Sometimes, it’s good to take a step back and make a choice—to focus solely on what is good and life-giving in lieu of what brings only pain. Scripture calls it “bringing our thoughts captive,” or choosing to focus on what is “true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report.”
Life, in a broken world—after the fall but this side of the cross—is ripe with heartache, yet brimming with hope.
Pain flares. Injustice abounds. Sorrow seems to stitch itself deep into the fabric of our days. But even here, especially here, beauty remains, if we will simply take the time to notice. It waits patiently, impervious to the tyranny of lesser things that clamor for our time and attention.
While pain tends to leave us myopic, perspective expands our vision, allowing us to see the benefits that accompany what we would otherwise avoid, if given the choice.
Choosing what is good and lovely is not ignorance; it is defiance. It is the brave decision to notice, to seek the good where it lingers, the blessing where it hides, the wonder where it waits.
When all evidence points to the contrary, and when circumstances would cause us to believe otherwise, God reveals to us that there is more going on than we realize. His fingerprints are everywhere. Evidence of His abiding with us is unmistakable. His presence in the miraculous and in the commonplace transfigures our moments into dazzling spectacles, always teaching us, growing us, gracing us, delighting us.
The world is fractured, yes, but it is also mended, moment by moment, by those who choose to make a difference along the way. It is no small thing to offer a hand, to shine hope where it is in short supply, to live out the love we have both longed for and received. Those who walk the barren places need the safety and solidarity that come from knowing they are not alone.
So, may we live as if kindness itself might actually tip the scales. May we open our hearts, not just to what God is doing in our own lives, but in the lives of those we are called to love. And as we do, may we transform our little corners of the world, one act of grace at a time.
For the world may be heavy. But so, too, is it rich with the opportunity to sow love, to extend grace, and to reap the joy that can be found no other way.
“By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another.”
~ 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝟏𝟑:𝟑𝟓