A few years ago, we had a really big snow in Georgia, fondly referred to now as Snowpocalypse 2014. It shut down school for a whole week. During that week, I received a lot of communication from teachers and friends via email, and every one of those exchanges ended with the words, “Stay safe and warm.”
Lately, I’ve noticed the trend returning with comments on social media echoing the sentiment:
“Stay safe!” we shout to each other from a distance.
And I don’t know, there’s something about that word—SAFE—that gives me pause.
Safety used to be synonymous with comfort and peace. Safety was a security blanket I could carry around like a good luck charm.
And I guess that’s why SAFE doesn’t seem like the right word right now. We are in a very uncomfortable season. Many of us are dealing with overwhelming anxiety rather than peace. Safety not only feels out of reach, but also—and I know this will be controversial—irrelevant.
Irrelevant?
Stay with me.
Do you remember that line in Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, when Susan first learns about Aslan the Lion?
"Ooh" said Susan to the beaver. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."
And the beaver replies, “Safe? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.”
Susan was about to meet a King, and he was going to change her life.
In this scenario, a discussion about safety is irrelevant. The beaver is giving Susan an introduction to an empowered future.
Like Susan, we too crave safety. No one from Atlanta will ever forget Snowpocalyse 2014. The prevalent sentiment du jour was “safety above all else.”
But it was too late. Roads iced over. Traffic halted. Power faltered. Cars were stranded on the side of the road. Few carried the resources they needed—extra blankets, water bottles, protein bars, and waterproof shoes.
We just weren’t ready.
Were we ready for a global pandemic capable of taking down all of humanity?
No one was ready for Covid-19, even though scientists actually did warn world leaders decades ago that a virus similar to this one was not only possible, but also probable. They said it would change our lives.
And it has changed our lives.
In the name of safety, we wear masks and use hand sanitizer. In the name of safety, we cancel school, concerts, sporting events, and church. In the name of safety, we gather at a distance and call on our friends. via technology.
I like safety. But you know what I like more?
Empowerment.
Empowered people are not derailed when life throws them a curveball. Instead, they use whatever resources are available to ensure they are ready. Masks and hand sanitizer are resources, not crutches. Warm socks and bottled water are resources, not security blankets.
You can be empowered AND responsible.
You can be empowered AND adventurous.
You can be empowered AND still be safe.
President George Washington quoted Micah 4:4 throughout his life. In fact, historians cite more than 50 times that he included this one verse in his correspondence: “Everyone will sit under the own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken. All the nations may walk in the name of their gods, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.”
The good news of this passage and so many like it is that we don’t have to be afraid. (Psalms 16:1, Proverbs 28:26, Joshua 1:9, Ephesians 6:10.)
Empowerment is all about being ready. When you are empowered, you allow yourself to be defined by opportunities, not limitations. (Remember, like Susan of Narnia, we have met a King!)
None of us were prepared for Covid-19, but some of us were already prepared—in the sense that we encountered something new and instead of hiding in fear, we pivoted and made adjustments and began ordering our lives around a new reality, one in which we were ready and equipped.
In this season of uncertainty, I am not asking for safety. I am asking God to prepare my heart. (Psalms 16:7, Psalms 27:8, Psalms 28:7, Psalms 139:23)
Believe it or not, Snowpocalyse 2014 only dropped two inches of snow. Two inches! But it crippled Atlanta, not because it was so much snow, but because the snow simply arrived at the wrong time. Schools and businesses both dismissed around noon that day, quickly turning Atlanta’s interstates and surface streets into ice rink parking lots. My own husband was stranded in his car, and ended up spending the night with a family he’d never met because he simply could not get home.
Want to know what finally ended this catastrophe? It wasn’t anything the government did. And it certainly wasn’t us.
It was the sun!
Isn’t that a beautiful image?
My prayer is that in this season you’ll allow the light of Jesus to change your life, too. You may never feel safe.
But you can feel strong.
You can feel empowered.
You can feel prepared.
And then you will feel peace.
Let’s spend less time talking about our fear and more time doing something practical to mitigate it. You have one very powerful weapon available to you—your own body. True, it’s the one thing we most fear losing, but it houses both our heart and our brain. You can love others by showing respect in public. (Don’t be awkward; wear a mask, use hand sanitizer, don’t hug or shake hands.) Care for your neighbors in creative ways. We don’t know what this fall will look like, but let’s go ahead and prepare our homes for the additional time we’ll probably be spending there. Make it beautiful, a place of welcome and respite for those who are close to you.
And lastly, prepare to be disappointed.
But don’t let the disappointment derail you.
You were not only ready for this—you were made for it!
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