Don’t Feed the Bears
When I was in grade school, my parents took me along with them on a vacation to Yellowstone National Park. There was no air conditioning in the car, so I remember it being a long, hot ride in the middle of summer.
Yellowstone was spectacular. I had never seen mountains before, so I was in awe of the scenery. But being the animal lover that I was for as long as I can remember, it was the endless variety of wildlife that captured my attention. Elk, bison, and of course the bears. Bears were everywhere alongside the roads as we traveled through the park. I remember being stopped dead on the road by long lines of cars watching them. Signs were posted everywhere, “Don’t Feed the Bears.”
My mother, like all the other moms and dads, paid no attention to the signs. When a bear approached our car, mom would roll down the car window and feed the bear. They would put their paws on the side of the car and beg for food. I couldn’t get enough of it. Some people even got out of their cars to feed them.
Many years later I wanted my wife Monika to experience what I experienced so we planned a vacation and off we went. While the scenery was the same, some things were not. Yes, “Old Faithful” still went off as planned. Bear, bison and elk were still to be seen but the bears no longer lined the park roads waiting to be fed. The park rangers enforced the “Don’t Feed the Bears” signs, so the bears disappeared.
That brings me to the point of this blog. If we don’t feed our fears, our anger, our doubts, our anxieties they will disappear. Feed your faith instead!
“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?” Matthew 6:31 NIV
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