Mostly, I am sad

God,

Keep my anger from becoming meanness.

Keep my sorrow from collapsing into self-pity.

Keep my heart soft enough to keep breaking. Keep my anger turned towards justice, not cruelty.

Remind me that all of this, every bit of it, is for love.

Keep me fiercely kind.

Amen.

                               Laura Jean Truman,  Twitter, October 2018

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It is another day in America

A polarized America

Spin, purposefully, into chaos and hate

It is an America in which

For most of us

Anger lies just below the surface

Our anger comes from different places

It is fueled by ideology

By fear

By resentment

By injustice, real or perceived

And it is fueled in many ways

By people purposefully manipulating us

But what we see, and hear, and read

But it is there

It is also an America in which there is deep, profound sadness

We all have our own reasons for that sadness

Children in captivity

Poor people neglected

Rich people entitled

The prevalent hate

The greed, and the apathy

The bullying from on high

The abandonment of the way of Jesus, by those who claim to follow him

But embrace and support everything Jesus spoke against

I am angry (at times)

Mostly, I am sad

And so I pray

That the God in me will stir

Or perhaps, that I will awake to that presence

And be so permeated by love

That even though

There is anger and sadness

I can allow my self

To remain open, and empathic

And walk through each day

Building up, and not tearing down

So that I may approach each person I meet

With fierce kindness