Love chases away the storm
It was a dark and stormy night. At least, that’s what my dog Raven thought!
It was nighttime. Raven was curled up on the floor, sleeping. I was watching the weather report on TV. The report showed a storm that had happened very far away from where we live. The thunder crashed and the rain poured. Raven thought the storm was at our house! She was very afraid and walked quickly into the bathroom. She sat on the floor in front of the bathtub and shook with fear.
I told her she was OK because there really wasn’t a storm outside. But she didn’t believe me. She wouldn’t budge. Raven was afraid of a storm that wasn’t even real!
Sometimes storms can be scary to us, too. Not just storms outside with thunder and lightning, but storms like sickness or sadness or worry, too. Maybe when you’re feeling afraid of your own “storm,” your mom or dad tries to comfort you, just like I tried to comfort Raven. But maybe you still feel scared.
What can you do then? You can pray. When we pray, we listen to God. God always tells us the truth, because God is Truth. The truth that God tells us is that there is no storm and no place for stormy thoughts where He is, and that He is everywhere and all good. The truth always comforts us and makes us feel calm instead of stormy. It makes us feel safe and protected.
That night when Raven was so scared, I knew I needed to pray. I sat down on the floor right beside her. I prayed by thinking about one of Mary Baker Eddy’s hymns that I learned a long time ago in the Christian Science Sunday School. Maybe you know it, too. It starts,
It matters not what be thy lot,
So Love doth guide;
For storm or shine, pure peace is thine,
Whate’er betide.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 160
)
That hymn told me that it doesn’t matter what the stormy thoughts are. It doesn’t matter how loud they are or how real they seem, either. None of them can be true where God is.
Love, another name for God, always makes us feel peaceful, right where we are. Why? Because Love and fear can’t be together. Love is like light, and fear is like darkness. When light shines, darkness is nowhere. Where Love is, stormy thoughts of worry are nowhere.
I knew that Raven was safe, because there was no storm. But I also knew that she would always be safe, no matter what, because Love is all around her in every place, in every moment. God told me in my prayers that Raven could never be anywhere without Love. None of
us can be!
Hearing those thoughts made me feel better, and Raven stopped shaking. I had felt God’s love, and I knew Raven had, too.
I got up to go to bed, and she followed me into the bedroom, where she curled up on her cushion and went right to sleep.
God, Love, chased away Raven’s untrue stormy thoughts so she felt safe again. And Love is always with you, too—keeping you safe from any storm.
