All you have to do is turn the news on to feel some of the anxiety and stress that is plaguing our world today. You cannot get away from it.
I mean really if the global warming, plastic in the ocean, forest fires, blockades, or job loss does not get you first, then for sure the corona virus just might. There is something out there horrible that must be coming your way, at least that is what they tell us.
Wow, where has any peace or contentment gone in the world? It is almost like if you have not started to worry about something well then, here is a list of things we can give you to start with.
I am choosing not to listen to the news right now, that may seem like I am putting my head in the sand and hiding but truly, I like to sleep at night. With that list above, I would not sleep well.
You see those little fellows in the picture above? Those are 2 little birds that were sitting on the bow of a boat sitting out on the Sea of Galilee. They are not concerned over world matters. They are not concerned over where they will sleep or if they will sleep tonight. They are content to just be.
Who is really in charge here? I personally believe that the God who created this world and those 2 little birds is fully in control.
“Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? ...” Matthew 6:25-27
The world has always had stress and turmoil, always. Was anyone able to stop any of it by worrying? Not for a second.
Those 2 little birds are sitting on the Sea that Jesus walked on. The waves were so high and fierce that when Peter who also walked on water, took his eyes off of Jesus and looked around him at the waves he started to sink. The looking around at the wind and the waves took his eyes off of his focus and he was sunk. The cares of the world bound him like a cement block and down he went.
If we start to make lists of all the wrong things in the world, those cares will bind themselves onto us and we will never be able to get our eyes off of the mess and we too will sink.
Why is there not an alternative list of the good things happening in the world, because there are good things happening – everywhere.
We can choose to focus on the mess or we can choose to focus on the hope.
Here are some of the news stories that I bet you did not hear this week:
“Researchers from Cornell University have found a new species of soil bacteria that is particularly adept at breaking down organic matter—including the cancer-causing chemicals that are released when coal, gas, oil and refuse are burned.” Good News Network Feb. 25, 2020
“The Village Langley in British Columbia is a Canadian community may seem like an ordinary village on the outside—but in actuality, it is the country’s first village designed specifically to accommodate people living with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.” Good News Network Feb. 24, 2020
“Some rural Indian villages (in the country of India) are miles and miles away from the nearest hospital—and that’s why this devoted man has taken it upon himself to run his very own free ambulance service. During the last 19 years, Karimul Haque has brought more than five thousand people to the hospital using his makeshift motorcycle-powered ambulance. Since Haque first began his labor of love, his entire family has joined his mission by volunteering their own time and services.” Good News Network February 20, 2020
“After spending a little over a decade in the Canadian credit card market, US-based Chase Bank opted to retire their Amazon.ca Rewards Visa and their Marriott Rewards Premier Visa in March 2018. As of last week, there were still Canadian cardholders who were making payments on their outstanding card debt—but Chase, rather than selling the debt to third party-collectors, sent letters to all of their Canadian customers this week explaining that their debt had been forgiven.” Good News Network August 8, 2019
“It’s uncertain whether the struggling residents of Central Florida have ever prayed for their medical bills to be wiped out, but that’s exactly what just happened: 6,500 families are going to get letters in the mail saying their debt has been paid off by people they’ve never met. “It’s one thing for us to say, ‘God loves you,” Senior Pastor Dan Glenn told his congregation. “It’s another for us to show it.” Good News Network July 16, 2019.
Now, after reading this, does it not feel like the world is a little bit better place than when you first started reading?
What we focus on will sink us or let us walk, and you get to chose which one to listen to.