Hitting animals with a motorcycle can be more nerve wracking and dangerous than when in a car. I felt my navel pucker as I took in a deep breath of air and tensed. The last animal I dodged on the bike caused me to go into a ditch and down. My back still hasn't completely recovered, but it was better than hitting a deer on a motorcycle. This was small. I would hold steady as possible and just take the impact rather than risk going down trying to dodge. About the time I made that decision I realized that while I was indeed about to hit the black shape coming across the road in front of me, it would be fine. It was the shadow of a buzzard flying over, not in front of me.
I let out a little laugh with the breath that I'd been holding. I felt a little silly. If I hadn't had just been looking at a dog threatening to run in front of me and caught the motion of the shadow less unexpectedly, I never would have been startled. I've run over more than one buzzard shadow riding the back roads of East Texas. But this one had surprised me, startled me, and if I had reacted wrongly, I might have lain the bike down trying to avoid hitting a shadow.
As I continued my ride, I realized that most of my fears are much like what had just happened. They jump out from the peripheral and startle and threaten, but they are usually no more substantial than a buzzard's shadow. The vast majority of the time, my fears are not the danger. The danger is in my reaction to what is making me afraid. Sometimes the threat is real, very real, but most of my fears have never had any more substance than than a shadow. I can imagine a hundred bad futures, and even if one were to come true, that would mean 99 did not. But if I react to the presence of them, they, the ones that would never be, are often more deadly and dangerous than the one, because when I react in and from fear, I tend to react badly.
The truth is that the dog was a much bigger threat than the bird. Yet it didn't scare me even a little. I saw it. I sped up a little and knew I would pass before it could cut in front of me. The bird, high over head and no threat at all, cast a shadow that nearly made me react quickly and in a way that would put me at risk.
Today, let us remember that might be and what if are but shadows without substance. If we don't react with our old instincts, they can not hurt us. And let us also remember that when the threat is real, God is our refuge, strength and comfort.
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