Gaining Perspective

God once again used parenting the other day to help me gain some perspective on worry. I hope this encourages you too.

My son Jack has a fear of fire drills at school that has only gotten worse as the year has progressed. The other day I was having lunch with him and I looked over to see him red in the face, tearing up, and physically shaking. Alarmed, I asked him what in the world was wrong. He said that he overheard someone say the word bell and he was afraid that there was about to be a fire drill.

I explained to him that a "drill" is just that, only a "drill", that I was there with him to carry him out, and that we could see the exit door less than 20 feet from where we were sitting. This did not help at all and he continued to grow increasingly upset. After I finally got him to calm down, I couldn't help but think how ridiculous his panic was in light of the fact that the situation was under control and I was there with him.

I was later sharing this story with my friend and mentor Julie when she so beautifully helped me see the spiritual connection and reflect on how God must look at us in all of our panic, fear, and worry and shake His head in wonder because He knows (and so should we) that the situation which so consumes us (adoption, finances, job change, health, etc) is also under His control and best of all, He is right there with us.