Dear friends,
Have you ever been fearful of some future happening?
You might have been concerned about a job interview,
A medical appointment,
A visit to the dentist.
Maybe you have spent some time worrying about the future in general,
Advancing years,
The fear of declining health and the fear of death itself.
But if you look back over your life,
I am sure you will find many situations which caused you worry and concern at the time,
But which passed without difficulty.
Certainly I can recall many circumstances which caused me needless worry,
But everything turned out fine.
We might even find it difficult to recall these once-upon-a-time nightmares that caused us what turned out to be needless concern.
The following poem by Khalil Gibran is something which should provide comfort for all of us in those times when we are tempted to be fearful for the future.
Fear This is what he has to say on the subject of fear.
It is said that before entering the sea,
A river trembles with fear.
She looks back at the path she has travelled,
From the peaks of the mountains,
The long winding road crossing forests and villages.
And in front of her she sees an ocean so vast that to enter there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.
But there is no other way.
The river cannot go back.
Nobody can go back.
To go back is impossible in existence.
The river needs to take the risk of entering the ocean,
Because only then will fear disappear.
Because that's where the river will know it's not about disappearing into the ocean,
But of becoming the ocean.
A lesson for life offered to us by the wonderful Khalil Gibran.
Namaste you
