Fear, It lurks around every corner...

“Be careful!!!”  How many times a day do I say that?  Trust me, you wouldn’t want to count.  Sure, these words are spoken when my kids are climbing the backyard tree or as their fingers reach up towards a hot stove BUT I also tend to use them when the threat of danger is not even present.  

I realized the other day as I helped gather backpacks and whisk my family out the door my “I love you” is almost always followed by a firm instruction to “be careful.”  Be careful of what?  What am I trying to say?  Be aware maybe? Make good choices?... But no, I say “Be careful” as though danger lurks around every corner.  As ridiculous of a notion as it may be, I feel like I have more control over their safety if I declare those words.   

Our culture, understandably so, is living at a heightened level of fear.  With news literally at our fingertips within seconds of occurring, we see the ugly.  We are sickened over the extremes.  Our hearts hurt with those who suffer and it can easily cause us to pull our loved ones in close and pull away from life because it is scary and unpredictable.  Some things are beyond our control and that terrifies us.  

What if we were at that concert?....or watching that movie at the theater?... or standing in that security line at the airport…. or out on an evening walk in our neighborhood?  Deep down inside that voice whispers to us “it could have been your loved ones..”  And that seed of fear is fed.  

My 7 year old daughter has suddenly become fearful of “bad guys”.  Every night she double checks that we have locked all the doors.  She asks questions with wide eyes, often on the verge of tears about the topic.  This seed of fear has taken root in her  and it breaks my heart.  I don’t want that for my kids and I don’t think God wants that for us either.

So what am I to do with all this?  The small insignificant fears, the big fears, the reality that I am not really in control in the way that I like to think I am.  I found myself reading a blog the other day advising parents to make an escape plan in every single environment in the event that the  unthinkable would happen you would know what to do.  Growing up we practiced tornado drills, now my kids practice intruder drills at school.  (which, don’t get me wrong, I am all for!)

It is tempting to run away, to avoid all unnecessary public settings- a  life without concerts or sports games or travel…. But the thought of constantly living my life at such a heightened level of alert sounds exhausting for the exchange of a perceived feeling of safety.  

Jen Hatmaker calls out fear in a refreshing way  in her latest book, Of Mess and Moxie, when she says “Fear is a liar.  It cannot be relied upon to lead well, to lead out, or to lead forward.  It is an untrustworthy emotion, not of God, and it never leads to health, wholeness, wisdom, or resurrection…. It will, choice by choice, take us further from the sound mind and place of power God carved out for us.  In short, it will mess you up.”  

Likewise, 2 Timothy 1:7 says “But God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”  

I want a sound mind for myself and for my family.  Maybe it’s time I call out fear in my own life for what it is, a liar, and walk back into Truth.  God has proven to me over and over again that He is faithful and can be trusted even in the mess and the yuck.  

I’ll start small, with awareness and words.  Tomorrow as I bid my kids farewell I will try to not plant a spirit of fear in them by sending them off with an “I love you," and a "Have a great day!" and leave it at that.  He’s got this, He’s got me, He’s got my family.  It’s what having “faith” is all about and as I learn this and live by it, I believe I will see that faith is indeed the key to a life of freedom instead of a life of fear.  Sign me up.