"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?" (Matthew 6:26 RSV)
"For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgement." (2 Timothy 1:7 RSV)
"....he saved us, not because of righteous things we have done, but because of his mercy." (Titus 3:5 NIV)
Why did I quote those three verses? They popped up in my Daily Devotions this weekend.
The 1st one was about having FAITH in our Lord, and what is happening in our lives. Since joining social media in 2009, I've accidently alienated dear friends with my conservative stance, and over the years learned to skip over posts I didn't agree with.
This is becoming harder and harder.
I clung to my faith during the Obama years, praying nonstop that no one would be seriously injured, due to the fact we'd lost our Union insurance and didn't qualify for HIP (medicaid-we made $200 too much). It was either buy short-term insurance that was around $2-300/month, but didn't pay ANYTHING, or cough up $650/mo for the 'Obamacare', and change doctors. In other words, did we want pain in the wallet up front, or make payments to the medical team?
We opted to make payments to the hospital. Thankfully, it came with zero interest, and payments were only around $50/mo. When you're on unemployment and waiting to be approved for disability, this was doable. When disability and his early retirement arrived, things got WAY better.
Then 2016 happened, and I saw half my friends on social media start to get really ugly with posts. Five years later, I watched in shock as 'common sense' policies when out the window, and I clung to my faith. I decided that maybe God was letting it happen, in order to show our country what happens when you take this route, and PRAYED that 1) that's what was happening and things would swing back to 'normal' and 2) the horrific Elder Abuse we were watching would finally be over.
#2 is now coming to light, but in no way, shape, or form are things back to 'normal'.
I guess this is the new 'normal', where half the country has lost their minds and the other half is getting their opinions drowned out.
It's become an 'us-against-them' mentality, with people so afraid of what they're seeing in the news they're reverting to childhood tactics....hiding in basements while the storm passes, or becoming bullies.
I feel like I'm a child of divorce.....Mom wants this, but Dad wants that, and if I pick a side, I'll lose out on a great relationship.
Can we just STOP? Half the country is acting on pure EMOTION, while others are fact-checking, deciding for themselves and praying for guidance.
Where is the faith in our leaders? Where is your faith?
When I say 'faith', I don't mean to hole up and do nothing BUT pray. Faith is also an ACTION; if you feel compelled to protest, campaign for your leader of choice, then by all means go for it. Just stop with the attacks on those who disagree with you.
WE CAN AGREE TO DISAGREE AND STILL BE FRIENDS!!!!!
I can still love and support you as a friend while silently disagreeing with your choices.
Just because I don't jump on your bandwagon doesn't mean I don't respect your right to your point of view. Is it too much that I ask you respect mine in return?
I love social media. I love the fact that I can stay in touch with friends who have moved away without depending on letters or phone calls. I miss reading blogs, but yeah, people have shorter attention spans, and I myself don't have the time to write a daily blog anymore. I barely have enough time to do the three per month on Patreon! Did you notice I didn't post my monthy goals unti FRIDAY the FOURTH? Yeah, I was a little busy. Between the Evening Job, the trying to get my 38th book written, promotion events, watching my shows on Peacock, Paramount, and YouTube, and trying to keep my stress level under control.....that doesn't leave a lot of time left in the day. Even now, I should be working on Ch 10 of Heart Song, but felt compelled to wirite this instead.
I don't know what the future holds. I don't know if I'm the right side of history. All I can do is continue to have faith, much like my grandparents did during the Great Depression.
Which brings up another point.....Mark Levin said a great deal of our 'wrong policies' began under FDR....I always admired the way he presided over his 12 years. Although a couple of years ago I found a biography of Eleanor and FDR, and had to laugh b/c they bought a school bus for a school district, and when it broke down, the school district sent it back to the White House instead of fixing it themselves!!!
Think about it. If you're given something you didn't 'earn', how do you value it? My kids, if their toys were broken, they were tossed and not replaced, unless Grandma bought a replacement. But if THEY bought it with their allowance? It was prized.
Welfare was NEVER supposed to be a way of life, yet over the years, it's become one. I hear countless stories of young girls wanting to get pregnant so they can leave their dysfunctional homelife, get on welfare, and apply for government housing.
I've heard of good employees being given a raise, only to have them quit, because their raise causes them to LOSE their housing/welfare checks.
How wrong is THAT? Instead of moving up in a company and earning $$, you'd rather get it from the government???
I wasn't raised that way, and fought it my entire 30+ years of being on my own and marriage. Yes, we had to get food stamps once, but used it WISELY and once the spouse was back to work, we happily said goodbye to it. Yes, I also enjoyed the brief time we were on Medicaid. But once the union insurance kicked in, I was happy I no longer had to make the yearly trip downtown.
Okay, I'm getting off my soapbox now. I need to eat and swap out my laundry, plus LEAVE in 15 mins.
