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Push back

It's always right there, just around the corner, at your fingertips. A simple tap or click opens it up, and it's ready to swallow you up.

Push it back—those floodgates bursting with everything evil and ugly. Push back the paralysis and the despair.

We feel a strange obligation towards the despair. We call it being connected, being in-the-know. We faithfully wring our hands at each calamity, scattering broken hearts and crying faces before scrolling past.

And then—we're left more disconnected than ever. Emptier than ever. More confused than ever. It's a strange reality that pelts us with images without context. Small, ugly pieces of a larger picture we cannot see.

And so, we see the pain, but not the Plan. We see suffering and destruction, but not Mercy, not Love, not Wisdom. We are so focused on the hideous pieces that we forget to look beyond them.

Don't be the ostrich; no. But why seek out what will cause you despair? Why jump into a place with no air and then wonder why you're suffocating? Why jump into quicksand and wonder why you can't move?

Push back, and leave it alone. Turn your back to the black hole. To the whispers, the fears, the bottomless sorrow.

Instead of clicking and scrolling—pray, supplicate, read, grow. Strengthen yourself and those closest to you. Say what matters, and do what matters. Say and do what inspires, what uplifts.

Above all, trust in the One who allows it all to happen. Know that when you forget, He does not.

(February 2019)

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