Fear is a liar

​Re-written and shared from the earliest days of the pandemic.
***

At dinner the other night, the youngest and more mischievious of my two sons, the one who constantly loves sharing his sharp sense of humor, informed me he'd been reading up on who exactly was most vulnerable to this Corona Virus. He then turned to me, looked me straight in the eyes and declared, "there's really only one person I know who needs to be afraid of this virus."

His point was, I'm the most elderly person in his life....

I allowed him his laugh. Coughed and spit up a little old man chuckle of my own. And then informed him, buddy, don't you worry about me. If that virus takes me out, I'll be dancing with Jesus. And then - I'll be the happiest person in your life!!

I was somewhat joking with the boy. My main objective was to give him a fearless response - because I know we're in times when it would be easy for our kids to be filled with fear. How much fear fills them will be largely determined by how much fear they see around them.

The truth is I'm not afraid. I do know fear is a liar. Don't mistake that for "not concerned" or "not taking protective measures" - they are not the same.

Fear is a liar. I know that can be big basket of pep talk. The reality is, though, fear IS a lie. God didn't give us a spirit of fear. That's biblical. It is also scientific.

Our brains were created to tolerate about 20 minutes of stress at a time. Just enough time for us to respond to something scary, to react with protective measures, and then settle back into a fearless state. In times like these, though, it's easy to allow ourselves to feel fear and stress for far longer than the 20 minutes we're designed to tolerate it.

2 Timothy 1:7 tells us: For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

We're told here that yes, fear is a lie, but God also lovingly shares the tools we can use to deal with it.

POWER - I think it's a powerful starting place to know when we are sitting in fear we know that feeling is a lie. It doesn't make it "unreal" - but it does make the things it tells us untrue.

Fear speaks things into us that aren't helpful, it makes us look at a situation with hopelessness and helplessness. It makes us give up instead of fight on. When you start at a place of knowing something isn't real, you can begin to more quickly move to a place that is. Quietly take captive the thoughts that disturb you. Loudly repalce them with a flow of thoughts that encourage you. Remind yourself that God has you.

LOVE - Your fears and my fears, they are most eased by love. When we take on one anothers' burdens in love, we are actually attacking the lies that fear tell. We ARE the reminders that God has you.

When you're trying to decide, should I sit around and worry and stock up toilet paper and settle into a doomsday frame of mind, or should I reach out to a neighbor or co-worker and simply check on them - "hey, how is your toilet paper supply" - just know the act of checking is telling yourself AND them - fear is a liar.

SELF-DISCIPLINE - There are a host of spiritual and scientific measures we can practice daily that prey on fear. Prayer and meditation quiet the mind and the soul. There's a reason God said be still and know. There's a reason the mind finds a more settled space when we say nothing at all.

We can take a deep breath - and hold it - and then slowly let it out. Do this several times a day. On purpose. It's amazing how much our fear response is tied to our breathing, and how much our ability to be fear-less can be controlled by practicing our breathing.

In my opinion, this virus is a dauting enemy. But far more worrisome to me is fear. Our collective fear stands a far greater chance of destroying us than this virus. The good news about fear - there already exists a vaccine.

It's power. It's love. It's self-discipline.

Fear is a liar - four helpful words to remember from one of the most vulnerable of us: 🙄