Whatever We Fear

August 31, 2021
             My mother was nine years old when WWII ended.  She told me her mother sent her and her sisters out to play in the rain.  The war in Afghanistan officially ended far more quietly today.  Soldiers died in this war who were not born when it began, twenty years ago.  For her sake, I pray Afghanistan’s long history of hosting the proxy wars of other nations is finished now.  I read that seventy percent of her population is younger than twenty-five and they are not interested in the old ways of fundamentalist religion and isolationist policies.  Insofar as that is true, all nations should all be so fortunate.

             I keep thinking about people who are afraid.  Afraid of war and afraid of what comes after war.  Afraid of getting sick and afraid once sickness sets in.  Afraid of taking care of the sick and afraid of failing at taking care of the sick.  Afraid of storms and fire and drought.  Afraid of poverty and afraid of being completely alone.  Whatever we fear, it’s the fear itself that can take the greatest toll on our lives, on our energy and on our hope.

             While I’m in no place to tell people in crisis not to be afraid, a tiny line of prayer that has helped me in many fearful moments is this:  scary things are still scary, O God, but by your love, we do not have to be afraid of fear, from James Finley’s book, Thomas Merton & The Path to the Palace of Nowhere.  Fear is real and uncontrollable in certain moments, like when a snake slides across my wrist in the garden.  But the fear that grips my belly over what might happen has only the power I give it.  By my prayers it can be set aside, even if the danger of my situation hasn’t changed.  Easier said than done, of course, but practice, practice, practice, don’t you know.
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               And, thank goodness joy and fear can live together in one heart.

             Birdy the golden retriever turned three months old today and saw her first box turtle.  She licked it then barked and danced around it which made me laugh out loud too.  Creation meets creation, and I was there to see it.  What a precious moment, sitting right next to the worries I can’t do anything about, except choose which one to draw from, when I think about the world.  Gentle creatures and terrible wars — neither cancels out the other, both giving content to my prayers.  As we move into a new month, no matter what it hold, I pray you know God’s peace in fear and God’s joy in every precious moment.

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