2020.06 FEAR NOT

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 1 John 4:18

There’s a lot going on these days. The world is held hostage by a mysterious virus that is a killer. Most countries are in some form of stay at home or lockdown because of it. Businesses are closing, some forever, others are facing serious loss of revenue. Folks who have never worked from home are tripping over toys, fielding homework questions and sharing the kitchen table with the laptop. Others can’t work from home and can’t work from work or have been furloughed, laid off, or terminated and are hunkering down making the best of a very confusing and serious season of uncertainty. The economies of the world are floundering.For the health vulnerable it is a frightening time for them and their kin.

There is one thing that I am beyond tired of and that is mainstream media. No matter how you feel about the president, you must see he has his hands full. While some were wasting everyone’s valuable time trying to impeach him, he was trying to run the country and now he is further berated that he didn’t plan for this enough. Truly if the media had treated other presidents the way they treat this one they would have been lashed out against for being hateful. That is the problem. We have become a culture of disrespect. You see respect needs to be given to everyone – even those we don’t agree with. Can we be kind? Can we patiently listen and hear the point of view of someone else, even if we think it is wiggy? Aren’t ideas at least worth a good hearing?

Just what if you wake up one day and find that the world isn’t the place you thought it was? That there has been a lot going on and you totally missed it because you were too busy focusing on what all the screamers were saying and not just listening, observing and reserving judgment for a later date. What if things really aren’t what they seem and up is down and down is sideways only you didn’t notice because someone was keeping you busy by getting your blood pressure up and angry over things that if you looked more carefully at them weren’t really how they were being portrayed.

The thing we often are most afraid of is the unknown. This virus presents a lot of unknowns – are we sure we know how it is transmitted? When will there be a cure? Will it go away or will it keep coming back? If I get it, will I die too? Lots of really scary things all because we don’t know. It is an enemy without a face. Yes, that is a place of fear. It is all of the other things on top that compound it.

Now mix in an alarmist society that is already full of anger that is quite unfounded against whoever the person that it is fashionable to hate at the moment. That lashing is also often out of fear. The media is spoon feeding us and there is no much non-journalism out there that comes on our phones and seeps out on social media. What I mean is that our news is more like a tabloid where someone or situations are slammed, criticized, or constantly picked upon and no one actually looks at the facts.

I will give you one example. President Trump on his to-do list was to build the border wall on the Mexican side. I always hated this idea and was really bugged about it. However, I was recently challenged to just check out these ideas and see where they were originated. Did you know that the border fence idea was originated back during G. Bush’s term and the bill not only passed, it was signed by Senators Clinton and Obama? Yep, I’m done whining about that one.

If we want to get rid of the fear we need to practice love – loving self, loving our neighbors who maybe aren’t like us and loving those who appear as enemies. So Mainstream Media who annoys me so much I am turning to tell you that I would love to see you show kindness and compassion to those who lead us. We need hope right now and you need hope right now. Our love for one another will quell some of the storm of fear. We have a President who is doing a job that we aren’t paying him for. This is costing him financially as well. He is a business man – who better to manage all of these unusual challenges that we face. God is still sovereign and has allowed the leadership we have to be there no matter how we feel about them. Nothing escapes his notice. Our love is imperfect, but His love is pervasively perfect.

Friends – love on each other, ask questions, listen to new ideas, let go of the fear that holds you hostage. Hope will arise. We are headed into a very different world in the coming days and weeks. Nothing will ever be the same. It IS the end of the world as we know it, but we might actually be better off than we think. This is a time to slow down and do a lot of thinking and asking questions, observing what is happening.

Let’s wake up, love our neighbors and give Fear the pink slip,

Kiki

Fear – ciao baby!