Don’t Be Afraid

“Don’t be afraid,” the angel says to the shepherds in the Nativity story.

Perhaps in today’s fearful times, the angel would also say: “Be steadfast.”

It is a good word: steadfast. An old word for a very necessary virtue. It means to stand firm, to be resolute, to be faithful.

Sophia lived out the true meaning of it in her illness. I watched her do it.

She was a wise old soul, our Soph.

In the age of Covid, this is particularly resonant: “Be steadfast.”