it. How many toddlers, despite constant warnings of “Don’t touch; hot!”, insist on touching the stove? But after that bewildering, painful first burn, they never touch it again. How many teens fail to heed their parents warnings about taking relationships at top speed — until that first devastating heartbreak, after which they take relationships far more slowly and carefully? How many people rush into a marriage, only to find that they “married a stranger”? After that first divorce, they are far more careful in choosing their next marriage partner.
Pain, though definitely unpleasant, has a purpose. Even pain that seems senseless can be useful and valuable in shaping a life. We have to accept our pain and embrace its changing power, learning from it and using it to strengthen ourselves. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is the saying, and it is a true one.