I Am Not Afraid

I Am Not Afraid

At the beginning of Covid, people didn’t know what to do with their eyes. We would pass each other in the greenhouse or grocery store (six feet apart, of course), and we would look away as if eye contact alone might spread the virus.

This saddened me, for meeting and interacting with strangers is one of my greatest joys, but I didn’t know how to change anything, so my eyes remained focused on my cart.

Slowly, though, I noticed changes.

Squinty eyes, while simultaneously reaching for peppers in the produce section, revealed the smile taking place beneath the mask. Chin tips acknowledged each other’s existence as we passed each other in the coffee aisle.

This week, stowing my groceries in the back of my van, a woman stowing her groceries in the hatchback beside me asked if I needed any more bags. I really didn’t, but I heard the kindness in her voice and realized that she wasn’t just offering me a few extra grocery sacks—she was offering me her humanity.

I accepted her offering, and our eyes smiled at each other above our masks.

That same day, I was in Walmart looking for an outdoor blanket, so from time to time I can eat picnic lunches with my daughters outside their school. I asked a store clerk where they might be. He pointed to an aisle, and as he turned, I happened to see these words written across his mask: I AM NOT AFRAID.

He was a slight, unassuming guy who looked like he spent most of his time indoors. He didn’t look like the type to sit down at his desk and use a Sharpie to boldly write this declaration.

I said, “I like your mask.”

Lifting his chin, his eyes squinted.

~*~

At the beginning of summer, I met a beautiful and strong Chinese American missionary who had served as the interpreter for a Chinese evangelist named Brother Yun.

Brother Yun had been brutally tortured, imprisoned, and starved for his beliefs. But his mantra throughout that experience had been, written phonetically, “Boo yaw pa. Yea sue eye knee.”

Do not fear. Jesus loves you.

The missionary taught this saying to my daughters while we were sitting around a campfire beside a roaring creek: “Boo yaw pa. Yea sue eye knee.”

Over and over, she repeated it, until they could pronounce the uncertain vowels.

Over and over, I have repeated it whenever I don’t know what future this world holds:

“Boo yaw pa. Yea sue eye knee.”

Do not fear. Jesus loves you.

We do not have to write this on our masks to walk without fear. Small acts of kindness can reveal what’s in our hearts: a chin tip, an offering of grocery sacks, a squinty-eyed smile.

Be kind, my friends. Be courageous.

Live without fear. 

Have you had any encouraging interactions with a stranger over the past six months?