Love: The Only Thing Bigger Than Fear 🙏🏻❤️

The world is seeking stability. We see it all around us. The sciences in particular have a colorful variety of examples; Natural Selection, Homeostasis, Chemical Equilibrium, to name but a few. What is this constant drive towards steadiness, stability?

The truth is, we are restless. Our minds are inundated with noise, with Instagram photos and stories, -those which we click into almost aimlessly- with the ideas of what life ‘should be’ like.

These things cause turmoil and anxiety to accumulate inside of us. I have to admit, I’m no better at times. The moment that the COVID-19 lockdown was announced, I felt sick to my stomach. It was as though the rug of security, meaning and belonging was pulled from under me and I ended up flat out on my rear end. I was forced to face the things that my high-flying life in Dublin made so easy to escape from. I became plagued with questions “What will I do every day?”, “How will I adjust to this?”, and probably the most frightening of them all, “What is the meaning of my life?”

Despite my initial unease, the erosion of mental health and economies, and the inconceivable loss of life around the globe, some part of me is grateful that this happened. It has posed bigger, more meaningful questions that we have all found materialistic and modern ways to avoid. Iy has reminded us of the disposability of this life; how, when all of those materialistic things are taken from you, only two things truly remain: God our Father, and Family.

These two specimens are, in fact, love. And as each of us need food to nourish the body, we just as much need love to nurture the soul. I can say with certainty that the love that has come from my family, and the loving strength that God our Father empowers me with every day, has been more than enough to survive the struggles of any lockdown. This affirms that all those other things that were possible to me before the pandemic, were just bonuses, superfluities. Without them, I can and will survive.

So maybe, friends, in this world of constant change, decay and chaos, the only thing that’s stable is love. Maybe it’s something that you could search the furthest reaches of the universe for, and never find anything more beautiful. At least that’s how it’s been for me. This entire situation has shown me just how fragile and vulnerable to change everything in life is. So, the only resolution I can come to at the end of it all is to stick with the fundamentals, the basics. God, love, the only thing bigger than fear.

Here are some visual manifestations of how He has made my life beautiful during this time of broken offering:

Thank you for your time, friends. I wish you all the very best in this life, and if we’re thinking long-term, then the next as well.

Thanks be to God 🙏🏻

-Ellen