SIXTY PLUS AND NOT HOLDING

 

DO NOT LET FEAR BE YOUR KING

We have all been afraid – some more, some less, some-where, for some reason, and more than once.  Indeed, if you were to tell me you have never been afraid, I will tell you that you are either a liar or a fool.

One thing is for sure, fear is no fun for anxiety can make the skin itch, the heart skip a beat and in the process make us feel as if we are carrying around an oversized, emotional elephant.  It promotes sleepless nights and miserable days.  It kills confidence.  It takes the words, “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me” and answers in reply, sounds good but it doesn’t work for me.

 

But it did work for me and I was not surprised.  Almost 50 years ago, my right kidney was removed and it was a very serious operation in those days.  I should have been afraid, but I wasn’t.  I still recall asking the nurse how my pulse was, and she telling me it was registering perfectly normal.  It had happened before and it has happened many times since - the peace that passeth understanding is not just a beautiful phrase; it has been a living reality.

And, just to make it clear where my courage came from, it came from faith.  And notice I said faith, not religion. 

           

        I am not saying I have never been afraid, but I am saying that 2^nd Timothy 1:7 is a wonderful, tremendous scripture to put front and center when life starts giving us the back of its hand.  “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

           

      Ask some people how their faith is and they will tell you it is as it has always been.  But that is impossible for faith is not static, it is a living thing.  Each day it either grows stronger or it weakens.  Our faith is built on trust and every time we have prayed, “Thy will be done” our faith has grown stronger and our fears have grown less.  Every time we have prayed a lesser prayer, we have timidly demonstrated a lesser faith and fear has flexed its muscles.

 

Let’s put it this way, with prayerful intensity, ask God to give you the courage to overcome your fear of your fears.  And He will do just that.  About this I can readily speak from experience.  In the late 60’s I almost drowned.  Afterwards I went water skiing, doing my usual tricks and then borrowed my son’s scuba gear…I did everything I could think of to attack this new fear of water trying to make sure I had no residual fears.  I wish I could say I have completely conquered it.  I can’t.   Breathing is an old habit that does not like to be interrupted.  And no matter how hard I have prayed and tried, that last 10% simply has become a permanent part of my psyche.  I still swim and do my water things, but...well, let’s say, in this arena I’m certainly in no danger of being over confident.  But looking at the bright side of the situation, without God’s help and my persistence, I’m sure I would have a lot more than just 10% of that particular fear still hanging around.

           

       Fear and worry are bosom buddies - that would be hard to disagree with.  Nor should it be difficult to realize what the fear of terrorism can and is doing to our country.  In the name of safety we are in danger of dismantling large portions of our democracy.  Already, the terrorists, without another terrorist act on our shores in the four years since September 11^th, have greatly disrupted our way of life.   The war and color code alerts and security checks; the power to check out our phone calls and library and financial records, they constantly remind us we are supposed to be afraid. 

           

       Perhaps people shouldn’t watch the news so much.  Keep educated, yes!  But don’t drown in it.  It’s one thing to be ignorant of a hurricane just over the horizon.  It’s quite another to allow yourself to be immersed in one for several days before it even arrives.  It’s one thing to be awake and aware of what terrorists can do, but when such knowledge reaches the point where it creates paranoia, it is time to back off.

 

Yes, it is possible to trust people too much, but as for myself, I have always preferred to trust too much rather than too little.  I refuse to live in a world where I imagine everyone has a knife ready to stick in my back.

            As a boy scout I learned the magic words “Be prepared.”  Good idea.  Noah did it and it wasn’t even raining when he began to build the ark.  But, all dressed up in my scout uniform, I definitely wasn’t taught to “Be prepared to worry about being prepared.” 

           

         And take crime.  Actually statistics show it is decreasing, but the news - morning, noon and night would have you believe otherwise.  Drugs are still a problem, but to be truthful actually a smaller percentage of people are using them.  There are still people, who after 9/11, will not fly, even though it is still safer to fly than to drive. 

Intelligent anxiety is one thing.  Foolish fear and panic is quite another.

           

       We all worry some, but can your worries sometimes be categorized as panic attacks?  Have you ever had a cough and if it persisted wondered, “Do I have throat cancer?”  Or, your chest burned from acid reflux and you were sure you were having a heart attack?   I’m not saying you should ignore the symptoms, indeed, see the doctor, but be careful not to camp out on the doctor’s doorstep feeding hypochondria. 

 

A church member shared this delightful story with me last week.  It was a large and beautiful concert hall.  Every seat was taken and every heart was filled with anticipation.  The great maestro would soon be playing.  However, at that moment, a mother returned to her seat to find that her child was nowhere to be seen.  Then the curtains parted and she found him.  Seated at the magnificent Steinway concert grand piano was her little boy, all the spotlights focused on his tiny frame, innocently playing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

 

From the wings strode the great pianist and quickly moving to the piano whispered in the little boy’s ear, “Don’t quit.  Keep playing.”  Reaching down with his left hand he began to improvise a bass part.  Then carefully he extended his right arm around the little child and began a running obbligato.  Now, they were a duet, the old master and the young novice making beautiful music together. 

 

It could have been a frightening experience for the little boy and a total embarrassment for the mother.  It was none of these.  Indeed, the audience was so mesmerized by the experience that later no one could recall what else Paderewski played.  They only remembered the classic duet, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

 

We have all ended up on more than one stage in life where we really weren’t supposed to be or certainly shouldn’t have been.  But there we were, all ill-equipped to handle what was before us, and not being sure what to do, we began to play the equivalent of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.  Not very well but we were trying.  And then the Master came to call.  Put His arm around our shoulder and said, “It’s alright.  Just keep on playing.  I’m here to help.”  And we kept on playing and we did play better and the audience of humanity wasn’t frightening at all, because we knew we were not alone. 

 

When some fear or anxiety is nudging your mind out of sync try some of the following practical, pointed prayers in areas over which you really do have some control.  

 

Pray to be honest.  Having to remember perfectly tomorrow the lie told today can cause great fear and ongoing anxiety. 

 

Pray to start treating others with kindness and love.  The Bible says that love casts out fear.

 

Pray toward getting rid of a bad habit.  There is great fear in knowing that tomorrow we will make the same dumb mistake that we habitually just made today.

 

Wear a smile more often than a frown.  It improves the emotional climate around and within.  

 

Stop blaming other people when you allow your anger to take over. No one else forced you to get angry and stay angry.  Shakespeare put it well, “The fault is not in the stars but in ourselves.” 

 

Never say never when it comes to conquering your fears.  If you say it, it can and may well become a self-full-filling prophecy.

 

When you pray make sure you are not just pretending to pray.  Focus, and keep focused. Aim from the center of your soul toward the center of your fears. 

 

Do you know what I personally fear the most?  The wasting of time.  The wasting of the precious gift of life that God has given me.  I fear not living a balanced life that speaks to the fact I am a physical being, an emotional being and a mental being, as well as a spiritual being.  I fear foolishly wasting so many opportunities that my faith offers me.

 

There is a champion inside of me and a champion inside of each of you.  The best of both us every day waits for us to give it the chance to live.  So pray that your faith be greater than your fears.  

 

Fifty people over the age of ninety were asked, “If you had it do over again, what would you do differently?”  There were many answers, but one response seemed to stand out from all the others.  “I would risk more.” 

 

The number of opportunities passed up by each person in a lifetime is saddening.  The fear of failure stops many before they even take a first step toward an opportunity.  What a terrible waste.  You live in a land of the free and the brave.  Do not let fear be your king.