Looking For Good

No less than three times last week I was reminded to look for more good around me.

There is so much bad in the world. So much evil. So much trouble. So much pain and sorrow. And as a Christian, I know that much of the bad that comes my may is either of my own doing (flowing out of my sinful human nature) or of the devil’s doing.

I’ve realized that I’ve been sucked into the devil’s trap of focusing on all that bad stuff. I forget the good that God gives. The Bible says, “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning….” (Lamentations 3:22-23a).

When I turn my head – and my heart – to look at the mercies, at the good, that God showers on me every day my whole attitude changes. A smile comes to my face. My heart is lighter. I tend to say nice things, and do nice things, to other people.

When I’m focusing on the bad stuff in my life and in the world, I feel differently. I feel tired, worn out, beat down, and I tend to say snarky things about other people. Mostly without their knowledge. I’ll read something on Facebook that someone says about an idea being stupid and take it personally (hopefully more personally than they actually intended). Or I’ll be driving in the car and listening to talk radio and really get in a poor mood about what they are saying.

I need more good – and more God – in my life.

So, I’m being more intentional about looking for the good from God in my life today. And the second half of the passage from Lamentations is thumping in my heart!

“Great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’” (Lamentations 3:2b-24)

Our Blank Page

Image courtesy of Photobucket.com

Today was the first full day of school at Lake Zurich High School.

Yesterday was the actual first day of school, but it was only a half-day. That doesn't really count.

Today, each student and each teacher at the school had an opportunity to "make it count."

The first day of school is like a blank piece of paper and a newly sharpened pencil. So much potential. Nothing is wrong, there are not mistakes made. It is the proverbial "clean slate."

The blank page can be daunting. Like the song lyric says,

The writer stares with glassy eyes
Defies the empty page
His beard is white, his face is lined
And streaked with tears of rage
Thirty years ago, how the words would flow
With passion and precision
But now his mind is dark and dulled
By sickness and indecision

(Neil Peart, Losing It)

The challenge is to not let what has gone before have a negative impact on your "blank page" today. That isn't to say you shouldn't let the past influence your present. I'm not even sure you have a choice in that. But take what you've done (or has been done to you) in the past and use it to make this new, blank day as good as possible.

The first chapter of the New Testament (Matthew Chapter 1) was once a blank page. How St. Matthew decided to fill that page (inspired by the Holy Spirit) is very interesting to me. He fills that first blank page with a list of names - a family tree that begins with Abraham and ends with Jesus. 

In Jesus' past there is a prostitute, a couple of non-Jews, an adulterer, murderer, and several polygamists. 

And yet, despite that "checkered" past, Jesus is the perfect Son of God who lived, died on the cross, and rose again from the dead to save you and me from sin, death, and the power of the devil.

Jesus gives each of us a "blank page" every day. 

When we are sorry (contrite) and repent (change our ways) daily by the power of the Holy Spirit, the sin and our sinful past that filled our lives is gone (drowned and killed). A new person daily emerges and arises to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.

Think and pray about that tonight and see how your "blank page" of tomorrow turns out.