Editorial May 13, 1991 Issue

Conquer fear

Ann Kenrick

One of my earliest childhood memories is of some grass snakes that hatched in our garden shed. Unaware of what had happened, I opened the door of the shed and saw a dozen or more tiny green snakes slithering all over the floor. These tiny snakes were, of course, completely harmless, and yet an irrational fear came over me. Although I responded on one level to the explanation of their harmlessness, I was, nevertheless, tearful and shaking as though I were in danger.

A few years after the experience with the snakes, as a pupil in a Christian Science Sunday School, I learned of God's all-encompassing love and caught sight of the powerful truth that we can never be outside God's protection and care, for in reality we are His loved children, governed by His law of good. I remember reading in the Bible, in the book of Exodus, about Moses, the great Hebrew leader.

Moses had felt the presence and power of God, the great I am, in the wilderness of Sinai. He was learning many lessons in trust and courage as he prepared to lead the children of Israel out of their slavery in Egypt. Yet because of his fear and his feeling of personal inadequacy, Moses required a special sign that would convince the people that God had indeed appeared to him.

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