Yet another tragic and senseless mass shooting is in the news. This time, in Texas. According to NPR, there have been 27 school shootings this year. There have been many more mass shootings in general.
And then there’s the war in Ukraine.
There are the people who have died from COVID.
There are of course all the problems with our economy.
And let’s not forget the polarization in our society in general.
There are a lot of problems.
It can get downright stressful and exhausting to follow the news. And it can get stressful to know how we should process the news and what our response should be.
Unfortunately, there are those in our society who condemn any expression of “thoughts and prayers.” I want to make some allowance for understandable grief and outrage, but let’s not kid ourselves into feeling that THINKING or PRAYING are somehow bad things.
We need MORE thinking (critical thinking, that is) and praying in our country. Not less.
And we need what Paul writes about in I Corinthians 13.
We need faith. We need hope. And we need love.
Oh, we especially need love!
Fred Rogers (aka Mr. Rogers) once said: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
The helpers represent the best of who we are, and they represent that virtue of love that we so desperately need more of today.
I do believe that we, as a society (along with thinking things through and praying things through) should talk about gun legislation. I also believe we should talk about mental health. Personally, I think all appropriate topics, issues, and angles should be on the table.
I’m interested in solutions, not finger-pointing, tribalism, virtue-signaling, or more polarization.
But… in our quest for answers… may I suggest that these three virtues should be at the center of our minds?
Without faith, hope, and love…. No laws on the books will make any difference.
Without faith, hope, and love…. We are finished as a society.
So, let’s have the necessary conversations about policies and procedures, but let’s also increase our faith in God, draw our hope from Him, and love Him and one another as He commands.
We need faith, hope, and love — especially love.
Let that begin with you and me.
