May 30, 2025
“Don’t be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies, disguised as lions. There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life, body, and soul in God’s hands. ~ Matthew 10:28 The Message (adapted by AFC)
I recently spent a fantastic afternoon with Marie-Hélène, our eight-year-old granddaughter, while her older sister, Anne-Sophie, was on a field trip to Hershey Park with her 5th-grade class. At one point, I was lying on the floor doing some stretches. Marie-Hélène said, “Nana, there’s a bug on your leg.” I looked at my thigh and saw something on it. Without even processing the moment, I’d shrieked and jumped up. My knee-jerk startle response startled Marie-Hélène, who joined me in shrieking. Once the screaming was over, I realized that the offending object was a small feather that had worked its way out of a pillow, placed strategically to scare me by Marie-Hélène herself. We shared belly laughs. Writing about it makes me smile all over again.
Fear is an interesting thing, often coming from the more primitive parts of our brains that are programmed to react to danger. Or, as in this case, a tiny feather! I observed the same thing yesterday while walking the dogs. I noticed a house that had some sweet, beachy décor, plus out-of-place to my eyes, four concrete lion figures: two guarding the front gate. I knew they were not live animals, but my mini-labradoodles, Izzy and Jackson, didn’t understand. They startled and then hidThey pulled on their leash and hid behind me.
There are many things on my list of scary things that might upend my world: climate change, wars in the Middle East and Europe, economic uncertainty, and an imbalance of power that threatens our democracy. I can add more personal items to the list, such as the aging, welfare, and safety of my family and friends. Add your fears to my list, the things that wake you up in the middle of the night or keep you from falling asleep.
Fear not, or words to that effect, appear 71 times in the Bible. In Eugene Peterson’s translation of the Bible, The Message, we are reminded in Matthew 10:28 not to be bluffed into silence by the bullies. There is nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life, body, and soul in God’s hands.
Those concrete lions have no life, no power. The One who has power is the One who loves us, who promises to be with us always, who extends everlasting love and mercy beyond measure. When you are afraid, step behind God, your protector, just like my pups stepped behind me. ~ Anne
Wayfinding 