When my youngest child was about 3 she went to swimming lessons and before long she was able to swim across the pool .

She started off wearing a belt type contraption around her torso loaded with 3 floating devices . Before long those 3 became 2 , then one and finally the big day arrived where she just had the belt around her .

The teacher tried to persuade her to swim without the belt after she had gone across the pool a few times but in her mind it was a “ magic belt “ that enabled her to swim. She was convinced that without the belt she would not be able to .

The clever teacher got her halfway across the pool and unclipped the belt without her realizing – Lo and behold she continued to swim ,blissfully unaware that the magical device was no longer attached .

She had no faith in her own ability to swim even though she was completedly capable of swimming She placed all her faith in the “ magic belt “ and not in herself .

How often do we stand on the sidelines unable to join in because we have no confidence in our ability to fit in ,be enough , keep up or measure up to those around us .

I’ve often seen kids choosing to sit on the pool step while watching longingly as their friends splashed around having fun. Their lack of confidence was what kept them stuck there not an inability to swim .

Can you see how wrong perceptions of ourselves are our strongest chains of captivity ? Courage to step out , to get up again, to try a new thing , to grab hold of the unknown and conquer it – that’s the kind of courage I want to have !

I’ve seen grown men and women wearing the same fashions and hairstyles that they wore in the 70’s because of fear of stepping into the 21st century . The familiarity of what worked decades ago makes them feel safe and as beautiful as they did 50 years ago . Pity that this is often not the case !

Staying small will eventually suffocate any potential that you have – and believe me , we ALL have huge potential to grow and be fruitful beyond our expectations. The difference between those who prosper and those who don’t is courage .

Fear will always keep you ineffective and stagnant . The saying “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t” is an excuse often used by people who lack the courage to try new things . Failure is a huge obstacle for many of us .

In her book How to Fail, Elizabeth Day says that failure is a staging post to success rather than an end point. She goes on to write that without failure , success is basically impossible . Once you learn how to fail , you can go out in life and really take risks .

So why are we so afraid to fail ? Without failure we cannot learn . Failure is not an adjective that can be plastered to your forehead ! Failure is a something that can teach you how to persist until you come up with a better and more effective way to do something .

On your death bed you won’t reminisce about how sweet and safe your small dark corner was but you may well regret all the dreams that you never made realities because you were too afraid.

It’s easy to convince ourselves that small is good and that we are actually happy looking out from under the lid of our box at those walking tall and free on the outside .

Joyce Meyer often says that if fear keeps you from doing something – do it afraid !

Nelson Mandela said “ I’ve learnt that courage is not the absence of fear but the triumph over it . The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid but he who conquers that fear “

What is beyond your pool step that you’re standing looking at today ? Can I encourage you to loosen that magic belt and dive in to a possible failure that might lead you to one of your greatest successes ?

At the very least that dive may lead you on a path to freedom , set free from those chains of fear and mediocrity .

Whether you sink or swim you will be closer to your God- designed success than you were sitting on your pool step .

“You will listen, O LORD, to the prayers of the lowly; you will give them courage.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭10:17‬ ‭GNB‬‬