Today’s Readings: Psalm 124; Amos 3:1-15; John 11:30-44; 2 Peter 2:10b-16; Psalm 74
We human beings can be awfully hard on one another. Without fully realizing it, we can fall into the “nothing is ever good enough” routine. Take today’s Gospel reading from John, for example. When Jesus shows up in the city of Mary, Martha and Lazarus to tend to the situation, how was Jesus greeted by Mary? He was greeted by the words, “… if only you had been here, my brother would not have died”. And when Jesus allowed himself to be fully open and vulnerable and weep in response to Lazarus’ death, how did some of the people respond? By saying, “… if he loved [Lazarus] so much, why didn’t he do something to keep him from dying?” It must have been exhausting to be around such a constant barrage of negativity. It would be nice to think that such cynical thinking was left behind in the first century. Unfortunately it wasn’t. Many have held onto the old “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is” mentality – keeping them locked into this cycle of constant negativity. One of the hardest things for us to do these days is open ourselves to even the possibility of good. Today, I would invite you to monitor yourself and see what sort of perspective you bring to life. Are you someone who sees things primarily from a negative perspective, or are you able to find the positive as well? As you watch yourself throughout the day and begin to recognize your patterns, don’t hesitate to ask for God’s help if you struggle to find the positive. Til next time…
We human beings can be awfully hard on one another. Without fully realizing it, we can fall into the “nothing is ever good enough” routine. Take today’s Gospel reading from John, for example. When Jesus shows up in the city of Mary, Martha and Lazarus to tend to the situation, how was Jesus greeted by Mary? He was greeted by the words, “… if only you had been here, my brother would not have died”. And when Jesus allowed himself to be fully open and vulnerable and weep in response to Lazarus’ death, how did some of the people respond? By saying, “… if he loved [Lazarus] so much, why didn’t he do something to keep him from dying?” It must have been exhausting to be around such a constant barrage of negativity. It would be nice to think that such cynical thinking was left behind in the first century. Unfortunately it wasn’t. Many have held onto the old “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is” mentality – keeping them locked into this cycle of constant negativity. One of the hardest things for us to do these days is open ourselves to even the possibility of good. Today, I would invite you to monitor yourself and see what sort of perspective you bring to life. Are you someone who sees things primarily from a negative perspective, or are you able to find the positive as well? As you watch yourself throughout the day and begin to recognize your patterns, don’t hesitate to ask for God’s help if you struggle to find the positive. Til next time…
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