We Must Care

You Are Not Alone

How Are you today?

I mean really, whether you agree with this administration or don’t. If you have your TV on Fox News all day or believe it is nothing but propaganda. How is your physical, emotional, and mental health doing? We could also add financial health to that list.

I’ll be honest with you, I’m exhausted. Some mornings as I look at the headlines from the Seattle Times and begin my prayers I begin to cry. I feel helpless to make any significant impact on the brutality, hate, and misinformation coming at me like a freight train.

I see the faces of innocent people being brutalized and read about people dying in detention centers because of an easily treatable infection or other ailment being ignored, not from ignorance, but from apathy.

Perhaps that is the most significant detriment in our country today, apathy. And I understand that after months of daily horrors, hourly news bulletins of another civil right being trampled, social media rants from the highest office-It is just too much to process and deal with.

You have to protect yourself some how. For some that is denial.

Maybe you voted for this, you believed that when he told you that he shared your faith and would ensure that the whole nation would also follow your God you were all in.

You still want to believe that every person being detained and deported is dangerous, illegal, and stealing your jobs and social benefits. That any religion other than yours is evil and undermines the power of your God.

But the fact is that your President has never been on his knees and humbled himself at the feet of Jesus asking for forgiveness or direction. And definitely never uttered a word of thanks to God for his success.

The booming economy he promised is going up in flames. A food budget that used to provide a months worth of groceries barely covers half that. Many people can no longer afford to fill their gas tank right now. The promise of jobs for everyone? A significant number of people are without work for the first time in years.

Now we are in a war for no reason. It is costing billions of dollars that could help school children eat two meals a day. Those dollars could pay for life saving medical treatment, insulin, and chemotherapy for cancer patients. It could provide for child care so parents can work.

Multiple Measles cases are being reported for the first time in decades. You can thank this administrations misinformation about vaccines for that. It seems wherever we look, there is bad news.

Even the weather is going crazy. It’s the middle of March. Here in the Pacific Northwest the bulbs came up a couple of weeks ago and were ready to bloom. And then we were hit with a wind storm and it started to snow. I hope by now you are becoming aware that Climate Change is real and we are destroying our world.

All the bombing releases mercury, lead, and cyanide contaminating the soil and water. Bombs cause fires that destroy forests and ecosystems. They leave metal, plastics and unexploded pieces behind. They cause oil fires that release carbon dioxide.

We have one world to live on. It is not indestructible. If we don’t take care of it, it can’t take care of us. Have you noticed that the same flowers, plants and vegetables you used to plant in the spring now struggle or die without producing the same results? Temperatures are hotter in the summer and colder in the winter. Areas of the country that rarely had snow now do. Here in the Pacific Northwest, our summers are now unbearable.

This is a lot to take in, process, and attempt to let go of. Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.” Palm 42:11 “Why my soul are you so downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Perhaps religion isn’t your thing. I have no problem with that. I urge you in these stressful and uncertain times to take good care of your physical and emotional health. Eat as healthy as you can afford to. Get regular exercise. Take walks, play with your dog or your children. Meditate or read poetry. Escape into a novel. Find a group of people who share your concerns and beliefs and meet with them regularly to verbalize your emotions. And make every attempt to get some sleep.

God never promised life would be easy. This is a time that evil is fighting for control. All who are decent, loving, and compassionate must do everything in their power to persevere and triumph. You are not alone.