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Encouraged By Pooh

The evening local, national, and world news scare me. As a writer, I am amazed that they can squeeze that much fear and anger and tragedy into such a finite amount of words. Add to that, my work with addicts, those who are grieving, and my own personal struggles. Most of the time, I feel like Winnie the Pooh in this conversation with his loyal friend Piglet.

“Piglet?” said Pooh.

“Yes?” said Piglet.

“I’m scared,” said Pooh. For a moment there was silence.

“Would you like to talk about it?” asked Piglet, when Pooh didn’t appear to be saying anything further.

“I’m just so scared,” blurted out Pooh. “So anxious. Because I don’t feel like things are getting any better. If anything, I feel like they might be getting worse. People are angry, because they are so scared, and they’re turning on one another, and there seems to be no clear plan out of here, and I worry about my friends and the people I love, and I wish SO much that I could give them all a hug, and oh, Piglet! I am so scared, and I cannot tell you how much I wish it wasn’t so.”

Piglet pondered while gazing at the azure skies peeking through the branches of the trees in the Hundred Acre Wood, attentively listening to his companion.

“I’m here,” he said, simply. “I hear you, Pooh. And I’m here.”

For a moment Pooh was perplexed. “But…aren’t you going to tell me not to be so silly? That I should stop getting myself into a state and pull myself together? That it’s hard for everyone right now?”

“No,” said Piglet, quite decisively. “No, I am very much not going to do any of those things.”

“But—“said Pooh.

“I can’t change the world right now,” continued Piglet. “And I am not going to patronize you with platitudes about how everything will be okay because I don’t know that. What I can do, though, Pooh, is I can make sure that you know that I am here. And that I will always be here, to listen; and to support you; and for you to know that you are heard.

“I can’t make those Anxious Feelings go away, not really. But I can promise you that, all the time I have breath left in my body…you won’t ever need to feel those Anxious Feelings alone.”

It was an add occurrence because, even as Piglet uttered these words, Pooh sensed some of those Anxious Feelings beginning to relax their hold on him. He could perceive a couple of them beginning to glide away into the forest, subdued by his steadfast friend sitting beside him.

Pooh thought he had never been more grateful to have Piglet in his life.

Scripture tells me that this is what the world will look like at the end of the age. Jesus was quite forthcoming in his description. He said we shouldn’t be surprised; he didn’t say we shouldn’t be anxious.

There are many days when it is scary to stand in the darkness holding my small candle, struggling to keep it lit, and wondering just how much love it will take to push back the ugliness of hate and fear in the world.

You know what I value more and more every day? All the Piglets who enter my life just when I need them the most. They sit with me. They listen. They assure me that they will always be here. Bolstered by their friendships, the Anxious Feelings relax their hold.

You know who you are, Piglets.

In case, I forget to say it out loud, “Thank you.”

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