When I go through my day each day, I don’t feel a lot of fear. I am afraid to say that I don’t often think about the tragedy and sorrow that is going on in the world around me. Some days, I don’t even think a lot about what other people are doing that might be morally incorrupt. After all, I am a Mom to 3 small children. My days are full of the bare necessities. Cleaning, cooking, bathing, feeding, breaking up fights, and teaching my children…well, everything children need to be taught. But, some days, I stop and take a moment to look around the world and I can’t help but see sadness, and poverty, violence, and rage. When I watch the news, it is easy to become afraid. I feel that and I look at my little ones again and feel even more afraid. For them. For their future. For my responsibility in teaching them.
Today, another shooting tragedy happened in our country. It was at a movie theatre. A place all of us have felt safe in the past. Now, we might think twice, or at least think of those victims next time we go to the movies. I know I will. Just like we never looked at flying the same way again after 9/11 and just like we never see schools as a completely safe environment for our children anymore after Columbine. The truth is, violence can happen anywhere at anytime. It’s enough to make someone want to become a recluse.
I have been thinking about morality a lot lately. I read a great article called, “Raising Moral Kids in a Decade of Moral Erosion“. It made me think about the simple things I’m trying to teach my children now like kindness and honesty, and the harder issues they will have to face in the future. It is a scary world we live in. It can seem dark, and lonely at times.
But, I know that the Lord does not want us to fear. We have this scripture to remind us, ““For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Tim. 1:6–7.)
President Hinkley said in this talk, “We have nothing to fear when we walk by the light of eternal truth. But we had better be discerning. Sophistry has a way of masking itself as truth. Half truths are used to mislead under the representation that they are whole truths. Innuendo is often used by enemies of this work as representing truth. Theories and hypotheses are often set forth as if they were confirmed truth. Statements taken out of context of time or circumstance or the written word are often given as truth, when as a matter of fact such procedure may be the very essence of falsehood.”
I don’t know why this shooter did what he did today, but I know that there was some other power working in him to persuade him to do evil. Maybe we won’t ever be led to understand why he did it. But, this incident is not the only one that might scare us. The world around us can feel full of half-truths and evil lurking behind corners. That is, unless we trust in the Lord. He said, “Fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail. … Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not” (D&C 6:34, 36).
These words were shared by a member of the church that was at Columbine many years ago. Ten years after that tragedy she shared this, “I’ve learned to let go of fear. I trust the Savior. I trust my Heavenly Father. I know we are all in His caring, merciful hands. We cannot control others or the world around us, but as children of God we can control how we respond to adversity. Cultivating a faith-filled perspective and uplifting thoughts tends to push out the negative and defeating ones. Anyone can turn on a light in a dark room; we create light and hope in the world as we choose to be happy.” You can read her thoughts, here. She had a heavy load to carry.
I want to stand up and not be afraid. I am a highly anxious person, but I don’t want my children to have fear of this world they live in. I want to put my trust in the Lord that He has a plan and if we put our trust in Him, we need not fear. This does not mean that sadness or tragedy will never come our way at the hands of another. But, it means that the Lord has a greater plan than we can see now, and that there is no need to fear the unknown. Put your trust in Him and fear not.