Enlightenment

We Are Afraid of So Many Things

We Are Afraid of So Many Things

(by Frank Mihalic)

Fear is a part of every person’s life. We fear anything we are not sure about or cannot understand. That is why we fear ghosts, spirits, diseases... We fear things that make us tiny by comparison. That is why fear the thunder and the lightning, earthquakes, floods, whirlwinds, and the like. We sense the overwhelming power of God in all these. Fear takes hold of us and we crawl back into our tiny shells.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” is a frequently expressed rule of thumb of the Old Testament. In other words, this fear does not harm us; it helps us.

There are also other kinds of fear around us everyday which help us rather than harm us. For example, we do fear opposition of any kind. Opposition is not necessarily bad at all. In fact, it can be good; it can bring out the best in us. So why fear it?

We also fear to lose a game or race or ‘contest’ of any sort. But here again, losing is not all that bad. We lose some, we win some: that is the law of life. We usually learn more from losing a game than from winning it.

Another thing we are afraid to do is apologize. We are afraid to admit that we have done wrong or been wrong. Why? An admission like that does not lower us in people’s eyes. It does the very exact opposite; it makes them think better of us. We trust people who admit that they make mistakes sometimes.

Sometimes we get caught at something and we tell a lie out of fear. We fear to tell the truth. Then things really get coupled because we have to cover one lie with a second, third and so on. Then one day, we forget, and the whole pyramid of lies collapses and so does our good name. Someone has to put it this way: “The nice thing about telling the truth is that you do not have to remember what you said,” so have no fear in truth, no matter how much it seems to hurt.

One of the things we fear most is hereafter. It is all so mysterious and threatening and inescapable. The only answer to that is: “There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out all fear.” How can I call you my closest and best friend and be afraid of you? How can I call God my closest friend and best friend and be afraid of you? How can I call God my closest friend and be afraid of Him when I am standing for the last examination and He is the examiner?