Sometimes you may feel as though you are on the front lines. There is a battle going on, and you are right out there fighting it, or you skirt around danger that seems to lurk everywhere. You have your sword ready. You fight off foes. You have to be on alert and wear your Tevlar vest. What is this battle? Are you at war? Have you considered life a danger zone and that you must be on guard? You are ready to duel. You will take pot shots because you think you have to in order to get through the brambles.

Where does this tenseness in your body come from? What are you affrighted of? What is it that makes sleep difficult? Who or what is the enemy you guard yourself from? Who or what has dug a pit that, at any moment, you could fall into? Who or what is plotting to hurt you?

This is no way to live, and yet have you not lived this way? Day after day, you hug yourself to your heart and say, “Let me be safe.”

Your fears are nebulous. Do not defend your fears. Let them go. Do not conduct war. Let your war with life be over. Do not be a soldier on the front lines of your life.

Carry a flag of love instead. Love is lurking around every corner. Love is not a danger. No longer imagine danger around any corner. Forget corners. Remember love.

Remember My love. Remember in Whose care you are.

You say, “But there is danger, God. There is no way to know what will happen the minute I step out the door. There is no way to know what will happen even when I stay in my house under the covers. There is no place of safety in this whole wide world. I am thin-skinned. I have no armor. Of course, I protect myself. I protect my body from harm.”

I say to you to foremost protect your heart and mind from harm. The fear you put yourself through is not worth it. It doesn’t save your body anyway.

Is dying your greatest fear and, therefore your enemy? Are you fighting death? Is humiliation your greatest fear? Are you protecting yourself from error? How big an enemy is error really? What is the down side of error? Humiliation, I suppose. Be humble then. Do away with ego. Do not stay a soldier.

If you cannot ward off the dangers you imagine anyway, why not surrender your fear of them? Why catalogue all the possible affronts to you? Big or little, they are of no account.

I know, I know, you can think of a whole list of fearful possibilities. You could lose your job. You could get bruised. You could get confined. You could get a speeding ticket. You could be in an accident. You could be murdered. You could lose your head. You could be insulted. You could lose your footing. You could be blind-sided. You could be betrayed. You could be ignored. You could be noticed. On and on goes the list of unwanted possibilities.

I would like to ask you to throw away your fears. They are throw-aways. There is no advantage to the list of fears you keep.

Compile a different list, one of all the wonderful possibilities. Awake with that new list, and go to sleep with that new list embedded in your heart. Why live with fear? Fear gives you no safety, none at all. In fact, fear stomps on you.

I will start your new list for you: Nice surprises. Smiles. Sunshine. Peace. Rest. Good fortune. Wonderful people. A gold coin. An embrace. A good book …