I Hear You, 2021: Fear Has No Place Here

If I had to choose one word to most accurately characterize 2020, it would be no contest.

Fear.

Fear of the unknown, fear of getting sick, fear of making the wrong decision, fear of one candidate winning over another, fear of what other people think... I could go on endlessly. It has overwhelmed us. It has suffocated us. It has crippled us. And, it’s caused many of us to simply become shells of who God designed us to be.

Fear has no place in 2021.

On New Year’s Day, I was taken by the fact that not a single thing had actually changed. Covid didn’t *poof* go away. In Georgia where I live, the political ads kept rolling. And, I most certainly didn’t wake up with the carefree outlook that I did on January 1, 2020.

But, I did wake up with an overwhelming desire to stop feeling scared.

I say this as my family began this year attending to a close family member's serious health issues. My kids and I did not even spend the New Year's holiday with my husband because he was in Florida helping to care for this situation. I understand fear. I understand beginning a year with uncertainty, just as we ended the last.

Here’s what I also understand: If all I’m doing is stepping into this new year with fear, I’m not really living.

This is 100% my choice, by the way.

My kids go back to school this week. I know that at any time, I may get the phone call from school or from a friend, and we must quarantine. I have to find peace in that. There's a chance people who I love will get sick, whether it's with Covid or something else. I have to accept that this is our reality in this moment. I must also absorb the fact that our country is overwhelmingly divided right now. I have to believe that we are going to be okay, regardless.

If you are a person of faith, it is time to dig into what you know to be true. If you trust in the good of others, it’s time to turn off the news and focus on the the neighbor who just brought you dinner, or the teacher who made your child smile today. Or, maybe it’s simply time to believe in yourself. I can’t change a single thing about what's swirling around me; 2020 screamed that loud and clear. But, I am unequivocally in control of how I manage my circumstances, the lens with which I see the world, and the way I treat other people.

Fear has no place here.

Look at that calendar. It really is a new day.