Will the Tigers Eat Us?

avalanche chutes

This picture shows the five avalanche lines that come down the mountain. 

My Granddaughter, Jadyn, was only three years old when we drove to our mountain getaway in Buena Vista Colorado. As we came over Trout Creek Pass the lush Arkansas valley unfolded before us. Just beyond the valley rose the majestic 14,000 ft Collegiate Peaks that form the continental divide.

Look carefully at this picture. It will help you will understand the conversation that followed.

Where is our cabin?” Jadyn asked.

I pointed to five avalanche chutes that converged just above our home and said, “Our place is located right where those five lines come down the mountain.”

She stared intently at the mountains for several minutes. After a long period of silence she spoke in a timid voice.

Picture 119

Jadyn, at about 3 years old.

Can we play outside at the cabin?”

Of course.” I said

Will the tigers get us?”

Jadyn, there are no tigers in the mountains!” I reassured her.

It was as if she didn’t hear me. “When do the tigers come down?

“Jadyn, there are no tigers!” I said, more firmly this time.

With a trembling voice she responded, “But you said the cabin was right where five lions come down!

So much for my communication skills. I said our cabin was right where the five lines come down, but she heard lions instead of lines.

That evening we talked about being afraid of things that don’t exist.  We also talked about being afraid of things we can’t do anything about. Then we talked about the power of God.

I know people who become paralyzed with fear with every little pain or illness. “This must be it!” they think. “Surely I’m dying.” I know people who can’t sleep because they fear the world is ending because of whoever happens to be in political power.  As a control freak, I often worry about things completely out of my control. (BTW that includes most of what happens around me.)

According to scripture we will face all kinds of “tigers” in life but none of them are greater than the power of the one who gave His life for us. On top of that, for the believer, even death has lost it’s sting. Don’t waste time worrying about imagined fears. There are no lions!

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

What is your greatest fear?

How do you face your fears?

Is there such a thing as healthy fear?

[reminder]

 

Comments

  1. Last May, while I lay in a hospital bed recovering from surgery for an infected Knee implant, we were informed that my husband had cancer – lung, brain (inoperable). He was given 6 – 8 months. Well with treatment – radiation and chemo – even though it has spread/appeared in his ribs and live, he is still here and feeling the best he has since the diagnosis. Since then I have had another knee implant and subsequent surgery for infection on that one though the implant is safe since it was caught quickly. I worry that I am not strong enough to face all this – and yesterday we completed “end of life” plans for my husband – I have never and am not alone in this. Never have I felt the Lord nearer than these last two years – through my surgery and treatment for breast cancer and the initial knee replacement, then the infection and agony of that leading to that surgery in May. I am safwe in the hands of God; my husband is safe in the hands of God; my family is safe in the hands of God. Yes I fear the tigers but God is stronger and fiercer than the tigers.

  2. This points out the fact that we need not only talk to children but listen with both ears and hearts and draw them out. We must truly concentrate on hearing not only what they verbalize but looking at them and be tuned to what they are saying and what they are feeling. A look can often tell more than our words. I’m so glad you listened with your ears and heart. I’m a mother, grandmother and great grandmother and am surely blessed and may I say, you are not only blessed but a blessing.

  3. I had total right hip replacement surgery Dec 21 2016. Right now, I am planning around the next surgery. April 5 2017 will be total left hip replacement surgery. Fear of not being able to go back to work totally new and able to walk the same. My walk with God never changes, but I know my ability to walk as before may be altered. All is in His hands and He holds my tomorrows in His hands.

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