Categories: uncategorized
Date: 12 November 2004 12:44:23
We used to sing a song at primary school that began like this
"Whenever i feel afraid
I hold my head erect
And whistle a happy tune
So no-one will suspect I'm afraid."
The basic point of the song seemed to be that if you pretend you are brave, then you will be. I'm not, in general. Even though I know that Jesus said that we shouldn't worry about anything, my mind is too often a mass of things that COULD happen- but probably won't.
Thinking about this yesterday, I re-read the Screwtape Letters on this issue, in which dear old Uncle Screwtape pointed out that humans have minds that are essentially full of loads of fears that can't possibly all happen at once. Instead of praying for their present 'cross to bear', which is that they have all these things preying on their minds that scare and depress them, they worry incessantly about what could happen - and it ends up obscuring the things of now and the things we really should be thinking about.
So I tried praying about all the things I was afraid of for the next few days (which are legion, as usual) and realised that, like Screwtape says, they can't all happen at once. If they do, I'm going to try and cross that bridge when I come to it. Some of them now look like they definitely won't happen, thank the lord.
But don't be surprised if you still come across me walking down the street whistling a happy tune "so no-one will suspect I'm afraid", I haven't got this one conquered yet.