The "what ifs" are coming

Pastor Jay Petrella
Graceham Moravian Church

(6/1) Often this column is written by a local pastor such as myself and typically contains something thoughtful, educational, inspirational and/or uplifting. I’ll attempt to get there myself in a moment, but before I do, allow me to try and scare you. I should be able to do it with just two words. I recommend you make sure your shoes are strapped on tight so you don’t jump out of them, and that you read this during the daytime when there are fewer shadows casting about and not so many mysterious noises. Are you ready? Here are the two scariest words. "What if?"

There. It’s over. Are you still with me? Great, we made it through that together. Take a breath and let's continue. That was a joke obviously but sort of not really. The words, the phrase "what if," can paralyze us in fear. Even the biggest, meanest, most rugged among us cower when it comes to mind. Don’t believe me? Take a few moments and think about the "what ifs" currently on your heart and mind.

What if I get sick? What if my loved one doesn’t get better? What if I lose my job? What if I fail? What if I’m not good enough? What if an enemy attacks? What if I’m robbed? What if I’m wrong? What if I’m right but everyone believes I’m wrong? What if reality isn’t what I perceive it to be? What if disaster, natural or otherwise, strikes? What if I’ve gone too far, did too many bad things to have any hope at a better life now? What if I bomb this job interview? What if my investment tanks and I lose all our money? &c. &c.

Are you scared yet? I think the fearsome "what ifs" lurk deep within all of us from time to time and they will haunt us to the point of destroying our lives if we let them.

I wonder if there are any fans of the show Doctor Who reading this article? Doctor Who is a long running, British, science fiction television show. It first aired in 1963. I personally only watched the show during Matt Smith’s tenure as the Doctor, but what I did see out of all those decades of episodes I really enjoyed.

Anyway, I mention the good Doctor because the "what ifs" remind me of a particularly terrifying villain on that show called the Weeping Angels. The Weeping Angels appear often, though not always, as human-like, stone statues. Picture a human sized winged angel in flowing robes, carved out of stone. They look like ordinary stone statues, but they can move very quickly to attack their victims. The trouble is, you never see them move. They only move when you aren’t looking at them, say when you turn to try and run away. Like a cat stalking you from around a corner. Every time you look at them you notice they have gained ground on you despite your best efforts to run away, until they’re upon you, touch you and drain your life out of you. Creepy.

The "what ifs" manner of stalking and capturing its prey is like that of the Weeping Angels, but opposite. The creepy statues run you down when you’re not looking. However, the "what ifs" seem to stalk us and pose a threat when we look at them. When we pay attention to them. When our back is to them, they seem to have less power over us.

What do I mean? Well, for instance, study after study has shown that the more one is exposed to 24 hour news networks, the more anxious, fear-filled, paranoid, angry and depressed one gets. The reason is simple. For the sake of ratings, to keep people watching, they parade an seemingly endless supply of bad news in front of us, and our attention gobbles it up. The "what ifs" grab us and consume us. "What if politician X does Y?!" "Did you see what that criminal did over there? What if there are people in my community like them?" "What if that person or people are coming to ruin my life?!"

Similarly, study after study has shown people who consume a large amount of social media, often end up fearful, anxious and/or depressed. Over on Facetubegram, people can see an endless stream of people on private yachts, tropical beaches, mucking about in nicer homes, driving super expensive cars and so forth. Even if you’re watching friends and family on those sites it can give you a skewed sense of reality, because no one is posting the boring day in day out mundane moments of their lives. I’ve heard it said it’s like comparing your day to day life with someone else’s highlight reel. This is easy pickin’s for the "what ifs". As we watch this endless supply of media some start to wonder, "What if I’m a failure as I don’t, and will never, have all those nice things?" "What if my life is meaningless, empty, over before it began?" "Look at all those fun, beautiful people traveling the world and having the times of their lives while I have to stay home and deal with a broken water heater. What if I missed the best times of my life?"

Well, one of the best things to do if the "what if" monsters are barreling down on you is to turn your back on them. Obviously we shouldn’t ignore blatantly dangerous situations, or cruel injustices. Don’t take my illustration too far. But most of the "what ifs" we encounter only pose a threat to our mental and spiritual health, and even then, only if we allow them to take up residence in our minds.

Which brings me to my point. All of our imagined fears, anxieties and worries only hurt us by robbing us of our peace. When we are not at peace, we are not able to make the best decisions, or speak the wisest words, or forgive our enemies, love our neighbors, or even rest in God’s presence. Our alarms are going off. Our defenses are up. We're paranoid about attacks from unseen enemies, so we see evil intentions in everyone, even doubting ourselves. As followers of Christ, we are to be sheep resting before cool streams of water having been led there by our Great Shepherd. If we’re not careful the "what ifs" will lead us away from those peaceful waters and have us dressed in camo, hiding in the bushes, eating caffeine pills like tic-tacs and chewing our fingernails while watching out for an imagined enemy that we think will attack at any moment.

In life we can experience joys so profound we can’t put them into words, and pains greater than we ever thought were possible to feel. Yet, through those times and all the times in between we’ll find God, our Creator, Savior and Sustainer right by our side. So there is no reason to get ahead of ourselves and pay the "what if’’s any mind. Whatever the future holds, wherever life takes us we can be at peace knowing God will be there too to see us through. Turn off the news. Log off Instatokbook and let Jesus lead you to still waters, restoring your soul. Be at peace friends.