What It Was, Was a Hummingbird (standard:humor, 903 words)
Author: Godspenman	Added: Apr 16 2019	Views/Reads: 1448/1091	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Fear is only an opportunity to trust God unconditionally.

Even as old as I am, there are still things I fear. I do not want to
make a list, I'm afraid to. When I have conquered one fear, another one 
knocks on the door and introduces itself to me. Out of respect, I fear 
that fear. 

This is not true of the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. As far as I
know, she fears nothing, but many things and people fear her. I am the 
president of that Fear Group. She has a subtle way of expressing her 
fear and each day I am learning more of that subtlety. 

I am not sure why, but most of her fear has to do with what I am eating
at the time. She has some phobia about apple fritters, especially me 
eating them. 

One thing about her is that she always faces her fear head on. That was,
until recently. 

Last Tuesday I came home from my office and entering the house I heard
some screaming, “Get away from me. Don't you dare come near me. Leave 
right away.” I was scared at first. I was thinking these remarks were 
directed in my direction. 

I always fear the worst in every situation. My philosophy is, if you
fear the worse and it doesn't happen, it's a good day. 

The turmoil going on inside the house as I entered was very mysterious
to me. I never heard such loud yelling in our home before. My first 
thought was it was directed to me, then my second thought was, there is 
an intruder in our house. If that was true about an intruder, I felt 
sorry for him. Crossing our doorway and coming face-to-face with the 
Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage would not be a good thing for him. 
He would encounter the other side of her graciousness. 

I can only remember one time when I encountered that side of her. The
details are not necessary, the only thing important is, I survived. 

Now, I was wondering if this intruder was going to survive. Very
cautiously, I crossed the living room to where the noise was coming 
from. 

There she was, standing in front of our glass doors leading into the
porch area. My wife was standing there with a broom in her hand, 
looking out and screaming, “Get away from here or I'm going to hurt 
you.” 

At this point, I did not want to interrupt her. I did not want that fear
she was experiencing directed in my direction. So, I waited. 

Finally, she whirled around, saw me and said, “Come here and help me.” 

One fear I have yet to overcome is stepping into a situation I know
nothing about. This qualified as one of those situations. 

I stood there, staring at her not knowing what to do or say. “Don't just
stand there, come and help me.” I took one step toward her and she 
said, “There are bumblebees out on our porch. They tried attacking me 
when I was out there. I'm afraid of bumblebees.” 

I did not have a notebook handy, but I wanted to jot down a new “fear”
that she had. I had no idea that she was afraid of bumblebees. That 
information may come in handy down the road and so I tucked it into the 
back of my noggin. 

When it comes to bumblebees and other kind of stinging insects, I like
to keep my distance. 

“I want you,” she said as sternly as I have ever heard her talk, “go out
there and get rid of all those bumblebees.” 

I guess she is not afraid of bumblebees stinging me as much as stinging
her. 

Being the wonderful gentleman husband that I am, or try to be, I put on
my big pants and headed towards the back porch to deal with those 
bumblebees. Very carefully I walked out to the porch and stood there 


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