The world seems to be on a rush to nowhere!

 As start the countdown for the end of the year there never seem enough hours in the day to complete all that we need to do. Added to this we are present tensions at home through floods, rising interest rates, and homelessness along with the pressing issues on the global stage of the conflicts in Ukraine, Yemen, Congo, Sudan, and Myanmar. We also notice how these issues relate to the security of food and resources among poorer nations along with the calls for freedom in Iran, North Korea, Nicaragua, and Taiwan including the strains placed on our democratic systems. There can be a temptation at these times to believe the world is coming apart at the seams. When we see many things that we have taken for granted being challenged it is tempting to become subsumed by our fears and be led astray by people who predict death and disaster.

Yet this is the very time when we need sober minds and loving hearts. It is all too easy to believe that our lives are on the road to nowhere but this is not what Jesus says. He talks about the importance of endurance and the ability to trust our lives to him. This calls upon us as Paul says to the Thessalonians to go on quietly working and earning the food that we eat. It is this quiet persistence that bears witness to our inner worth we do not see our lives as a burden but as a gift. It is from this gift that we see our lives as bearing that gift to others and sharing in the goodness of creation.

In many ways, it is all too easy to explore the destructive and antagonistic movements of our hearts. It can seem that so many negative images about the meaning or the absence of meaning can seem to besiege us with specters of armageddon. These can lead us into a sense of fatalism or worse superstition that there is nothing we can do to change the world for the better. Yet in the midst of the most serious crises people have sought to restore and renew a spirit of hope in what builds up our care for creation and each other. If we see all things as a gift then we seek to discover how we can share this good news with others.