If you are like me, you try to avoid watching the news as
much as possible. I simply cannot stand all the negativity. I have been told
that I am naïve for not watching the news and keeping up with what is happening
in our world. Honestly, I am okay with that. I know our world is full of bad
people doing bad things but it doesn’t mean that I have to saturate my mind and
spirit with it all. I cannot bare to listen to the gossip, speculation, debates,
and arguments that comes along with an hour of televised news. It is just
exhausting.
I think we focus too much on trying to butt our opinions and
views into an already messy situation that we make it more messy and
complicated. Despite your political views, religious views or strong opinions,
we are hurting our world more by trying to fix everybody else, make them see
how it should be, and sticking our noses in where they don’t belong.
There is a saying that “Love Wins”. Well friends, I
certainly am not seeing that in our world today. We are letting hate win,
violence win, anger win, and bitterness win. One of the biggest ways I believe
that we are doing this is by letting it be broadcasted by every news source
possible. We are letting the bad guys win by giving them the attention they
want. I rarely see good news, where love, acceptance, humility and compassion
win. We have been conditioned to accept the bad news, to need to hear the bad
news and to wallow in the bad news.
I know that “love wins” on a large scale may not happen as
we would all wish for it to happen but I know that even on the
smallest of scales, love can win in our own personal lives.
So I choose love. I choose to love those who are different
than me. I choose to stop arguing about politics. I choose to stop trying to “fix”
people to be just like me and love them for who they are. I choose love over
hate.
I recently bought a shirt from a company a friend of mine
runs and it reads, “Inhale Love. Exhale Fear.” We have become afraid to love
others. We are afraid of hurt, afraid of change and afraid of being seen loving
someone different than us. That my friends is sad. It is so sad that we have
let fear and hate creep into our lives so strongly that we cannot simply see
that others need love just as much as we do. We need to choose to step through
the fear and reach out in love.
Look out across your neighborhoods, towns, churches and
schools and you will easily see how desperate people are for someone simply to
say, “I love you for you.” No qualifications, no ifs, just love. Love is a verb. We have to be love, take love
and spread love. Love is baking cookies and taking them to your neighbors. Love
is a listening ear when someone needs it. Love is a smile. Love is stepping out
of our comfort zones to befriend someone who may not look like us or act like
us.
I know that I am not perfect at loving others but I am so
tired of waking up every day in a world filled with so much hate. If I can even
for a moment shine a little love into someone’s life who needs it, then at
least I know I am doing my part to not let hate win.
Love is hard but it is so worth it when it stops hate, fear,
rejection, lies and the list goes on and on. I don’t know about you, but I
chose to stand in love and do the best I can to show love to all people. We are
all human. We all have blood running through our veins and that should be
reason enough to love each other.
“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”-
Mother Teresa
Inhale Love. Exhale Fear.
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