We all play our own version of rock, paper, scissors with fear.
Trying to out think it.
Cut it out of our lives.
Cover it up with something that looks like control.
We’re never gonna beat it at its own game.
If fear wins, it’s not a game anymore—it’s a truth that swallows us whole. And we can’t remember what it feels like to believe in anything else.
If love wins, it’s not a game at all.
We stop getting tricked into mistaking fear for truth.
We remember how it feels to be held again — safe, seen, and ever so loved.
But fear is loud.
Unruly.
It scares us into silence.
It’s cloaked in that black-hooded, faceless rage that demands it’s safer not to hope.
It’s the dark night of the soul we’ve all been through—when you forget the sound of your own laughter, when even smiling feels like pretending, when you cover your eyes because the light hurts too much to see.
It’s Hadestown on Broadway — the way it felt sitting in that Broadway theater last weekend, watching love out-sing despair — only without the soundtrack.
You keep walking deeper underground because you’ve mistaken fear for safety.
You start to believe you belong there.
That nothing else matters but this suffering.
And then, in that dark sky, a beam of light pokes through.
A stranger asks, “How are you doing?”
A nurse tells you a funny story.
You see someone dancing wildly in their car at a red light.
Love was never gone.
It was just waiting patiently (and sometimes not so quietly) for me to notice.
it doesn’t come wrapped up in a scary black cloak.
it’s invisible, and it speaks without words.
We keep searching for love in the light, but we have to dare to find it in the darkness.
Even when it doesn’t look like love at all.
It’s the stranger who holds the door when you’re too lost in thought to notice.
The person who jams their head in the elevator so you can get on.
The clerk at the pharmacy who remembers your name.
The talk of the weather.
Little pieces of mercy find us when we can’t find ourselves.
Because fear might swoon us, and seduce us with its certainty when we’re in doubt—
but love,
love slips in quietly through the back door.
It comes in disguised as ordinary life
and stays even when we bully it to go away.
Invisibly, it stitches us together again.
And just like Hadestown,
it begins the way it ends — to remind us that even in our darkest night of the soul,
there’s hope.
Fear might swoon us,
but love conquers all.
And the next time you find yourself in a game of rock, paper, scissors with life — remember, love over fear wins every time.
Beautiful!
Love you dear Pam!! 💞xoxo
keep up all that loving. Thanks for the reminder.
It’s always here for you!! Love you so!! xoxo
WOW!! Love vs Fear. Every one of your muses transports me somewhere, but your picture alone plays Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” in my head, taking me to a very special place in my heart.
You have perfectly captured the central challenge of our times – the struggle between Love and Fear!! They each show up every moment of our days, pushing us to choose. If we pay attention, we understand that only the invisible and speechless acts of love can overcome the pain, rage, insecurity, and loneliness that fear brings. You cited so many great examples, and I support your thought of finding hope in the darkest hour. In my case, a group of strangers of different faiths praying together in a hospital waiting room. That’s how we stitch up!!
Thank you for sharing your Hadestown experience and reminding us that LOVE always wins!! Sweet Dreams!!! Love you.
Dear Nuria, You have the greatest love-over-fear operating command center of anyone I know!! For you to show up regularly and read every muse—that’s your presence. How you give, when you could be swayed otherwise, you prove again and again that you are even more firmly planted in love. It’s the greatest resource we have. May we learn from you how to use our love resources in God’s great name!!! Love you so, dear Nuria!! Please hug your grands for me!!! xoxo