Today a friend shared this story on Facebook; credit was not given to the original author of the story. It demonstrates how fear can be so powerful and stop you from being who G-d created you to be.
One of my friends told me about a powerful lesson in her daughter’s high school class this winter. They’re learning about the Salem Witch Trials, and their teacher told them they were going to play a game.
“I’m going to come around and whisper to each of you whether you’re a witch or a normal person. Your goal is to build the largest group possible that does NOT have a witch in it. At the end, any group found to include a witch gets a failing grade.”
The teens dove into grilling each other. One fairly large group formed, but most of the students broke into small, exclusive groups, turning away anyone they thought gave off even a hint of guilt.
“Okay,” the teacher said. “You’ve got your groups. Time to find out which ones fail. All witches, please raise your hands.”
No one raised a hand.
The kids were confused and told him he’d messed up the game.
“Did I? Was anyone in Salem an actual witch? Or did everyone just believe what they’d been told?”
And that is how you teach kids how easy it is to divide a community.
Keep being welcoming, beautiful people. Shunning, scapegoating and dividing destroy far more than they protect. We’re all in this together.
We are told many times in the Bible “do not be afraid”. Father told this to Joshua, to Mary and many others. I found 45 different times in the Bible that it was mentioned.
If we allow fear to take root, we will never be able to accomplish what Father has in store for us. We read in Jeremiah 29:11 that Father does has a plan for us.
The kids in the story, were so afraid of failing that they began to break off into groups and they allowed their suspicions to rule instead of being accepting. The fear that gripped them became so overpowering that they were frozen from taking any action at all.
They only loved the neighbor that was like them, who they had been deemed worthy to be in their group.
The moral: When you allow fear to rule you will do one of two things, 1) hate and suspicion of others will cause you to withdraw 2) or you will allow that hate and suspicion to keep you from truly knowing your neighbors.
Genesis 15:1
“Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield,
your very great reward.
Father has your back, so go talk to your neighbor, whether that is the person who lives next to you, who works next to you or the stranger across the aisle in services that may look a little different than you. We are called to be love others, we are called to be light, we are called to be in the world, but of the world.
Go make a difference today,
Sue
awellrunsdeep 