Negativity: It's a Bad Thing! (😉)

Being negative is bad! You shouldn't do it! 😜

You saw what I did there? I'm being negative about negativity: Don't be negative!

Seriously, we live in troubled times. We are prone to complaining about all the bad things that happen and running people down.

It's so much easier to focus on all the negative aspects of life, especially when they are always being packaged and served up to us in one way or another in the news.

And there's so much negative stuff out there ready to be packaged. We can't "pretend" that everything is nice. We can't make evil go away by ignoring its reality and destructiveness. Certainly we must hunger for justice.

But how do we keep from just adding more injustice to what has already been done? How do we keep from feeding the cycle of violence through revenge or cynicism? How do we keep from tearing one another apart?

How can we preserve a vision of the ultimately positive, redemptive value of life?

I know that I need to "find Jesus Christ" more in every circumstance, not just because this is the "right thing to do" but because I need it; really, I need him.

Without him every day, my humanity goes off the rails.

Troubled times can be a blessing, in a way, if they help us remember that Christ is everything, that he is the reason "why" I go on living, why I love my family, why I still have passion for the things I'm doing. It's not just human "morality"—it's the fact that he is changing us, he is transforming us into the new creation that he has already established in himself.

I sometimes feel very frustrated because I don't live as if I really believe this (and I will "forget" again, before I finish writing these words) but in that moment when we do recognize it, when we do "remember," ...what a miracle that moment is!!

This awareness comes from God; it's a gift of his love that also leads me to remember my true self and the reason for which each one of us has been created.

I need to pray and beg God to help me to remember more often.