The Wisdom of Advent – Learning to Wait
Week 4: Peace.
The beginning of Luke’s gospel contains many descriptions of people who wait. Zechariah and Elizabeth wait for a child (Lk 1:5-25), the angel Gabriel appears to Mary at the Annunciation (Lk 1:26-38), and the angel appears to the shepherds to tell them of the birth of Jesus (Lk 2:8-20). All these people receive a message from God, and each has a common theme – don’t be afraid; something good is coming.
Fear seems to be a universal human response to the unknown. Throughout the Bible, God frequently tells us not to be afraid. Consider reading some of these stories and see if any of them bring you peace or calm the fear you may be carrying.
Falling Up After 50 
Rather appropriate post for me today, as I couldn’t sleep last night due to the What If record playing on an endless loop in my head. Travel Transition Time has begun. I know what I need to do: trust in The Lord, replace fear and anxiety with excitement and curiosity. Knowing what I need to do and actually doing it aren’t quite the same thing. But I keep trying. Thank you for the reminder.
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It’s incredibly hard to actually keep doing it! I guess we have years (decades!) of the fear/worry/anxiety thoughts that have created deep grooves in our neural pathways to overcome. But I do believe it’s possible with repeated effort. So I applaud you for continuing to try new behaviors.
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“Fear seems to be a universal human response to the unknown. Throughout the Bible, God frequently tells us not to be afraid.” I think fear manifests itself in so many different ways, maybe as a innate survival skill to make us look less vulnerable. i think if humankind spent more time thinking about fear and what makes us afraid, we would realize we and everyone else are very vulnerable, that things people do that we don’t like are very often because they feel vulnerable and not because they are wicked, and humankind could start to make progress replacing hate with love. what i’m going to think about today… thanks for today’s post!
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I think that’s great insight! Fear (especially fear that we don’t even realize we’re feeling) can make us do some strange things. And it’s a great reminder that what we perceive in others as bad intent could actually be a response to fear.
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