It's a MEAN world out there - Overcome it with Good

It doesn’t help that the sun has not shined for two day and the weather has turned autumn chilly over night. I came home from a day of working at the church on Tuesday to find the house at a humid 85 degrees and the windows open, DH was enjoying the last vestiges of our mild summer. That night it rained and it turned darn chilly. This turn in the weather, and I know that I should not let the weather affect my mood as much as it does, has affected my mood. I really do like sun shine.

The weather compounded with some various ‘stuff’ in my life internal and external is affecting my mood. I know it will pass. I know that whining about it isn’t going to change anything and only concrete action on my part will change things. I also know that I am in charge of my mood. I guess admitting I’m in a bad mood and only I can change it. I am admitting that I’m already tired of politics and want to take a nine week news diet. I’ve even thought about killing my television set and I’m not listening to my usual NPR as much when I drive…thank God for the Boulevard.

I think what has set me off is the mean spiritedness that I’ve personally experienced a little over a week ago when I left a meeting where my hard work on a project was tossed under the bus by a couple people I had viewed as friends and allies on some of the justice issues I often support. Mean spiritedness can come from all perspectives, even those with close viewpoints on some issues.
My own personal pain and working through being tossed under the bus has been compounded with the MEAN SPIRITED rhetoric of recent days in the political arena, which basically leads me to conclude that I REALLY HATE MEANNESS of any type and there is a LOT OF MEANNESS RUNNING RAMPANT THESE DAYS.

So as a person who seeks to follow Jesus Christ and a pastor I find myself realizing that I am not called to counteract the meanness of the day with more meanness, but to be faithful. Faithful to what I believe is true and right. Overcoming meanness with good is harder than it sounds. Trying to find a redeeming quality to lift up and praise in a mean person is difficult, being kind and generous in the face of meanness is nearly impossible sometimes, yet that is exactly what I think overcome evil with good is all about. SO if I seem kind of sullen and quiet these days, it’s because I am struggling with a GOOD to overcome the meanness I see around me. The last thing I want to do in my quest to be faithful to my faith and beliefs is contribute to the meanness around me.

We often wonder how we can impact the world as one person. I have come to realize that I can overcome evil with good with each and every choice and action in my own life with the people I meet each day. That’s my story for today and I’m sticking to it.