"What's that got to do with the price of tea in China?"
What a week, huh? We started by bitching about the justice system that handed down two high profile decisions lately which taken together make no sense at all. We covered a lot of ground, asserting that justice isn't really the issue anyway.
Mercy is the catalyst for good in the world. Mercy presumes forgiveness, a deferment of justice that is justified by the impact of compassion which mercy manifests in us to a world that deserves justice.
And the intended impact of this mercy driven compassion is transformed thinking, belief systems, and lives. Transformed into the image of perfection, into people capable and competent to love.
And the result of this love is Shalom, or Perfect Peace, which is a state of being in which a person, an organization, an entire community, a nation and the whole human race carries on the activities of life in complete harmony with themselves, each other and God who instigated mercy in the first place.
Living in this state is as simple as Col 3:12-14, and is so difficult that the vast majority of humans will never touch it or know that it is possible. Those who are able to embrace it are called 'God's Elect'.
And now we have just one thing to add, which at first glance seems to be unrelated to anything else in the discussion so far. It is the last three words of Col 3:14. "...and be thankful."
In fact, this happens many times in the bible. Paul or someone else is discussing some concept, be it mercy, prayer, overcoming persecution, dealing with tragedy or loss, or some other concept, and out of the blue there's a tag in the discussion about thankfulness. "...and be thankful", "...with thanksgiving", etc.
Thankfulness is good medicine. Our minds tend to dwell on the ugly things of life, our own shortcomings, what we lack, the bad things we have to endure, the state of society, political scandal, monetary and economic crisis, etc. These things are important, and shouldn't be easily dismissed.
But all of the negative things in life happen in the context of good things. We just don't notice or respect the good things. A bias toward thankfulness helps counteract that in powerful ways.
In the short time I've been writing my journal online, I have noticed a bias toward looking for good things to write about. I don't want my blog to be just another whine and cheese party. I want to talk about good things, encouraging things, things that make life better, and build people up.
If we approach life looking for things to be thankful for, our days are better. It's just a fact. This mindset makes every complicated, deep subject easier to internalize and apply. It's good food for the soul, and good advice in Col 3:14, Phil 4:4-8 and a hundred other places.
So,
In that context, Thank You for reading my blog. It keeps me engaged and motivated to know that someone else in the world is taking time to at least entertain my point of view, even if you laugh at me later.
Today is only the 18th of the month, and for some reason the number of page hits on my blog has already exceeded the previous high for any other month. Honestly, it's still not very many. And I don't need very many. I just need you, and appreciate your taking the time to digest my musings. Again, Thank You.