THERE’S A MOMENT in the newest trailer for The Hobbit where Galadriel asks Gandalf, “Why the halfling?”  Of the many he could call to action, why a hobbit who has never left home should go on such a dangerous adventure? “Maybe it’s because I’m afraid,” he says,  “and because he gives me courage.”

Fear was also on the mind of Donald Miller recently.  At his new website, Storyline.com, Miller posted an entry titled “Who Taught You to Fear?”  The article takes an interesting view on something as old as humanity itself: fear.  Using something that happened to his dog while away on a trip, Miller answers the question “why we fear” like this:

Because somebody got to me, somebody who didn’t have the right, somebody my creator is frustrated with. And to be sure, I’ve wrongfully taught the same fear to others. I am guilty, too.

How strange and how true, that we are gotten to by and get to others, that we teach others to fear.

What, then, does it take to overcome that fear?  Miller draws out the connection with God, the creator.  He draws a good and comforting picture.  But just like Miller and Lucy, God and his children, so can we help one another unlearn fear.  Slowly, patiently, purposefully.  It’s a heavy task, but I think it’s one worth the effort.

You can read more of Miller’s article here.  You can find people struggling with fear and needing encouragement all around you.