One of our sisters, in most ways cheerful and courageous, is terrified of flying. Some people deal with this common fear by taking the train, and others by having a few stiff drinks before boarding. But our sister handles her fear in a more adult fashion — with teddy bears. She carries them on the plane with her, cuddles them, talks to them, and generally lets them comfort her.
Near the end of one trip the flight attendant approached her and asked if she was a Catholic Sister. “Yes,” she replied, “how could you tell?”
“Your personality,” responded the flight attendant, leaving Sister to ponder the image of religious women in popular culture.
Lightning and Miss Layona
Many years ago, when I was a young teacher, I had the privilege of meeting Miss Layona Glenn, 102 years old at the time. A retired Methodist missionary to Brazil (in fact, by that time, she had been retired for nearly thirty years), Miss Layona still wrote a newspaper column and traveled about giving talks to church groups. That is how I met her: she had come to speak at the local Methodist church and was spending the night at the house where I lived.
Miss Layona was an intrepid woman who, however, confided at supper that she was afraid of lightening.
“I don’t understand why I’m afraid of lightning,” she said. “I know God will take care of me. But I’m still afraid.”
The Christian and besetting weakness
Neither Sister nor Miss Layona let her fear stop her, but neither was the fear taken away. I imagine that there will always be areas of our lives in which we are not totally free — even if we die in the odor of sanctity at the age of 106, like Miss Layona — or at least not totally free until we obtain the wondrous healing and freedom of heaven.
God works to heal us and free us all through our lives, and we must cooperate with the means God provides, sometimes ones that we can see (such as doctors or psychologists), other times ways that are mysterious and unseen. Perhaps you have had the experience of realizing that a particular weakness had been removed, and could attribute it only to the grace of God.
But even as we are led toward healing, we keep in mind that weakness is not contrary to the Christian life. “My power,” Paul hears God say, “is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
If one is afraid to fly (or afraid of lightning or snakes or computers), it does not mean that holiness is lacking. No, even the holiest among us are not finished yet. Our freedom will continue to be partial until our journey of transformation in Christ is complete in heaven. What is more, the “real ‘wound,’” according to Iain Matthew in The Impact of God, “is our need for God, and God himself must be the cure.”
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
(Psalm 27:1)