each of its progeny is slightly different, but it is easy to identify the 'mom and dad' by watching each child...
- Stress - yep, we had stress before CNN opened the flood gates of instant and constant information 29 years ago... but this new 'information overload' stress is like our dad's brand of stress on steroids!
- Anxiety - twin sister to stress, this wench is a very cruel one indeed... she feeds off of feeding a steady diet of 'worst possible scenario' and 'most dire outcome' to the unsuspecting, causing people to bite and tear at each other and themselves. While people today are not taking swan dives out of tall buildings in droves, this insidious interloper is destroying lives with the constancy of a clock
- Worry - evil brother to stress and anxiety, this guy's shtick is enticing us to play the negative 'what if' game. He lures you into borrowing trouble from the future (Matt 6:34), his influence is so thoroughly pervasive, most of his victims completely forget about today
- Fear - the antithesis of faith, this favorite son is determined to steal your joy and make you afraid. and he is very very good at it.
- Doubt - this is the quiet loner of the brood. Not very close to his siblings, he simply whispers things in your ear that cause you to wonder... and not in a good way. Perhaps this 'son of the cycle' is the most evil of all, because he wears clever disguises like intelligence... and knowledge... and sage wisdom... his masks are limitless, and he is a master at boiling frogs.
do you know these horrible siblings, these children of Beelzebub? Do you believe you are improving yourself by 'knowing' everything that's going on? Are you tuned in, plugged in, wired up? ...or should I say 'wirelessly connected'?
do you get your emails on your blackberry? Can you text one-handed on that IPhone? are you Twittering every other minute? is Facebook your homepage? are you watching 3 different news channels all the time? Is there ANYTHING you are not aware of?
and.....are you deceiving yourself into thinking this is all... somehow... healthy?
really?
I am torn.
On one hand I feel the need to know... otherwise, how can I be a true roaring lamb? I need to know what bills are before congress and what law the president is about to sign... I need to know what the stock market is doing, right? I need to know how to pray and what to pray for...
on the other hand (and this hand, frankly, is becoming my more dominant hand), I want to know nothing... except that God is in control. I want to know that He has a plan that neither Obama nor Bush nor Pelosi nor any other political figure or powermonger will contravene... I want to know that if I show Jesus to the people I meet every day, that's my mission.
and to do that mission, I am beginning to believe that I need to place as much distance between me and this horrible 'family' described above as humanly possible.
how 'bout you?
1 comment:
Amen! We might miss a few things worth our time, but a person can get addicted to hearing all the woes of the world (and repeating them), when God could use our time to His advantage, if we would just quit watching, listening, or chatting long enough to pay attention to Him!
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