By: MARGARET BROWN
THERE IS plenty of trouble in the world. We see it every day on television and in the newspapers.
It keeps the media moguls happy and gives some consumers a comfortable feeling of “I’m alright Jack, pull up the ladder”: until it comes home to roost. Whether a coveted job has been given to someone else, the car breaks down or dinner has been burned to a crisp, in no time anger and disappointment fade and life goes on much as before.
Real anxiety comes when something nasty lies ahead about which one can do nothing: a foot is stuck under the rails and the local train is due any moment – that kind of inevitability. Bad enough on a personal level, but if a member of the family or close friend is involved, the sense of helplessness breeds an irrational fear which no amount of reasoning dispels.
Neither is faith in God rational and yet, however weak it is, it has the power to conquer fear. The trust a child has in a loving parent’s ability to make everything right may be the last time we give ourselves totally into the hands of another person until, putting aside our adult self-sufficiency, we turn to God.
Those with absolute faith ask for help and have no doubt their prayers will be answered according to his will. Lesser mortals cry out only as a last resort, hoping that when the chips are down their failure to recognise the greatness and compassion of his love is no bar to help in time of need.
Either way, the burden of fear becomes less if even for a moment we lay it down at the feet of God.
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