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Faith, Modern Perspectives, Young Married Mom

May 10, 2012

Love, Fear, and a Choice

In college, I was a member of a campus ministry group called Salt & Light. Our mission was both to grow in our own faith and to help confirmation students in the Boston area prepare for the sacrament. At one of our internal meetings, our fabulously humble and hilarious campus minister shared a prayer that meant a lot to him. It struck me, and afterward, I asked him for it. Since then, it’s been posted at various desks of mine and even shared with a friend or two.

 

Sometimes I wonder if I didn’t take advantage of some of the opportunities BC offered me to grow in my faith. On days like today, I realize that God put me where He needed me to be. The prayers, the relationships, and the progress I made during those four years shaped me in the way He saw best, preparing me for a future I couldn’t have expected.

 

Today, I’m sharing the aforementioned prayer. In the face of our miscarriage, God gave me the grace to choose love. Yes, I was angry, and yes, there are still moments—hours, days—of almost overwhelming anxiety that someone else, or everybody else, is going to die. But when I have the presence of mind and heart to make a conscious choice, I have refused fear, and chosen love. As Robert Frost would say, “it has made all the difference.”

 

Love and Fear

There are only two feelings. Love and fear.
There are only two languages. Love and fear.
There are only two activities. Love and fear.
There are only two motives, two procedures, two frameworks, two results. Love and fear.
Love and fear.

—from “A Common Prayer” by Leunig

 

In the past few years, I have done a number of things I’d never thought I’d do: I started my own (successful) business; I knitted a dress;

 

I considered taking up running (trust me, that’s a step). And all this because I have chosen love over fear. At this point, there is nothing I believe I can’t do. And the grace of this prayer is what got me here.

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  2. ceciliamaria says:

    I can’t tell you how many times in my life I’ve consciously chosen love over fear. Those decisions always reap the loveliest of rewards! Congrats on all your accomplishments, esp. the ‘considering’ running part!!! 😉

  3. that’s a pretty awesome dress!

  4. […] to be this time, I’ll simply try again. Or maybe it’s because I’ve started applying this prayer—which, if you’re not religious, you can call a poem and still get something out of—to my […]

  5. […] to be this time, I’ll simply try again. Or maybe it’s because I’ve started applying this prayer—which, if you’re not religious, you can call a poem and still get something out of—to my […]

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