#prayaboutitalready

I don't like to get into politics here much, or at all. I don't think anyone is reading this blog because they want to know who I voted for or what I think about what the Broome County Legislature. As the powers of the world strive and struggle and administer their will over us all, I try always to keep my eyes fixed both up at Jesus and down at the daily ordinariness of breakfasts and spelling tests and laundry, the way the ordinary of the world have always gone on, trying to keep body and soul together as kings and principalities rise and fall.

But of course is really hard to do that day after day. Every week really bad things happen on the national and international stage, and every night I read about them on the internet, and every morning I read about what people think about them on facebook, and in between I sucumb to stress and anger, as probably all of us do. And of course I don't immediately turn to prayer and leave it in the hands of the only one who can do anything about it. I just let it churn over in my mind and heart, because that's what's expected, isn't it?

The hashtag, that's our saying to each other, 'I'm really angry about this or that and you should be too.' If I've hashtaged, then you know that I've had the required emotional repsonse, and I've called you to have it too, and there we are. We've done all we can do.

Except that it feels like hashtagging BringBackOurGirls and JesuisCharlie and, what were the ones last week? is the opposite of the true response we ought to have. Is it really that if I've heard the call to be angry and grieved and experienced those emotions then everything is now going to be fine? Because its not working. At All. And comparing the outrage of one evil over another isn't working either. Yes, more people care that 12 people died in Paris than that 2000 in Nigeria at about the same time. I'm upset about it but does my anger signify anything? Any more than anyone else's? Because neither attack is being met with anything except millions and millions and millions of hashtags.

I'm so weary. I don't have any emotion left. God has to do something. The only thing left is to pray and put all the action and, honestly, all the emotion, in the hands of The Judge of the World. I don't think he cares if we hashtaged it onto twitter and selfied it onto facebook. Did we pray? I probably didn't. And that's incredibly evil. I should pray. All of us should pray. At every inkling of evil and terrorism and injustice and unfair media coverage. We should not grow weary of praying. It may be that God will hear and will do something.

#prayaboutitalready