Something to Think About

I don't like to read things(blogs, emails, newspaper articles,etc.) where the writer is continually complaining. Now I completely understand when someone needs to get things 'off their chest' or just rant. We are all human and need to express the way we feel instead of bottling it up and holding it inside. That's not healthy. Sometimes writing down our feelings helps to express those emotions in a non-confrontational way and sometimes it's just easier to express things in writing. Even if the blog, email, letter or whatever never gets sent. But when I read an email or blog where the person is constantly complaining, it bothers me. Does that person not ever have anything good in their life to write about? To thank God for? They can't find one blessing in their life?

Another thing~Are people so wrapped up in themselves that they just don't care if they bring someone else down? I think that is one major problem with society these days. People have just stopped caring. They have stopped caring how they treat one another, how their kids treat adults, how strangers don't care to hold the door open for an elderly person or even another person at all, how people in the same families don't care how they treat their family members, how you do someone a favor as letting them in in the driving lane and not a simple wave of the hand to express thanks. Just plain 'ole lack of decency is gone. Plain old values and manners are gone and I'm so baffled by it. We live in the most rich and abundant country yet we treat each other with almost no respect and love. I don't understand parents who tell their kids not to cuss, drink, smoke and disrespect them, but purposely disrespect people in their own lives, cuss, drink and smoke themselves. The kids see it and they learn by what we as adults do, not say.

We have become a society who cares so little for others,except for those in our 'closest circles', and we are so passive about it. Thinking, I'm too busy, or I'm in a hurry, or how will it benefit me? It boils down to selfishness. Not caring about others because it doesn't fit into the mine or me category. Not caring how your actions affect others and how it makes them feel. Whatever happened to Love one another? Why can't we just LOVE one another (and I'm not talking about a hippy, groovy kind of love either)? Simple as that. Even if you think you have been wronged by that person, why is it so hard to show love and forgiveness? Forgiveness doesn't mean you forgive one time, it is a continual process. Isn't that what God does for us? Isn't that why He sent His only Son for us? To die a humiliating and painful death on a cross burdened with sin that wasn't even His own so that we could be forgiven? One of Jesus' most important messages when He walked on this Earth, was to LOVE one another. I don't think it means to love when you feel like it or need something from someone. It means to love without fault. Yes, I admit, it is sooo hard to do sometimes, but why? Selfishness. Loving someone sometimes is not easy, but we should love others in the good times and in the bad.

At the risk of sounding like I am complaining, that is not what I am trying to express here. Just something for all of us to think about, including me.