Paper Giants

On Sunday night, I tucked our son into bed and noticed that he seemed unusually fearful of falling asleep. I asked him what was on his mind, and he shared, “I’m afraid of the giants.” I could not help but laugh (not the best response because I knew what was on his mind. In Bible class that night, the 4 – and 5 – year olds learned about the 12 spies entering Canaan. Their teachers created a scavenger hunt activity, where the children explored the building to try and find the giants and grapes given by the twelve spies in Numbers 13. My son sat in the teacher resource room with me while I drew the giant for his Bible class. He knew about the giant before any of his classmates because he witnessed me create it, yet once in bed, he was afraid of how big and scary that giant appeared. Leah and I spent time sharing with him that the giants were real from the Bible lesson, but God’s people did explore Canaan, and they bravely followed Joshua and Caleb. However, our son’s mind was put at ease when we explained that the giant from Bible class was only a large sheet of paper. He could have easily ripped it up. Our kiddo smiled really big and laughed as he snuggled back down in bed. “It was only paper,” he said, before falling asleep.
Later that night, I started thinking about my worries and how lately, I also have felt like an Israelite saying, “I feel as small as a grasshopper.” There has been so much disaster, sadness, and loss over the past few weeks: Hurricane Ida, Afghanistan, Covid-19, as well as family and friends who are sick. It is too much for any person to make sense of all this pain.
While getting ready for bed Sunday night, I started thinking about the verse, I Peter 5:7, “Cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.” I repeated this verse several times in my head before going to sleep. I smiled, like my son, as I thought about how powerful God is. I smiled as I considered God’s view of my worries. To him, they are as flimsy as a paper giant, ready to be ripped to shreds.