Good things happened yesterday and more will happen today. In fact, good things happen every day. Sometimes, they happen in far away places where they go unnoticed due to our lack of knowledge. Other times, they happen right around us, but go unseen because of our lack of awareness. Just because we don’t recognize them doesn’t make them any less significant, we simply miss their ability to change us and our worldview.

Random acts of kindness, small moments of beauty that occur with surprising frequency and they make the world better. These are the places where heaven intersects earth and lives, even destinies, are changed. They happen in classrooms, over cups of coffee, and, sometimes, in complete secrecy. These moments won’t make the news. Sure, as the holidays approach, some significant acts of generosity may receive a bit of attention, but daily, they take place without fanfare or recognition.

Bad news sells, and a constant diet of negativity dulls our sense wonder and beauty, while training us to find more problems. We slowly begin to define situations and people by their negative aspects. The current election season exemplifies this all too well. It was surprisingly difficult to learn candidates’ platforms and positions. What wasn’t difficult to uncover was their view of their opponents. Every commercial, mass mailing, and robo-call offered a reminder to vote along with a list of evils associated with the other candidates. Even worse, we now accept this as normal.

The good news is that we do not have to blindly follow this trend. We can choose to find the good in life, and in people. Instead of demonizing people and groups, we can open our heart to believe that everyone is created in the image of God. Instead of defining life by its problems, we can embrace the wonderful possibilities that surround us. Life is not easy. Jesus was clear when he said, “in this life you will have trouble.” Thankfully, the message didn’t end there. After a hard reality, he went on to offer hope, “take heart, I have overcome the world.”

The message of faith should not produce pessimism, nor should it create some form of blissful optimism. Our faith calls for realism. Life is hard, but there is more to the story. There is always a reason for hope and, if we will open our eyes to God’s vision, there is beauty, wonder, and possibly all around us. There is laughter and joy, compassion and love, kindness and goodness, and a world full of blessings for us discover.

I’ve said it here before, but one of the greatest life-quotes I ever received came from my grandfather. I increasingly see the depth of his simple statement, “What gets your attention, gets you.” So, I constantly have to ask myself what I want to give my attention, and myself to in my life. Do I want to be ruled by negativity, discouragement, and evil, or do I want to be found giving my life to beauty, wonder, and hope? It may be a question we all need to ask. Is Chicken Little right? Is the sky really falling? Or is the wondrous God of creation right when declaring, “Behold, I make all things new?”

Fear shouts all around us, and its prophets declare its promised destruction. Still, I will hope in the Lord. I will believe there is more to the story. I will trust that the story is still being written and that there is joy, not just at the end, but along the way. And though I have great faith that my hope is not misplaced, even so, I will be better off savoring the blessings and amplifying the beauty of life. Those around me, and the whole world will be better off as well. I can only imagine the impact if we all began to accentuate what is good far above all that is not. What a wonderful world it would be.

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“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” – Romans 8:28

I don’t know if I’ve seen any particular scripture reference used more poorly than the one above. In my own life, and in the lives of many others, people used this verse to suggest that God allowed, even caused, bad things to happen in order to accomplish something good.

When my father suddenly abandoned our family when I was 14, numerous people quoted this verse in a strange attempt to comfort me. They kept implying that, if I waited, I would see that God caused this situation so that something better would happen. I can assure you this created anything but comfort. All I could think as I pondered these comments was, “Really, the all-powerful God of the universe could only accomplish a good thing in my life by putting my family through pain?” It didn’t inspire much faith.

As a pastor, I’ve listened as people quoted this verse to others in the midst of grief and tragedy. I am sure it is meant well, but it hardly represents the compassionate God who stands with us in our pain, who is broken-hearted by our suffering, and who grieves the pain of sin and brokenness in the world. It is a cold word that comes all to easily from a “everything happens for a reason” theology. The truth is, sometimes the reason is that there is evil in the world.

At the same time, we cannot simply negate this verse. While we were never meant to use it to dismiss someone’s pain, there is a promise of hope that lies within these words. God does not need bad things to produce good. God is the source of all goodness. However, it is God’s power and goodness that works in the midst of evil, suffering, and pain to redeem every situation. In our times of struggle, God is with us, comforting us, and speaking life over us, even in the face of death.

I see this loving power of God in situations small and large. Sunday, I caught the flu, which is also why I missed Tuesday’s post. I hated being sick, and I was disappointed in the way it disrupted my plans. I missed out on things I truly value. At the same time, left with little I could do, I found time for some much needed rest, time to pray, listen to God, and saturate myself with Scripture. I did not need to be sick to accomplish these things, but the days of sickness were not lost or wasted because the presence of God redeemed them.

I’ve seen God do even bigger things, in more extreme circumstances. I’ve watched cancer survivors become support for others facing the disease. I’ve seen people who walked through the darkness of great grief become light to others traveling a similar path. I’ve watched those who go without provide care for those with less. The list of such occurrences is long, but in each case I know I am watching God work for good in every situation, as people comfort others with the same comfort they received from God. (2 Corinthians 1:4)

Not every circumstance is good, but God works for good in every situation, and it is for our good. This is why we can rejoice always, because God is always near and at work. We may not choose our circumstances, but we can choose faith, hope, and joy in the midst of them, because God is at work and that is always good.

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This past weekend, our region learned of the death of Jamey Rodemeyer, a 14 year old boy who was struggling with some significant issues in his life. He was also dealing with bullies. On top of all of the personal challenges he faced as a teenager, he was subjected to painful ridicule and verbal abuse. His pain led him to take his own life.

I did not know Jamey, and I cannot begin to understand all that he thought or felt, but I do know his death is tragic. There is no question, bullying is bad. It is a form of verbal violence that attacks a person’s identity and erodes their sense of self-worth and their sense of safety. It is bad and it is painful.

I have no knowledge of the specific abuses this young man experienced, but I do know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of these painful attacks. I have clear memories of hurtful words and embarrassing moments. I remember the physical intimidation that included being chased through school by someone trying to stab me with scissors because he just didn’t like me, and the Halloween night, two peers tried to set me on fire just for fun. Words and actions like that can hurt deeper than we imagine.

As I reflected on the sad events of this weekend, I was struck by the reality that bullying does not just take place at school and bullies are not just teenagers. Part of the culture that continues to produce people who take pleasure in the pain of others is the reality that many adults model exactly that type of behavior. I meet grown men and women who still deal with their own issues by attacking others, in what they do and what they say. This behavior becomes a living illustration to people who look up to them that meanness and cruelty are acceptable if we “feel” justified, or if we believe someone deserved it.

No one deserves it, and there is no justification for hatred. All of us are created in the image of God. We are his workmanship, created for good things. Even from the first creation, God saw all that was made and called it, “good.” Humanity, he called, “very good.” How can we hate what God made in the Divine image and called very good?

We are called to be living examples of God’s goodness. We need to teach one another, our children and all those God places within our sphere of influence how to act out of love. People need to understand the impact of their actions and words on the hearts and spirits of others around them. We have a calling to be role models of grace and love who treasure each life as Jesus does, and who teach others to do the same.

Bullies may always exist, but that should never make their actions acceptable, nor should we ever become insensitive to the pain they create. Since God is love, then we need to demonstrate the transforming power of love to the world, including those who suffer from the painful acts of others, and those who commit such acts. We will not make things better by hating the haters. Instead, we must break the cycles that produce hatred in the first place and become examples of how to live without it.

There is no better day to show God’s love than today and no better time to start than right now. As the old camp song said, “They will know we are Christians by our love.”

May it be so, even now.

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It is difficult to take responsibility as a child, fearing the repercussions of your actions. It turns out, taking responsibility is difficult for adults as well. We hear similar expressions of our youthful cries when someone says, “I didn’t cause the problem, why should I have to care?” This, and the many other variations of, “This isn’t my register,” occuir frequently. Sometimes, we are the ones saying it.

It is true that many problems and challenges we encounter are not directly our fault, but that does not mean we have no responsibility to respond. Even in circumstances obviously caused by someone else’s actions, we are still called to act as God’s representatives and take responsibility for what we can do to make things better.

In the book of Proverbs, we find many simple, yet deeply challenging axioms. In a section the New International Version titles, “Wisdom Bestows Well-Being,” we find this call to action, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.” (3:27)

Ask yourself, “to whom is good due?” It would be easy to answer the question by suggesting some form of karma, that good is due to those who do good. We could reply by suggesting that good should be shown to who earn it, those we like, or those we feel warrant it. The deeper question we must ask in our search is, “who deserves good in God’s eyes?” God offers goodness to many unlikely candidates. In fact, the Scripture even says that God’s kindness leads to repentance, which clearly means that God shares goodness with those who have not earned it, in order to lead them closer to him. Maybe, we could say, “We should not withhold good when it is in our power to offer it.”

Following the ascribed title for this section, we can see how the wisdom of God leads us to make choices that create well-being, ours and others. When we walk in God’s ways, our lives will experience the richness of God’s presence and peace. We will also find ourselves putting our faith into action, blessing others with goodness and kindness as we are able.

It is easy to bless and care for those we love and who care for us. The bigger, and more meaningful, expression of our connection with Christ is the ability to offer goodness to those we find challenging to love. Just as we are called to forgive others just as we have been forgiven, so too, we should offer blessing, kindness and goodness just as we have received these gifts from God. After all, we know how much it means that God would bless us, being good and kind to us in spite of our sin. Therefore, it should be all the easier to be a blessing to others.

It would be convenient to claim no responsibility in these circumstances, but we really are responsible. Laying it at the feet of someone else may seem attractive, but it denies that God brought us into those circumstances for a reason. If we will live with open eyes and open spirits, we will see the needs around us and recognize the power of God at work within and through us to touch those needs in his name. What an opportunity to be the Gospel to others, and what a blessing it is to embrace that opportunity.

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