Fight or Flight?

There are times you sense something is very wrong, but you don’t know what to do about it for the best. This is compounded if or when a close friend or loved one is involved, whether voluntarily or involuntary. A mixture of feelings overtake you because you should be able to fix things, after all that’s what you should do. You try to put things right if there is the slightest suspicion of harm, and that’s true for anyone, at any time. Young or old, boy or man, girl or woman, responsible or not, deliberate or accidental.

What to do? Unless I am wrong, there are only two classic reactions, ‘fight or flight’. We act first and ask questions later, or we hide from the confrontation. To do either requires that you are sure and certain of your ground, but that is needed more in the fight scenario, and if a friend or loved one is implicated, that need for conflict is heightened and strengthened. On the other hand, it can be easier to take flight and do nothing.

As someone who doesn’t like confrontation, I can recall being put in a position of protecting family, and the strength for the fight was found only as I dug deep. They were loved and worth it, and natural love showed itself in the action of fighting for their dignity and honour. Sadly they were not in a position to defend themselves, so someone had to step in.

Now as one who is older, and hopefully wiser, I am seeing signs that a child of God is under some kind of attack. It may not be physical, but possibly an emotional, psychological or a controlling spiritual abuse which is almost always invisible, at least to the casual onlooker. The indications are difficult to see, and so impossible to prove, but as is often the case, probably more evident when we know where to look, and can see the signs. Lord, help us to be first of all loving, then observant, responsible, and responsive.

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:9-11