You Can Have Faith or Fear.
Shane spent much of his morning crying, which he announced at breakfast.
“First, I was wondering what I would do if Dylan died,” he said, starting to cry again.
Oh dear, I thought. He is so much like me. I worried about death all the time, when I was way too young to need to worry.
“Then I started thinking about what if there’s nothing after Heaven,” he wailed.
That one stumped me.
I let him talk for awhile. Other things had happened, including the toothpaste falling off of his toothbrush and his hair sticking up. I considered that hormones might be starting to kick in.
When Shane was finished talking, I said, “There are only two attitudes to have.” I held up two fingers. “You can have faith or fear. You can choose either one as a way to live your life – and you can change from one to the other at any given moment. But you can’t have them both at the same time.”
Then I set up two Fisher Price little people on the table.
“These two people are going to have a race. Rusty here, with the red hair, she has faith,” I said.
“Hello!” I squeaked, being Rusty.
“And Maya with the blond hair, she is having some fear. But they are both going to race.”
“I think I need some new shoes,” I squeaked again, being Maya.
“I’m ready,” said Rusty.
Then the two girls hopped down the table, together. Rusty was out front, then Maya, then Rusty again.
“I probably should have eaten a better breakfast,” said Maya.
Then WHAM! Rusty ran into the milk pitcher and Maya won the race.
“I win! I win!” yelled Maya, jumping around. “I am awesome!”
Rusty dusted herself off. “I did my best,” she said. “Maybe I didn’t win, but I am happy that I ran as fast as I could.”
I went back into my own Mom voice. “Fear means you think you’re in control, and faith means you know that everything’s going to be okay, no matter what.”
Shane half-smiled.
“So you are in charge of what attitude you choose every day. Do you understand?” I asked.
He nodded.
“I’m going to make a Little People Ninja Warrior track today!” he said.
And he did. It took him a long time, and then the dog knocked it down and he started to cry all over again.
Sometimes I think my lectures should be boxed into a vault somewhere, for later. Much, much later.