"FEAR NOT"

OK. When the shepherds in the field saw what was happening at the birth of Jesus, they were afraid. I think it is a pretty natural response to having a mind blowing new experience. But, immediately the Heavenly Hosts, told them to fear not. I guess, a lot of time, we can so so captured by our fear that we can't hear the heavenly hosts telling us to fear not. I think their voices are there in any given situation. I have experienced the fact of having a guardian angel Most of us have. Each and every one of you can think of a near miss moment in which you were so close to taking a fatal, or disastrous turn and something held you back.

Even seemingly tiny things, like being about to walk into the street in front of a car you haven't noticed. You think you hear something, turn around to see what it is and there is nothing there. But in that second of hesitation, your life is saved. My Angel deserves a big tip, because she has to work overtime a lot.

I think our role in this deal is to turn. Faced with a terrible mortal fear, we need to turn to the light for a split second and the heavenly hosts can use that moment to tell us to fear not. When I was in El Salvador during the troubles, I was in a village where most of the people were already dead, but there had been a recent murder. Some army guys came through and I don't know what they had been told, but they were jumpy and outnumbered. This young kid came and put his gun in my face. My first thought was "I'm done." Then I took a breath and saw big fear in his eyes. I said, "You are afraid, too." In a split second, he lost his macho, lost his fear, lost his intent. He gave me a look of scorn and moved on. That was a gift from the gods to me.

Only once in my life have I seen the whole show. Once, trying to help someone who was dying, I was filled with frustration, as was she. I turned away from her and turned to God, and inwardly cried out "Help me here, I can't do this." Honestly, I saw a host of angels above her and suddenly everything went right. I didn't do anything except turn toward the light. Let's use this time of year to turn our thoughts, fear and frustrations to remind us that there is help when we ask. You really often don't even have to ask for help, just turn towards the light when the darkness starts to envelop you., and let God do the rest.