The Rustle of Fear
“To him who is in fear it seems as if everything around him rustles.” — Sophocles (497 BC)
What are we noticing now that was in plain sight all along? Do we sense the rustling of poverty, sickness, loneliness and death? Haven’t these been around us all our lives? We look at how the world around us is changing – and not for the better. It’s is all too easy to be afraid of what we didn’t notice on Ash Wednesday when we determined our disciplines for what became the Longest Lent.
The rustlings draw louder as fear threatens to consume us, We know we don’t have the confidence and wisdom to deal with its demands on our own. How do we sort out what we must accept, what action we are called to carry out, and what we must leave to providence? And I don’t mean denying and ignoring the needs we find all around us.
The fact we find hard to accept is that we can choose victory over fear in trusting Jesus by surrendering to his will and staying open each moment to his presence when victimhood is rustling around us.
