KEY WORDS IN THE BIBLE (AND LIFE): FEAR

As a child of the 50’s and 60’s I grew up with “duck and cover” drills. If you missed that exercise, allow me to share it with you. A siren would sound and an announcement would come over the PA that a nuclear attack was imminent. If in class you would get under your desk and place your hands around your head, if outside you would “drop and cover”, essentially the same thing except there was no building or desk to “protect” you. This was thought up and put in place by the grown ups, you know those folks, kinda like our parents but in charge, who were supposedly looking out for us. Looking back I suppose if an attack had occurred and you were sufficiently far enough from ground Zero it would make finding and identifying the bodies easier, but as far as protection goes it would have been about as effective as a butter knife in a gun fight.

Fear drives us in hundreds of ways. From the misguided placations of self-styled leaders to every time our children walk out the door, fear is always lurking. Existential bubble wrap does not exist. Trying to avoid the inevitable sharp and hard things in life, we struggle just as Sisyphus, never reaching the illusionary safety that enough money, perfect health, secure employment, “good” kids or any of the other secular things that seemingly address our fears. The best investments can and have failed, though we should do all we can to guard our health, no one gets out alive, even the best companies suffer through downturns and try as we might to protect them our children will walk their own path.

Living on the Spiritual Basis, we place fear in its proper perspective. Life is unmanageable and we are powerless over it. Living on the new basis, the basis of trusting and relying on God, when faced with fear in all its guises we understand that this is just one day in eternity, that prayer is always the answer even if we are unsure of the question. The choice is always ours. We can take the bull by the horns and like the little Dutch boy go about our lives plugging the dike with our fingers to the best of our ability when fear leaks into our consciousness or we can surrender, cease fighting everything and everyone and watch God not bother plugging the holes but roll back the waters. The choice is always ours; trust our finite selves or infinite love and guidance to solve the fear problem. Choose wisely.