Faith and Scare
Yesterday something intentional, horrific, thoughtless happened. Air-Force One look-alike flew very low over Manhattan for a photo shoot. Many things will be written about this insensitive event-to say the least-from is advertising everything? to why were state officials like Bloomberg not notified–because he would have said “Hell no” .
But I’m gonna try to take a different spin on being scared to death. Is it ever the right way to handle faith situations and scare someone into “believing” ?I think not! Those Manhattaners did not need that scary situation to bring them to God. If God, or their higher power, was not already present in their lives they would not have turned to Him in their time of panic. Panic has no room in spirituality. Panic doesn’t help us grow…hard times yes, but not panic. When I feel panic and scared I only want to crawl under my covers and cuddle with my pillow. It has never motivated me into action. Be motivated to grow not through fear but through love.” For God gave us not a spirit of fearfulness; but of power and love and discipline. “(2 Timothy 1:7) American Standard Version
Oh President Obama, we all make mistakes-Please don’t use fear to persuade our nation. Your administration is better than this and we deserve you to step and be the best. For those Manhattan citizens that witnessed this horrible advertising prank–My heart goes out to you with love. I’m sorry you were fearful.
Cheryl said:
We can overcome fear through forgiveness and awareness. As you pointed out, fear does not come from God. It is something we made when we thought we were separated from God (and each other). Thank you for pointing out that God gave us a spirit of power, love and discipline. We need to be reminded that we were created from all of the love in the universe and we all possess all of the power in the universe. When we are disciplined in the quiet art of stillness, we will come to realize this to be true.
That said, it baffles me that the air force photographers thought this was a good idea. With photoshop they could easily have taken a picture of the Statue of Liberty and a separate picture of the aircraft and photoshopped them together. Duh!
April 28th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Cheryl said:
In study and meditation this morning my lesson continues with your theme of love and power over fear and powerlessness. We can make a conscious choice to see our brothers through the eyes of love instead of the eyes of fear. A Course In Miracles Lesson 351 verbalizes this well. “My sinless brother is my guide to peace. My sinful brother is my guide to pain. And which I choose to see I will behold.” It goes on to explain that what we see in others is what we see in ourselves. Kind of goes back to the Golden Rule mindset. Our experience is directly related to how we experience others. When we let love overcome fear outwardly, love overcomes fear inwardly. I think this also holds true for the opposite. When we let love overcome fear inwardly, love overcomes fear outwardly. When we all allow love to reign, our world will be so wonderfully different than we experienced before.
Thank you, again, for sharing your spin on a “scary event”.
Namaste!
April 29th, 2009 at 6:02 am