Count Your Blessings #48 – Islands of Security

Over the last few months I have found myself repeatedly in situations where the people I have been with have been insecure; insecure about their marriage; insecure about their health; insecure about their faith; insecure about their position; insecure about their standing. The thing about this insecurity was that it was evident and visible. These people all reacted in particular ways which demonstrated their insecurity. The thing is, for most of the people, in most of the situations there was no reason for them to be insecure at all.

Insecurity is a massive issue in our society. Being a member of that society I am obviously not immune and regularly find myself in situations where I am nervous and edgy. There is no logical reason for these nerves, they demonstrate an insecurity that is deep seated and defies logic.

I am blessed to have a number of islands of security, places where I feel secure, situations where I can be myself. I know that for many people their islands get smaller as they get older; I’m thankful that my current experience is that the islands are getting bigger and I feel secure in more places and more situations than I think I ever have.

One of the reasons that my islands are getting bigger is because I feel like I am becoming less bothered about what others think of me. I used to worry about the opinions of others a lot, even people of no consequence. I try to see things differently these days; I tend to think that people’s opinions of me are their issue and not mine. It doesn’t always work, but I feel like I’m getting their.

There are many reason to feel insecure. Nothing in life is certain, after all. But we can’t live our lives dwelling on the uncertainties. We need to find and expand our islands of security because it is only in these islands that we are truly ourselves. We tend to do strange things when we are insecure. People only see the real us when they see us on our islands of security.

I don’t have any silver-bullet for expanding an island, or even finding a new one, but the investment required is definitely worth it. To expand my islands I return to a story that Jesus told and the promise it included. It’s a well known story and includes a wonderful principle:

“Anyone who listens to my teaching and obeys me is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse, because it is built on rock. But anyone who hears my teaching and ignores it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will fall with a mighty crash.”

Matthew 7