Lent 2020, Week 2: Fear

Well, isn't that timely.  Not sure about where you live, but in my town, the only way to currently get toilet paper at Costco is to line up an hour before they open.  Because an abundance of toilet paper in your basement will prevent you and your loved ones from contracting COVID-19.

Wait. What?!

Fear is a beast.  I'm not an infectious disease doctor, but I am, by a lot of definitions, an expert on pediatric anxiety.  And I know that fear is convincing, contagious, and catastrophic.  It's a big barrier to my relationship with God.  And, apparently, getting toilet paper.

I've heard that "do not be afraid" can be found 365 different places in the Bible.  And I find something oddly reassuring about that.  Matthew 3:34 asks us to not worry about tomorrow because today has enough worries of it's own.  And, turns out, today also has it's very own Bible verse for not worrying.  I'd love to have a journal that has the "Do not be afraid" bible verse of the day across the top.  Maybe not a journal, because I don't actually get to the opening or writing part of keep a journal.  Maybe a flip chart?

Something that makes fear particularly difficult for me is that (1) when fear is driving, scarcity is riding shotgun and (2) there are very, very real scary things out there.  Kate Bowler reminded me on social media this week that we do no cling to the "do not be afraid" scripture when we are healthy, snuggled in bed with a whole weekend in front of us.  No.  We cling when there is a diagnosis or a scary person or risky decision.

At the end of the day, I refuse to believe Truth starts with scarcity and ends with fear.  Instead, I believe that there are enough "do not be afraids" to cover me the whole dang-a-lang year.  I believe God creates and loves from secure abundance.  When I started throwing my fear into faith, I started to notice security, not scarcity.  There's the time I was audited for improper documentation & had to pay back HUNDREDS of dollars.  While I was crying and raging at this news, I received an email that offered me a contract to teach at a conference for an amount within $1.00 of my "fine." 

My prayer for me, and you, over the last week is that God can open our eyes to security instead of scarcity.  Faith instead of fear.

My songs for the week are "The Wound is Where the Light Gets In" (Jason Gray-you are turning into the soundtrack of my Lent) and "confidence" by Sanctus Real.


PS-I recognize it is a Leap Year & so I do not technically have a verse for day 366.  I can do hard things but I cannot do math. That is all.