Fear Not!

Posted on January 9, 2021 by a moment with god — Leave a comment

Finally found an image of an angel that wasn’t obviously a young white male

Good Evening, God

I’ve been writing blogs in my mind — mostly in the middle of the night — for weeks! But, tonight I got up and will say what I’ve been wanting to say.

I used to think of the devil as a Grey Cloud that enveloped us — telling us we didn’t matter — that we would never ever matter. When I described him that way to my oldest daughter, many years ago, she immediately said, “Oh! I know him!” Of course, I thought, we all know him.

But that is hardly his only guise. Or his only “tool”. Recently, I have become aware of FEAR as perhaps his favorite tool.

Our ability to sense fear and respond appropriately is truly a gift from You, God. Still, like many of Your Gifts, it is easily hijacked. When we are frightened we do not think as well — or at all. And Fear opens the door to Anger and even on to Hate.

Certainly, we were afraid for most of 2020. Afraid for our our lives and the lives of loved ones. Or maybe we are afraid of how we without jobs are going to feed our children . . . or with our small businesses shut down? The future has never looked more unknown. And at the time we need our fellow human beings the most, we have been isolated.

So, this evening I remembered, how in most cases of angelic visitations, the angel begins by declaring,
FEAR NOT! I think there are 365 occasions in which angels declare, FEAR NOT. Someone said, one for each day of the week. And those words — FEAR NOT — wanted to be shared.

We come into this life with no guarantees. Bad things happen. The blessed rain falls on the good and the bad alike. But, Your message to each one of us is YOU ARE LOVED. YOU MATTER. This is what I cling to when waves of fear or discouragement wash over me.

This is the perspective that helps me affirm life itself — in the midst of chaos and fear.