Fear

Do you watch or read the news daily?  The world can be a very scary place to live.  You just never know.  Anything can happen.  You can get into a car crash, get stung by a mosquito and contract west nile disease, you can go out into the sun and get skin cancer years later, or go see a movie and get killed by some crazy person.  Who would have thought?  It`s really sad to think about those people who were killed - what could have been had they not been there that day and the shattered lives of those they left behind.  I was talking to someone who said they heard that some people have reacted by going out and purchasing a gun to protect themselves.  They reasoned that had the people sitting in the movie theatre been armed, perhaps not so many people would have died.  To me, that makes no sense at all.  First of all the gun man was protected by armor, but secondly inviting more guns into public places could only make things worse.  You can let the awful things that happen in the world consume you, scare you, and terrify you into never seeing a midnight screening of a movie,  never going to crowded places, or buying a gun.  You can live in fear of mosquitoes, never to go camping or go out in dusk again.  There are hundreds, no, thousands of things you can be afraid of - but I think the number 1 thing we should be most afraid of is to live a life completely covered in fear.  We need to live with hope, faith, love and joy.  We can`t let the bad things overtake all the good things.  We need to focus on the good and have hope in the humanity and goodness in most people.  Otherwise, what kind of life are we living?  One of despair, fear, worry, hatred of others, and segregation.  Living a life like that will only make things worse.  We could lose our lives tomorrow, but what good will worrying about it do?  No, I choose to live with hope, faith, and love.  Faith that no matter what happens my life is in God`s hands and even death is not the end.  Hope that no matter what comes my way I will make the most of it and find the strength to overcome.  Love so whenever I die, hopefully at the end of a long and full life, I leave behind something good and enjoy all the time I have.


Personally, I don`t read or watch the news every single day.  I don`t spend hours researching the wars going on overseas, or all the thousands of problems my neighbors and fellow citizens of the world are dealing with.  It`s not that I don`t care.  I do.  It`s not that I don`t want to help.  Deep down, I do.  We need to focus on the positive things and act on God`s lead in order to do that.  Instead of reading for hours and feeling bad for people, guilty about not doing anything, hopeless that things will change, making excuses and worrying about our own problems, we need to take a step forward in doing something good for someone else.  It could be our own children, our neighbors, our co-workers, that person behind us in line, or a compliment to a friend.  If we all stopped worrying about the bad and starting acting on the good, a lot more people would be helped, fed, and more emotionally stable.  I feel I have a long way to go to get to the point I feel like I`m doing all I can and to be all I can be.  But it really doesn`t matter how much you help and how many you help as long as you are acting on whatever you feel called to do - whatever is good, loving, and kind.  One step at a time we will make a difference as long as we keep moving in a positive action filled direction.  ``Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.`` Martin Luther King, Jr. 


I don`t think we can ever erase fear all together, nor is it healthy.  We need to be aware enough to do what we can to protect our family and to not be naive to what is going on.  However we can`t let it consume us.  We can`t let it rule our thoughts, our lives, our hopes and our dreams.  We need to let go of it enough to love others, help others, and serve others whatever the cost.  We need to live with faith.  Faith is the opposite of fear because with it we can achieve and conquer absolutely anything.