The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
~Psalm 27:1
I love the Psalms. I think of all the books of Scripture it is my favourite one . . . but then again, I could and probably would say that about most books of Scripture. I just love the Word of God. It doesn't matter how I am feeling . . . I know I can go to its words and know that they will inspire me . . . help me to feel better . . . uplift me . . . nourish me . . . inform me . . . Whatever it is . . . the Scriptures have whatI need . . . whenever I need it.
I have a friend who is quite fearful of most things. I don't think she is that different than most of us. We all have fears of one kind or another. I am terrified of spiders for instance. It doesn't matter that they are small and I could squash them with little or no effort taken . . . I am still filled with fear whenever I see one . . . and that is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the things I am afraid of!
It's quite different though . . . when you allow your life to be ruled by your fears. "Fear has friends." One fear can quite easily lead into another, especially when you allow yourself to give in to them, to let them take over your life. It's not hard to end up losing years of your life, wasting the precious gift we have been given and squelching the potential of the very person we were sent here to become.
I have a fear of the dark . . . and I know I am not alone in this. It's a fear of the unknown . . . in the dark you cannot see what is there . . . There is a simple cure for that though. Turn on the light. And it is the same for most fears. Turning on the light can help to scatter most of them away.
First . . . turn on the light of God's word. There is a power and a light in the scriptures that you won't find anywhere else in this world.
"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."
~2 Timonthy 1:7
Second . . turn on the light of faith. You have nothing to lose except your fear. Taking a risk is the first step towards freedom from our self imposed restrictions.
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
~Author Unknown
Third . . . turn on the light of your intelligence. Believe in that which you know to be true in your heart, but that which you cannot see. Believe that God holds you safely in his arms and in his care, no matter what, no matter where, no matter how. He has a plan for you. You matter to him.
If we constantly focus only on the stones in our mortal path, we will almost surely miss the beautiful flower or cool stream provided by the loving Father who outlined our journey. Each day can bring more joy than sorrow when our mortal and spiritual eyes are open to God's goodness.
~Jeffrey R Holland
Fourth . . . turn on the light of friendship. A problem shared is a problem halved. It is not a bad thing to admit weakness to someone we trust, to give them the opportunity to stand with us and hold our hands. There is comfort to be found in friendship . . . as well as strength.
“We are all in this together. We need each other. Oh, how we need each other. Those of us who are old need you who are young, and hopefully, you who are young need some of us who are old...We need deep and satisfying and loyal friendships with each other. These friendships are a necessary source of sustenance. We need to renew our faith every day. We need to lock arms and help build the kingdom so that it will roll forth and fill the whole earth.”
~Marjorie Pay Hinckley
These four things may not help with all of our fears . . . but they will surely go a long ways towards allaying some of them. We can spend our lives asking ourselves . . . "What if?" . . . or we can spend our lives asking ourselves . . . "Why not?"
The choice is ours to make.
I am looking forward to going to church this morning. I haven't been since before Christmas and I have truly missed being there. Sundays is when I recharge my spiritual battery . . . it's a good thing. I never, ever begrudge the time spent.
Yesterdays silver lining: Sitting in my craft room with clay in my hands, watching the light slowly fade from the sky, as my music softly wound itself around me . . . knowing that life is indeed what you make of it. No more and no less.
Baking in The English Kitchen today . . . Almost Digestive Biscuits! These are some good!
I hope that wherever you go today, or whatever you do . . . you are able to find the joy that is sitting there, just waiting for you to discover it.
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