My sweet husband wanted to write a post to share some of his recent spiritual thoughts.
(lest we forget he did get a degree in Christian Ministries)
The
other day, Rachel and I took her parents and our kids out for dinner
to Red Robin. To most of you, Red Robin is famous for great
sandwiches and “bottomless” fries. It used to be famous for that
to me as well, but not anymore. Today Red Robin is famous to me
because it withdrew a manifestation of irrational fear out of my 3
year old son, Christian.
To
be fair, the little guy has gone through a lot in the past year and a
half. A year and a half ago he was an only child, now he’s 1 of 3.
A year ago he was living in Marion, Indiana. Since then he moved 500
miles to Maryland to live for about 11 months, and then moved another
500 miles back to Indiana just a few short weeks ago. In the midst of
all this change, he has met new people, made new friends, and now has to start over and make even more new friends. To say
the least, he has been going through many changes that can greatly
affect the psyche of a young, impressionable boy such as himself.
“The
Incident”
While
sitting in our oversized booth, some Red Robin associates were
preparing the area adjacent to us for a birthday party abounding with
cupcakes and helium-filled balloons. While these associates were
organizing the area, a balloon became loose and proceeded to “pop”
as it hit a warm light in the ceiling. As with any balloon popping,
it was initially a little startling. Christian was somewhat concerned
that the balloon had popped and asked me, "But why did it pop?”
Mistake
#1, I told Christian what happened. Now this wouldn’t seem like a
mistake to most, and it didn’t seem like one to me….at the time.
Cue the irrational fear: as the meal progressed balloons continued to
randomly get loose and float to the ceiling. The moment a balloon hit the ceiling, Christian would let
out a shriek. I'm
not talking about a little "I'm scared mommy please hold me"
type of cry. This was an uncontrollable "there's no way you can
comfort me right now" type of cry. It was a scream. There’s
no other way to put it, he had rapidly become extremely fearful of
balloons popping on the ceiling.
No
matter how much I tried to reason with this 3 year old and take him
outside for moments of calm away from the deathly balloons, the fear
was not subsiding.
His brilliant mother finally decided to make him switch sides of the
booth where any balloons were barely visible. I probably should have
just let her handle it from the start.
In
the ensuing days, I began to notice that Christian, and all children
I presume, tend to have many irrational fears that can come and go as
quickly as beautiful weather in Northwest Indiana. Some days he
might be afraid of the lamp at the top of the stairs. Some days his
sisters, Selah and Jadah, might be scared
to death of
their Pappy Henry with his shirt off. (This has happened on multiple
occasions.) Some days Christian might be bashful to sing at Awana’s,
while other days he will belt it out at the top of his lungs.
Whatever the fears may be, they are usually somewhat fleeting and
many times totally irrational.
Further
introspection brought to light an interesting point. As Christians,
we tend to give in to irrational fears much like my son did that
night at Red Robin. We hang Jeremiah 29:11 and Philippians 4:13 in
our homes, but do we ever stop and realize the meanings of those
verses in our lives? If we truly believe that “God has plans to
prosper and not harm us” and we can “do all things through Christ
that strengthens us,” then why do we still have fear?
Why
are we scared when we lose a job or don't like a job? Why are we
scared when our house won't sell and we desperately need to sell it?
Why are we scared when we don't know God's plan for our entire lives
at this moment in time? Why are we scared when our children, younger
and older ones, make mistakes? Why are we scared about anything, that
when it comes down to it, is outside of our control?
I'll
tell you why, it's because we're human! All of these “adult”
fears make perfect sense and should be concerns. But time and again I
have seen people lose sleep and practically create panic attacks over
issues they really have no control over. As the old adage goes, “You
have to let go and let God.” I know this is MUCH easier said than
done. But imagine what life would be like if you could simply let go
of all of your fears and doubts and trust completely that God has
things under control! There are a vast number of references in the
Bible of God promising to take care of us. Not even a sparrow falls
without Him knowing. He knows the number of hairs on your head, don't
you think He knows your fears and doubts? And better than all of
that, He knows your hopes and dreams.
With
that said, may you go with God. May you not worry and not fear the
troubles of this world. May you walk with confidence and assurance
through the scary streets of your personal memoir. May you see the
balloons of life floating toward the hot lights in the ceiling and
say. “I know you might pop, but I'm not going to be scared
anymore.” May you always know that God does
have a plan for you and you can
do all things through Christ who gives you strength.
4 comments:
Preach it, Simon!
Good thoughts Simon! You should write more often. Such great thoughts to remember as we near the birth of our son and the fears and changes that come with parenthood.
I think you have a gift for writing that I didn't know about: Taking life's ordinary events and helping us see Christ in those places. Great Job. Your Mother-In-Law is impressed!
Good thoughts, Simon. Thanks for sharing.
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