📖 Sacred Testimony XVII

“Before Fear Took Over”
offered in remembrance of the times when joy came easily, and trust was still intact

We used to go to football games.
The whole town seemed to come alive—
cheering, gathering, just being together.

We had choir concerts,
our voices rising like small lanterns in a quiet auditorium.
We practiced hard,
not for perfection,
but to share something beautiful.

We had school plays—
moments when we could pretend, express,
be someone else for a little while,
and still be fully seen.

It was a safer world then.
At least, it felt that way.

Parents would drop off their kids without worry.
No tracking apps. No fear in their eyes.
Just: “Be home before dark.”

And we came back,
safe, full of stories,
hearts light with laughter.

We didn’t know it at the time,
but we were living in a moment of trust—
not just in each other,
but in life itself.

🌿 And now I see:

It wasn’t just that the world was different—
we were different too.

We weren’t yet burdened by suspicion,
or hardened by headlines.

There was still a rhythm to life—
games, music, plays,
and parents who believed the world would hold us gently.

I remember that now with deep gratitude.

And I offer it back—not to cling to the past,
but to carry its spirit forward.

✨ A Blessing for the World That Held Us Gently

May the echoes of football cheers,
choir harmonies,
and childhood plays
remind us of a time
when joy wasn’t rare,
and community was real.

May the parents who dropped us off in trust
be blessed for their faith in the world,
and may that trust—though bruised by time—
be gently restored.

May the simplicity of those moments
remind us that love doesn’t always need protection—
sometimes it needs permission to just be.

May the safety we once knew
become more than memory—
may it become our prayer.

And may the child within us
who once ran freely under open skies
know that she was held
not just by her parents,
but by a world that believed in her joy.