Natalee's Blog

I’d never seen that little boy move so fast. I barely had time to register what had happened when he flung his 18-month-old body across my chest and clung to me.

Joshie was happily sitting beside me on the couch playing when a woodpecker decided to try to drill a hole in the chimney. I have to admit, a sound like a tiny jackhammer against metal is one of the most unnerving. Joshie couldn’t express what he must have thought the sound was, but his heart pounding against my chest said enough.

How do you explain a noise like that to a child?

“Calm down, Joshie. It’s just a woodpecker outside on the roof, where we can’t see him. He’s mistaken the chimney for a tree. Now, ignore that obnoxious noise and go play!”

So I just rubbed his back and reassured him as best I could.

I had to think of all the noises that evoke a similar reaction in me:

• My boss: “I’m bringing in a consultant, because you don’t have the experience your job requires.”
• My Dad: “We’re in the ER—Mom may have had a stroke.”
• An acquaintance: “You may as well forget about having kids after 35, because the risks are so high.”

What can I do with these fears? It’s best when I remember that I know One who wants me to throw myself into His arms—because He’s bigger than me, more powerful than my circumstances, and He knows that most of my fears are the equivalent of a woodpecker mistaking a chimney for a tree.