Have you ever met someone with irrational fears?
I like to pick on Kevin Scruggs, one of the great people of West, because he has this huge fear of clowns. We joke about this (so please know I’m not being malicious!) I’ve known Kevin for years from “afar.” When I was on staff at Williamson’s Chapel I had the opportunity to meet him various times through the Scouting ministry. I always admired how he worked with those young men and the great work they did at WCUMC and in the community. Scouts of all genders have my respect – how they embrace the great outdoors, can do things with and in nature, I can barely understand! I’m a “Days Inn is Camping” kind of first world spoiled person.
I respect and admire Kevin – so when I found out he has an irrational fear of clowns, it was game on. I love to kid around and have a good time. So periodically I put pictures of clowns on his Facebook page just so he can “feel the love” and know that his pastor thinks of him. It’s done in good nature and we both know there is not going to be a negative outcome because of that fear. The clown is not Pennywise from IT and is not going to jump off the screen and inhabit Kevin’s life.
Layne, my daughter, has an irrational fear of butterflies. Late summer we escaped for a few days to Disney and as we walked through a park she started jerking in bizarre ways. Her arms were flailing and she contorted her torso as if she were trying to avoid something that I could not see. Sometimes these contortions would cause her to bump into me, and after 20,000 steps through a park the week after the Bash, I was a little too tired for those antics. Especially when she told me it was because of butterflies.
Pretty, innocent butterflies.
Things most people look at and marvel at their beauty and uniqueness . . . Layne literally freaks. On the mission trip this summer it was fun (in a sick kind of way) to watch the youth ask her to join them in an activity and then seconds later she’d be standing in the midst of butterflies. They did it as a joke, she never quite found the humor because they were/are something she fears.
Irrational fears are often times the root of our worry.
We worry about that which we cannot control and that which we can’t know.
We fear the future, what will happen to us, our families, friends, careers, money, homes, etc.
However, what we often don’t remember is that our universe is inherently unpredictable. There is and always will be something we “can” worry about. There will always something that will be beyond our control.
The good news is – regardless of what the situations are that we are in, they are never bigger than we are. We can be brave and determine what is real concern and what is needless, irrational worry.
Romans 8:31-39The Message (MSG)
31-39
So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us?
This verse doesn’t promise that bad things will never come. However, it does promise that in the darkest of days, fears, and worries – we will never have to go it alone.
Are there irrational fears in our lives today that we need to let go of? Is there a clown on a screen or a butterfly flying in the air that metaphorically pushes your buttons and causes you have fear?
What can we do to let go of our worries?