When People are Kittens...

I have lived a lifetime of fear. Fear of people. Fear of what they would do to me. Fear of what they would think. Fear of what I would lose if they walked away. I have mastered the "People-Pleaser Ploy", but it did me no good. When you people please you lose you and your self-respect. You become bound to the person you are trying to please, and I have found that as human beings we are "unpleasable". Eventually there will be at least a little discontent and at the worst full-blown rejection.

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I am a huge fan of Edward T. Welch's books.  He has written on anxiety, depression, and shame . All three books bring a solid God-centered perspective to the problem. When People Are Big and God is Small is no exception. There are three reasons we fear others: they can humiliate us, reject us, or attack us.  Each of these reasons, however, show that in our hearts they are bigger than God. Welch's book is divided into two parts: why we fear people and how to overcome it.

The ideas that Welch conveys really hit me. I had no idea how big people were in my eyes until I read through the chapters.  We rely, sometimes unknowingly, on people more than we should. Here are a few descriptions that are in the book:

People are gas pumps that fill us.

People are sought-after tickets to acceptance and fame.

People are terrorists. We never know when they will strike next. 

And when we say we can't live without someone...People are the intestine, we are the worm. {It becomes parasitism, not love.}

The only antidote to the fear of man? The fear of God. Not the terror-stricken fear, but rather the reverence and worship that comes by putting Him first in our lives. Because what we fear is what controls us. I no longer what to be control by the whims of man. They are too fickle, too confusing, and too damaging. I rather invest all my hope in the One that will never let me down.

This book has been life-changing for me in how I look at others and at God. Do you struggle with people pleasing like I do? Do you fear what others may think of you? Do you avoid people for fear that you won't be accepted? I would highly recommend that you read Welch's book!

Because remember they are mere kittens when they stand beside the Lion of Judah.

Mountain lion photos courtesy of Harlan Humphrey of Wild Scenic Nature