Think about this for a minute: scared and sacred have the exact same letters. I wonder if that’s because scared and sacred are more related than we realize. Just this week I was asked to speak at another church in town. I know that I speak almost every week at our church, but when this invitation arrived, I felt scared. Immediately my mind started with some excuses, like I really need to stay focused, I don’t need anything else on my plate right now, my voice is not that unique anyway… Before saying no, I thought I had better pray about it, and when I got quiet and honest, I had to admit the main feeling behind my excuses was fear.
I wonder how often I miss the sacred because I’m hiding behind scared?
The good news is that God specializes in moving people from a scared position to sacred ground. Consider Hagar who ran from Sarah because she was afraid but encountered God in the desert and was equipped to return to the place she feared in order to carry out God’s plans for Ishmael and Isaac. Consider Moses who was afraid to speak yet later stayed alone with God on smoking Mount Hebron for forty days to receive God’s counsel for the thousands of Israelites Moses was now leading. Consider Peter who denied Christ out of his terror of being included in Christ’s sufferings yet later became the rock on which God built the church.
This week I choose to relinquish my fear and trust God to make the sacredness. Will you do the same?
Susie Grade 