It would be a nice way to live, don't you think? No fear. More than a catchy logo from a few years ago. (What happened to that, by the way?) Instead, just a way to go through life.
I remember this little doggy nightlight I had when I was a kid (12). I wasn't a big fan of the dark. Active imagination and too many sequels of Nightmare on Elm Street. So, I compensated for Freddy's claws with a little puppy nightlight. It made sense at the time.
I wonder where our fear first comes from. Raising Kate, who just turned 4, has given me an interesting perspective on fear. Fear of strangers, fear of bugs, fear of men in general (can I sign her up for that one through high school?). The one that still confuses me is a fear of the dark. One night she just said her room was too dark. We had a nightlight on, the door cracked, but she said it was too dark and that she was scared of the dark. I've been very careful to monitor what she hears and sees, so I didn't know where this came from.
Is fear just a human tendency, a preservation mechanism of sorts? Why some things and not others? And the big question, what alleviates, or dare I say cures, fears?
I think fears, unless medically diagnosed, are really masks for the worries and anxieties we have in our lives. Was Freddy Kruger my big fear as a kid or did I just really not want to get sliced into ribbons?
I began to finally understand fear in context when I made it into a contest. In this corner, fear. In the other corner, God. Go get it, God.
Really, that was one of my earliest realizations of relying on God, abiding in God. Imagine if we had constant faith in the one that creates and sustains and delivers us. No fear...
Here is Kate illustrating no fear. She turned 4 in September. Poppa is proud. Momma was at home, obviously.
