Danger!

Fishhook Barrel Cactus. Desert Wolf. Pit Viper. Cougar.

It may have been a mistake to go to the Desert Museum and Zoo on our first day in Arizona. My take away from that wonderful place was that just about everything in the desert wants to either hurt you our kill you; and most of them are not as visible as the Fishhook Barrel Cactus.

We stayed at a place that is nestled into a desert preserve with a lot of hiking trails. The first few hikes we took I spent a lot of time thinking about FIshhook Barrel Cacti and Pit Vipers with a running monologue in my head, "Stay on the trail those thorns will not come out of your skin. I wonder where those Pit Vipers are? They blend in so well, would I ever see them?" Hiking in this way is not helpful nor productive.

As I got used to the environment and I made note that the locals were running and biking without a care in the world, I finally relaxed so that I could enjoy the beauty of the deserts of Arizona. And they are beautiful. The Organ Pipe Cactus are just amazing and the vistas of the surrounding mountains stunning. If I spent my entire time in fear I would not have come to appreciate what God had created for this place.

As we enter our Lenten season I want to challenge you to take on a new kind of discipline. This discipline is trying to live without fear. Every news item, every story we hear and most conversations these days seems to want us to live in fear. When we live in fear we become overly cautious and we keep our heads down looking for danger. I believe God is calling God's people to "Fear not!" To look up and see the beautiful, wonderful world that God has given us.

The practice of living without fear involves avoiding being overly connected to the news cycle. Maybe build in the practice of checking the news once a day. It involves steering conversations away from overly fretting about things to solutions that we can do in our own time and place. It involves the practice of keeping our heads physically up so that we notice the world around us, the beautiful spring blooming around us, the people who are passing us by, archetectrical nuances. You would be amazed at what you will see when you keep your head up. It involves taking time for earnest prayer for our neighbors both near and far.

When we find ourselves living without fear we realize that we are called to be a part of our environments, that we are intricately involved with our communities, that where God has called us to be is where we are called to change the world.

Maybe if we live this way it can become a habit. And maybe it will help others live their lives with a little less fear as well. I hope you have a blessed Lent.