Now and Then...

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4:18

It has been said that there are really only 2 human emotions – fear and love. That means all other emotions have their roots in either fear or love. With that in mind, it’s not too difficult to figure out where worry comes from, is it? When I think about worry really being fear, I have a much harder time owning that emotion. Don’t misread me here, I am a full-fledged worrier in every sense of the word – just ask my husband. But when I am forced to admit that worry is in fact fear, I find ways to twist words in order to justify how I am feeling. “I’m not worrying about it, I am just concerned that…..” “I’m not worried, I am just feeling a little anxious about..…”

If I am being totally honest here, I’d have to tell you that I was worried sick about writing this blog. Would I know what to say? Would it sound remedial? Would anyone read it? But what is that really – fear. Fear of not being good enough. Fear that my writing couldn’t compare to Don Bentley’s. Fear that I don’t have what it takes. But deep in my heart, I know that my loving God is sufficient and has given me more than I could ever imagine and I had to trust that He would give me the words.

A few things really struck me this week listening to Andy’s message. The first happened when he was talking with Sue and she admitted that much of her tendency to worry was passed down to her through her family. Being a worrier myself, I immediately thought of my own children. Do I really want them to walk through life worrying about all the things I find my mind occupied with? Isn’t having no responsibility part of the beauty of being a child? My child’s biggest fear in a given day centers around whether or not I remembered to buy him more orange juice. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to take that away from him. So, how do we create an environment that still fosters safety but doesn’t bleed worry?

I don’t know the answer here, but I know it HAS to start with faith. To paraphrase what Sue said, “Faith and fear cannot exist simultaneously.” (That’s going on an index card taped to my mirror).

Another statement Andy made that really rings true is that worry is the pre-occupation with the uncertainty of today. The concept sounds profound, but is really simple when you think about it. (Sorry Andy, not to say you aren’t profound!). We worry because we don’t know what might happen tomorrow, but in our cynical minds, we automatically assume that whatever is going to happen will be bad. My spouse might lose their job, my child might be involved in an accident etc. etc. etc. But how come our thought process doesn’t go the other way? Why don’t we think that our spouse might get a raise today or that our children might get accepted into the college of their choice? It seems that so many of us lack the innate ability to see things in a positive light.

We all have countless stories we could share about great things that have happened to us and our families -- specific instances where God truly intervened. Sure, maybe you didn’t win the lottery, but you didn’t suffer any damage in the hurricane that tore through Cincinnati. Doesn’t this show that God is still looking out for you? It REALLY is the little things sometimes. How quickly we forget that just yesterday God did something amazing in our life. Like Andy said, worry is often a shout, but God is sometimes just a whisper. So maybe we all just need turn the volume down on the worry in our life just enough to hear the whisper in our ear…..

• What has God been whispering to you lately?
• What’s an amazing thing that God has done for you in the last week that you’ve already forgotten?
• What can you do to better remember the things God has done for you next time you’re tempted to worry?

Dee