…..And once again I steal some thoughts from my husband Mike’s Facebook page. He is a provoker and a prophetic voice. Sometimes they are one in the same.

The world has changed. We know it. We sense it. We have some choices. We can hunker down, buy a gun or assemble an arsenal, point some fingers, mistrust anyone who doesn’t look like us and choose to live with fear and anger.

Or we can live with a clear sense of resolve to live fully in the present moment acknowledging, but not giving into, our fears. We can quit pointing fingers. We can choose to live with open hands, hearts and minds. We can choose to build relationships with those who appear to be different and choose to continue to do the next good thing in the right way with the right attitude.

Choosing the latter doesn’t mean we live ignoring the realities of our changing world. Far from it. What it does mean is that choosing to escalate the hate and paranoia is no longer an option for us.

 

Anita’s Addendum: A couple of days ago, Mike and I went on a nighttime walk through a local Arboretum where we are members. Each Christmas season they put on a special show called Illuminations. They have hundreds, maybe thousands of light displays all throughout the Arboretum. The lights are various colors and kinds, and special effects make it all stunning. One thing is certain. If the electricity goes out during the Illuminations program, we’d all be in the dark. It would be pitch black.  I started thinking of the encroaching darkness in our world. Everywhere we look there is plenty of it. What can we do to push it back? If you are a Christ follower, you are a bearer of the light.  Your very presence, no matter where you are, is a light source. If we do nothing else but be present in our world, to our world, light will shine. And not just any light. The illuminating light of Christ. We’re not as powerless as we sometimes think.

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