Deciding How I React

While the world all around us is cancelling gatherings at an unprecedented rate due to germs, my family went to the farm store tonight where (a) accidentally dropped his bag of popcorn… in the baby chicken aisle.  Before we could stop him, he grabbed a handful of the popcorn off the floor and stuffed it in his mouth.  Now I don’t consider myself germophobic, but I was pretty horrified at this move I considered super gross.  He, however, has no fear of germs and would never dream of wasting his beloved “farm store” popcorn.

He is fearless about germs, AND fashion...

It really got me thinking about all the things I have been seeing in the news over the past few days.  I have truthfully been a little shocked at the growing number of cancellations and closings of public gatherings.  Now, I am the first one to admit that I have ZERO background in public health or immunology, so I honestly have no idea if it is a very smart move or a ridiculous amount of panic.  And it really isn’t for me to decide.  But I do know this, I can decide how I let myself handle this emotionally.  I can decide whether or not I live in a state of fear.

There is a difference in being prepared or prudent and being fearful.  Prepared says I make smart decisions relating to my health and the health of others, fear says I should over analyze every statistic and read every media article I can find.  Prepared says I am washing my hands frequently (as I always do in the petri dish that is a classroom), while fear says you should be spraying your children down with disinfectant. 

The thing is, before this viral outbreak, and long after it is over, there will always be things where we can choose to act in fear or choose to live in faith.  We live in a broken and imperfect world, there will always be risks associated with living.  While I am not one to take unnecessary risks, I also believe that God does not call us to let fear rule in our hearts.  There is an importance in making wise choices, but we cannot allow a life of fear to paralyze us.  For instance, I am very careful to always strap my boys into their car seats appropriately, but the fear of them being hurt in a car accident does not keep us from driving from place to place.  I do not let them leave my sight in public and I try to be aware of my surroundings, but the fear of them being kidnapped does not keep us from going to the grocery store. 

I want to exercise wise decision making, but I do not want to let fear take over.  If we always chose to listen to fear, we would rarely step out in faith to something God is calling us to do. 

So while I am going to continue washing my hands frequently and sanitizing desks, I am not going to allow myself to be paralyzed by all the possibilities that exist… though “the cowboy” and I ARE going to have some more talks about the germs that might be found on the floor of the chicken aisle in “the farm store.”

“I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.” Psalms 34: 4