I don’t believe in pulling myself up by the bootstraps. I don’t think I have the ability to change myself. I believe true change comes only from God. However, I also believe I must cooperate with his change. I cannot continue to make bad choices and expect Him to zap me into goodness. This blog is about cooperating with God in becoming peaceful. I believe there are actions that I must take to allow God to sanctify me to become what he wants me to be. This is the basis for this blog.

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Why do we fixate on bad news? Why do we rubberneck at a bad wreck? Why do we gravitate to flaws in the opposition? Why do we gossip or sink into rabbit holes on social media? To deny this behavior would be ridiculous. We love celebrity or political dirt. We are drawn to it like moths to a roaring flame. 24/7 news channels, social media and even the local weather cash in on this truth. And is this behavior so wrong? Shouldn’t we stay abreast of the news in our world? 

But  the real question is why we prefer to let our hearts be troubled rather than peaceful. The fact remains that we cannot be troubled and peaceful at the same time. We cannot love our neighbor while we are judging their choices. We cannot have hope if all we feed on is catastrophe and chaos. Catastrophe and chaos will push out the faith, hope, love and peace in our hearts while filling us with hatred and fear. 

Remember Covid? How could we forget! We feasted on that news. We picked sides and drew lines in the sand. It heightened mental instabilities. We lost our way. I believe it was feasting on the negative that pushed out our sanity. You can probably name some folks that still haven’t returned to normal after Covid.

Do we really want our hearts to be filled with love or do we want our heads full of dirt? We are what we ingest. We must be careful about where our choices lead us. We all know we can be pulled down by hanging with the wrong crowd, but do we know that we can be pulled down by 24/7 news channels and the feed on our social media? Who knew that the wrong crowd can be a network on the TV? 

Pro tip: turn off the news channels, and do not like or repost any political posts on social media. In fact, scroll like the wheel on a slot machine when you see a political post.

What will fill this vacuum? Whatever good or bad thing you choose. Choose wisely. So many good people have become filled with hate and/or fear because they innocently tried to stay informed. And they don’t even see what they have become. Like the injected anesthesia of a leech, we can’t feel the blood being sucked out of our souls by 24/7 news channels and social media. And it doesn’t matter if your news feed is the right one, they all suck out our peace and this loss breaks my heart. But when we choose wisely, we will feel the fresh breeze of freedom from breaking those chains of fear.

The ball is in our court. Instead of feeding on the negative, play a game (maybe not Twister), listen to music, pray, bake cookies for a friend, walk your dog, anything! Just don’t allow your heart to be troubled so you can leave room for God’s peace to take root.