Wednesday, December 12, 2001

"What FEAR and VIOLENCE do to LOVE"

"Instead of eating, I mourn, and I can never stop groaning. Everything I fear and dread comes true. I have no peace, no rest, and my troubles never end." Job 3:24-24

Have you been where Job is? (above) Perhaps you are there now - or may be during moments
of this Advent-Christmas-New Year season. The holiday season is not fun for everyone! Please remember: seldom can we tell by looking at their outside what a person is feeling on the inside.

FEAR contradicts our confidence we are loved by God and erodes our feelings of worth and self-esteem. Though we may believe God is always near, what we may feel is the cold grip of fear.

Ronice Branding writes of "bringing HOPE through the work of LOVE, breaking cycles of fear and violence by changing conditions that breed insecurity and defensiveness. PEACEMAKING: The Journey from Fear to Love, Ronice E. Branding, CBP Press, St. Louis, M0, 1987. I'll draw on terms from the book to make Branding's meaning clear - I hope!

We are insecure when we are alienated (disconnected) from God and our selves and feel we are unloved, unlovable, unaccepted, rejected by others and ourselves. A voice cries out inside us,
"If people knew who I really am, deep inside, nobody would love me; not even I can love me."

We do not simply wake up one morning and say, "I think I'll feel lousy and worthless today!"
Our feeling valued and secure is shaped, in part, by relationships; when we are deprived of love in our family, isolated and rejected by some people & living in hostility and conflict with others,
we are likely to decide we are "no damn good" and to doubt that even God cares whether we live or die.

But don't stop now. There is more to the story including this GOOD NEWS: God does care!

Myron Talcott

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