Thought of the week: Scary World!
Written by Murray McCandless
The world is getting scarier all the time. Environmentally, economically and ecologically, we seem to be going from bad to worse. From reports of wide-reaching economic devastation to the epidemically troubled Africa, and other countries the outlook is very grim. From the black atmospheric cloud looming over Asia, to the busting up of the Artic, the sirens seem to be sounding constantly.
Towns and cities are trying to deal with tainted drinking-water, and the uncertainty of the food we buy right here in Canada, confirms that we live on a confidence shaken planet. The current worldwide tenor is one fear and uncertainty. There are cultural anxieties that seem to add to this sense of fearful doom. Uncertainty seems to be the only certainty.
Playing on these anxieties, politicians, marketers, and media producers know well that fear is a compelling motivator, and a profitable one at that. They reach our wills and our wallets trying to convince us we can rid ourselves of worry, but buying into their party or their products.
While the worry and unrest that is ever being stirred into the worldwide caldron may indeed be based on real concerns, the combined ingredients in this pressure-cooker are at best worth a second look. Who is it, and what is it that is holding us in such gripping fear?
I read an interesting story about Mrs. Wilma Sullivan, a widow who lives alone in Portageville, Missouri. She was sleeping in her quiet house on a quiet street among quiet and friendly neighbors. She had gone to bed about 11:30…Not that she had worried unduly about her personal safety, but the doors were locked tight and nobody could have opened a window even if they had tried. She was sure of that.
“She picked up [a] novel…and settled down to read for a while. She grew sleepy. She put down the novel, turned off the light and settled down to sleep.
“As best she could reconstruct the night’s events later, she must have fallen into a deep, relaxed sleep. Then about 2 or 3 a.m. she came up ever so gradually to the border between sleep and waking. She moved, put her arms above her head and dozed off again. All was still quiet, peaceful and relaxed. She had no fearful apprehensions, no premonitions, no worries.
“People who sometimes sleep with their arms above their heads, myself being one of them, will understand what happened next. It was a minor matter. Her left arm simply grew tired of the position. She was dimly aware of the discomfort. It continued. Still dozing, she tried to lower her arm. It wouldn’t come down.
“Then, she says, she became aware of a warm, firm hand holding her arm tightly. She woke up in a hurry – and in a panic. She struggled in the dark to free her hand, but the strange hand wouldn’t turn loose. The harder she struggled, the tighter the grasp grew. She was struck by how warm that hand was, and how firmly it held her. Frantically, she tried harder to get loose. Then something dawned on her. It was her own right hand doing the holding! Her words ‘I nearly fell out of bed laughing. But I didn’t.’ She finally managed to pry her right hand loose from her left, and laughed a while, and then fell back to sleep for the rest of the night, and no harm was done
I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds tomorrow. So whatever you do – get to know Him – because you’ll need Him. And He’ll be there for you. He’ll be there when everybody and everything else has gone. He’ll be there for you in the dark places. His promise to you is, ‘… Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning’ Psalms 30
Just think, no matter how dark the night, you’ve always lived to see the morning. Right? Somehow His grace has protected you, provided for you, secured you, calmed and comforted you, and brought you through. Times and seasons change, but not God. He’s always ‘… the Father of all comfort… ‘ and He’s watching over his every child night and day! Make sure you one of his children.
Murray A. McCandless 2070 Route 121 Norton NB E5T 1E9 mmccand@nbnet.nb.ca