good words, good thoughts, good deeds

it is not what enters a mouth that defiles the man, it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles him

- jesus

we cannot find peace in a war of words.

we cannot find community in a stream of bullets.

hate begats hate.

kindness begats kindness.








one of the most disturbing articles i've read lately is one about the people who monitor facebook. the hate-filled speech and images they see every day all day give many symptoms of ptsd. 

perhaps even more disturbing is how it changes their thinking.

many come to be holocaust deniers, unbelievers in 911, believers in parkland survivors being manipulated socialists.

research has been clear.

what we tell ourselves is what we come to believe.

if we believe we are bad, we become bad.

if we believe we are good, we become good.

i believe the same is true for what we feed ourselves about others.

i have truly mixed feeling about social media. like any tool, it can be used for good or bad. what is the problem is the mob mentality. in a mob, no one feels responsible for the actions of the mob... again, proven over and over by scientific research.

it's the anonymity. a crowd of many is faceless.

with unidentifiable name posts, you can say anything. you can reach into the darkest part of yourself to give expression to something for which you never have to take responsibility.

this is who we've become.

it doesn't have to be. we don't have to live in fear. we don't have to give our children this kind of legacy.

if we fill our mind with goodness, if we exhibit only kindness, if the words that leave our mouth are words of encouragement, we can change the world for the better.

we can be the peacemakers jesus called us to be.

i debated on whether to give up facebook for lent. it's been such a hard year, and i know that the negative posts have discouraged me more than i can say.

but i have chosen something different. i have chosen to spread all the good i can find. i have chosen not to respond to either those i agree with or those i don't.

i am choosing to be guided by the light in a very dark place.