Are you afraid of the dark? Most adults that I know, would answer: “Of course not.” Nonetheless, I think it is human nature to be a little uneasy of the dark. I have a friend who is brave enough to say: “I’m not afraid of the dark, but I don’t like it.”
When I was a girl, I was very scared of being outside in the dark. As you probably know, I grew up out in the country on my papaw’s farm. Let me tell you, it got very dark at night. On a moonless night, it was pitch black. You literally couldn’t see anything outside. That being said, there were actually a few times I did venture out at night. One of them was to watch a Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis movie with my grandparents. I loved sitting with Papaw, Mamaw Jo, and Mamaw Girdle/Myrtle and laughing together as we enjoyed the movie. It was especially fun when Papaw popped a big kettle of popcorn. But after the movie was over, I dreaded walking back home.
No, I never walked alone. Papaw would turn on the carport light and stand at the edge of it while my daddy stood at the edge of our yard. Our front porch light was also on, so there was light enough for me to see. Plus, the distance between where they were standing was probably around three car lengths. While that wasn’t much, to me it may as well had been a mile. As soon as I stepped out onto the gravel driveway, I ran as hard as I could until I reached my daddy. Thank the Lord I never fell down on those rocks.
So why did I have so much fear about walking home. In a word: focus. Instead of focusing on my daddy, I would peer into the darkness all around me. When you are a kid with an overactive imagination, that’s not a good thing. I envisioned monsters waiting to attack me. Seriously. There were wolves with long fangs and claws. There were giant spider-like monsters. I even imagined the flying monkeys from “The Wizard of Oz.” But once I was in my daddy’s arms, I was completely safe. I knew nothing could harm me.
“And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” Matthew 14:27-31 (KJV)
My biggest problem with my fear was not focusing on my daddy as I ran home. If I had done that, then I wouldn’t have noticed the darkness around me. As for Peter, he didn’t keep his focus on Jesus. He let the storm distract him, which caused his fear that lead to doubt. There’s no question of the darkness and storms surrounding us today. Don’t let them distract you from focusing on The Lord. Keep your eyes on Him and He will keep you eternally safe in His arms.
In the mid-1970s, my grandparents had a night light put up between the houses. It really was a relief to be able to see at night. While I didn’t think of monsters any more, I was worried about wild animals and people up to no good. Also, I loved sitting at the back sliding door on a winter’s evening and watching the snow fall thanks to the night light.
By the way, the picture is of my mom’s driveway where she now lives. If you look into the distance, you can see the very dark ridges.