I woke, early this morning, with Little Cindy Lou Who whispering in my ear! (And, yes… I’ve been watching the Grinch!)
Cindy Lou’s voice was not the only one I heard. There was also a voice proclaiming, Fear not! Which is, admittedly, a bit ahead of where we are in the season, but hang with me, please.
Let’s begin with our friends in the photo.
Imagine being out on a hill in the dark someplace, making your living guarding sheep, with not much more help than an eager herding dog from a place far, far away. And the sky splits open and a voice booms – or even whispers – Fear not!
Then, imagine that again, from the perspective of one who has not heard this story their whole life long. One who likely can’t read or write. One who has no idea what will happen next.
And, yes… I’m identifying with that shepherd. Possibly for the first time in all my years of hearing and telling this story! And what I’m realizing is that I am, indeed, afraid, for there are more voices than ever before in my experience who want us to be afraid!
I’m also guessing that I’m not the only one who’s noticed that we really can’t just decide what we want to feel – or not feel – and make it so.
What we can do is to choose strategies. Like the Whos down in Who-ville, we can choose to claim the truth behind that old, old story.
We can do un-fear!
We can use our time and our resources, intentionally, to make the world a bit less scary for some of our neighbors.
We can externalize a whole lot of the chaos we may well be feeling… put it on a really big canvas… and paint hope over it. #abracadabra!
And we can use these strategies for good… no matter what particular version of the story we learned as children – no matter what version we may claim now – if we’re willing to claim that, in the very beginning, it was intended to be good news for all.
We can be the meaning!
It’s not going to solve all the problems right away. It hasn’t solved all the problems, yet! But, that, dear heart, is not our job. Our job is to be good news wherever we can, even when it’s scary.
ps… here’s a great way for you to be good news! The shop elves will be delighted to hook you up with a copy of A Creation Poem… OR, put 3 in your basket and 1 of them will magically be free! Then, choose anything from Original Paintings, Archival Prints, or the Special Collection by my dear friend, August Venuh, and get 25 % off your choices. You just click here to fill up your basket and the elves will do the math! (No codes needed! )They’re really excited to help you, so fix yourself a cuppa and wander in the wonder! It’s time to deck the walls!!!
pps… I’d really love to know what’s calling you! 45 minutes. My gift. You & your big dreams. Me & my medicine basket. A cuppa. Paper and markers… or eyebrow pencils if that’s what you have! Some red thread if it’s handy… to get one step clearer!!! Just click here and ask the calendar elves to hook you up!