The Parable of the Young Ram.

Once there lived a young ram. He loved to graze in the meadow, trampling the field. But one day he heard a shot in the distance, deep in the forest. His heart began to pound fiercely, unceasingly. So much so that the fresh grass no longer tasted the same. Yet he knew nothing beyond that meadow where he grazed. There was nowhere to run and hide, and he could no longer stay in the meadow. The grass seemed insipid, the sun dim, and the wind cold.

He was losing not only his appetite, he was losing his taste for life. One small fear, merely an echo, a remnant of the distant shots, pulsed inside him and filled him with poison. This poison grew ever harsher and more merciless. Even memories of those happy days he had once spent no longer warmed his soul. And the future? He did not even want to imagine it, picturing a heavy fate.

"And what did he do?"
"He grieved for a long, stubborn time. Then he saw a mole. She came out to gather seed and noticed the sad ram."

Then she approached him and asked, "Why are you sad?"

"I heard a shot in the distance, and I am afraid of what will happen to me," the ram answered.

The mole was surprised, inclined her head, looked at him, and said on an exhale, "You know, I live a long time and have seen much down here beneath the earth. I have no light, no wind, and cold sometimes binds my body; I see nothing, so I have not sought to see, because I do not know it. But even I, with my eyes closed, seeing nothing, have learned all the routes, have passed through all the passages. And you, who can see and feel the whole world, hide in a little burrow, unwilling to go out."

"And what did he do?"
"And he looked at the sun, which he had not noticed before, though he always gathered its blessings. And he saw that wherever he went, the sun shone for him, for his sake. It illuminates and perceives far more than he is capable of seeing. When he understood that he was not alone, that the whole world he had taken for habit was something wondrous, unusual, made for him and because of him, he desired to go around and examine it all, to accept it not merely as something given but as a gift from above.

Therefore, when you, day after day, perform routine work and carry out certain tasks, you do not see or feel the flavor, the beauty that surrounds you, taking it as a matter of course. And fears inevitably seize you. But when you look at yourself and the world around you as a divine gift, a kind condescension of God's light, you will see how mistaken you were before, and by receiving all blessings with gratitude and an awareness of the greatness of who you are and all that surrounds you, fear cannot reach you.

For where there is God's light and His support in your deeds, there can be no fear.