If you displayed any sign of fear---the torture tripled! Their amusement was heightened by screams, tears, and running. I learned to be stone faced and show no fear to stem the tide of plots to terrify.
Thankfully I grew up--and got over my childhood fears. Those fears were replaced with an entire new set of terrors fueled by the media, scary movies, and reading suspense stories. My imagination would be shifted into overdrive after seeing a warning of potential attacks in parking lots, bizarre kidnap schemes revealed in books, and movies where the main character turned out to be dead. The super fantasy epics such as the chain saw massacres did not faze me--too bizarre to be true. The realities of the evil which lurks in the day to day of our real world--that can cause me to quiver and quake-- was enough to induce nightmares.
And then there are the demons which torture my dreams and thoughts--the terror of loneliness, betrayal, financial set backs--a long list of the horrible scenarios of the what if's. What if my old house has major foundation problems? What if I become sick? What if the 90 year old huge tree falls on my house. What if----fill in the blank. The demons of fear, anxiety and worry are enough to drive the most sane over the edge of reason.
The fact is there will be setbacks--things do happen---the seemingly unbearable--insurmountable-- potentially defeating occurrences we all experience may indeed occur. Most of us will experience one of our worst fears at some point in our life. But what good is worry---does our anxiety of the possible guarantee not experiencing our worst nightmares or does it guarantee they will happen?
I love the scripture which tells us to worry not about tomorrow--but live in today. Worry and being anxious will not stop the firestorms of life. Sitting around obsessing about things which may never happen is a waste of time and energy. Live in the present--relish the joy of the moment--and let tomorrow take care of itself. Deny the monsters and demons control of your thoughts and emotions--instead trust the voice of reason which knows how much God loves you and His constant presence--even when the worst happens---He is here.
Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
I Peter 5:7
Another great article, Lulu. Thank you and well done.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, deep within our psyche, we all harbour a certain love of the dark, of the scary, of evil even. It's part of our make up to flirt to some extent or other with the worst that life has to offer. God created us this way. Maybe it is a self-protection mechanism to make us aware of danger, to make us more careful of making the wrong decisions in life.
This being the case, I agree with you that most of us tend to worry, overduely perhaps, about something bad that may happen to us; real or imagined. The best cure to this, I find, is prayer. Even repeating over and again "Jesus I trust you".
A priest I knew years ago once told me, "I have made a deal with God. I do His work here on earth as best I can. He takes care of the worries!"
God bless you, Lulu.
Thank you for this comment, Victor. The perfect PS to today's post!
DeleteBlessings!
Amen to both you and Victor's words today.
DeleteI love Victor's wisdom! A valuable contributor to my musing!
DeleteBlessings!
I remember the LAST scary book I read...Cujo...by S. King. It was so scary I through it in the trash can before finishing it...only to dig it back out a few hours later and finish it. How often have we dug our worries back out of the trash can? Too often to remember. Im going to put that lid on today really tight and rely on Jesus. 😍
ReplyDelete"Threw"
ReplyDeleteMy last scary book was The Shining. Stayed up most of the night to finish it. WHY did I think reading that book was a good idea! YES, seal that lid up tightly!
DeleteBlessings, Friend!