I have been in a funk for the past few days. It is as if a lens has overlaid my heart and eyes and all I feel is sadness, defeat, and overwhelm. Waking up every day wondering, ” what hell is breaking loose in the world today?” is a terrible way to wake up. I know you have seen, heard, and watched the same things. Social media is a wonderful tool to peer into the lives and world of others but it is also a trap that can take you down a rabbit hole of hurt, pain, and disgust in two seconds flat.

Try not to live on social media.

Go do real things: walk, cook, dance, visit people, garden, write, read, create, lay under a tree.

Do things that feed your soul goodness and life.

When we started this year, I felt so optimistic about 2020 being a great year. Now, half way through it I feel hurt, angry, and distrustful. It is no wonder that the Lord gave me the word “GOODNESS” as my word for the year. He also said, “use WE not I” in the way that I speak. He said, “believe and speak” meaning I must KNOW what I believe about anything before I speak anything because He said, “you are not the standard, I am.” The last thing He said was, “Dont complain, look for solutions or shhhh!” I am finding these directives to be helpful, stretching, difficult, and impossible for me all at the same time. Thank God for the promise, “but nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37)

I am thankful for the word the Lord gave to me, I am seeing alot of what I would call NOT GOOD out there. I seeing alot of division, words being hurled, exaltation of self rather than Christ, and a ton of complaining about everything. I see this NOT GOOD in me too. It is never easy to swim against the current and we often get swept up in it. How do you know you’ve been swept away? Just take some time to listen to the thoughts in the mind and the words coming out of the mouth. Maybe we’ve been wearing angry eyebrows? (<-click the link for that post)

So, what are we doing? Why are we biting and devouring one another?

Galatians 5:15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

When it comes to how we treat one another, we should not care what color our skin is! We should not care what side of the political line we stand on! Do you want to know why? Because we don’t know anything about eachother based on those two things! Everything we think we know is based on assumption and sweeping declarations of this is good or bad, left or right, based on affiliation and extremes. Most of us are a combination, we call it “independant” and we decide what we support or denounced based on how we treat eachother. We ought to be basing most things on how human we are.

Are you human? Yes, ok then. We are good when it comes to these deciding lines.

Where we ought to divide is on how we act!

If we are going to hurt people on purpose – I am not ok with that!

If we are going to walk around and expect other people to be treated as less than ourselves. – I am not ok with that!

The scripture says to, “let everything be done in love.” (1 Cor. 16:14) That kind of behavior is not love.

Much of that which is going on out there- we can do nothing about. Its being played out of social media. But here in your everyday life – treat people with kindness. It matters! I went to the store and a women I know who happens to be black and our kids go to school together walked up behind me and said hello. I also said hello. As she looked at me in my eyes and I looked at her, she gently said, “I hate whats happening out there.” I said, “me too.” Then she said, “How have you been?”

This is love in action. The simplest and most profound eye to eye, heart to heart moments.

So how do you get out from behind the lens the world is spinning?

3 things to stop the onslaught of your soul:

1. Stop looking at social media for a few days, or a week, or a month. Media detox is a real and great thing to give breath back to your soul.
2. Start giving thanks for everything that you can find. (Ann Voskamp says, “To be happy, give thanks”) …hugs from my husband, compliments on our hostas from a lady walking by, messages from dear daughter sharing her everyday life… GIVE THANKS! This is a simple and profound form of realignment to God’s goodness.
3. Scripture: Get into the Word and let it wash the mess away.

The Lord gave me a song today (<-if you want to listen) that helped me remember the word “GOODNESS” that He gave me. In it the lyric, “I see the evidence of Your goodness. All over my life!” made me think of this verse:

Hebrews 11:1 Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

That thing in you that desires to continue to hope and believe for good things to be seen in this life is faith! We can’t see those good things if we keep looking through the lens the world spins. When life comes and kicks us in the face we have to fight back with faith.

Just because it doesnt look good out there doesnt mean that God isnt busy working all things for good!

Psalm 27:13-14 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord;  be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

Psalm 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Today, I am believing for that goodness!

Thanks for listening,

Starla