Reflection | Thursday in the Fifth Week of Lent

by The Reverend Caroline Stacey

You may have come across this thought-provoking Native American parable about two wolves. The version I first heard goes like this:

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.” The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

COVID-19 is the invisible wolf stalking our streets, preying upon us and our loved ones. Yet the heart of the parable is the internal struggle in each of us. There is a struggle between overwhelming fear leading to self-enclosed isolation; and remaining compassionate and present for others, leaning on God.

We are all living and working through fear. Fear is appropriate; our fear doesn’t indicate a lack of faith. Everyone is rightly scared of our loved ones (or ourselves) getting sick. Many are also living with fear of not being able to pay their bills. How do we live with our fear, as people of faith? How do we manage our fear so that it isn’t the driver and the navigator and the passenger in our daily life? What else can we invite into our lives to keep anxiety in balance?

I notice that if I watch COVID coverage every available minute, the pandemic consumes all my thoughts and invades my dreams. We need to stay informed and aware, for sure. We also need to regulate what we are feeding our hearts, minds and souls. We need to remember that there is still beauty, birth and springtime in the world. Some people find that listening to a J.S. Bach Passion restores wellsprings of hope and faith. We may need to watch some lighthearted things too. This doesn’t make us uncaring towards the terrible suffering - and heroism - in our city. We attend to our mental and spiritual well-being so that we can love and care for others. I made some prayer suggestions in an earlier FB posting, and there are many devotional resources online. If we have time and access, we can watch narratives which inspire and call us deeper into life in Christ: Of Gods and Men; The Mission; Into Great Silence; A Man for All Seasons. There are many. This time of fear and isolation can be an opportunity to enrich our life of faith with nourishing food. The good wolf also has a voracious appetite.