From a reader:

Superstition

I was interested to read that Alton Towers is to close its terrifying new roller-coaster ride, named ‘Thirteen,’ on Friday August 13th after research suggested people will not want to take the risk on the ride. An online poll carried out among adults revealed that one in ten Britons would not risk taking a white-knuckle roller-coaster ride on Friday the 13th. The findings also revealed that 31.6 million people in Britain are superstitious. On a Friday the 13th a third of the people questioned admitted changing their behaviour on what they saw as an ‘unlucky day’.

I can understand this thinking as I spent over half my life living under the power of superstitions. See a crow, spit and say good morning; touch wood whenever needed. In fact, as a child, I had actually slept with a wooden coat hanger just in case I thought of something that required me to find some wood to touch. I would be afraid to say anything good was coming up for that was a sure way of it being taken away. I could never acknowledge I had done something well because ‘pride comes before a fall’ so I would expect something awful to happen and, because that was my thinking, it usually did. The list of things to avoid and try to appease was endless and of course in reality I lived in a state of constant fear.

When I became a Christian I must admit I still struggled. I knew I didn’t need to worry about superstition but old habits die hard! The lovely verse, ‘There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear’ (1John 4:18) sums it up. The more I allowed the love of the Lord to touch my heart the more the fear of ‘what might be’ dropped away.

Now I don’t need to be controlled by superstition – the roots are being cut as I am learning to trust the One who loves me and has promised to go with me into my future.