Between Headlines and Hope
If we're going to endure, overcome, and make the world better, we're going to need to seek out deep wells of hope.
Stuff is going down.
All around us.
All the time.
There is always news breaking.
There are always more alerts.
Headlines are written to make us worry. If we worry, we’ll keep reading. And reading keeps us worrying.
Awareness of what is happening in the world is a good thing. Air Force Colonel John Boyd introduced us to the “OODA Loop,” a decision-making model for navigating scary things that teaches us to 1.) observe, 2.) orient, 3.) decide, and 4.) act.
Or there’s the contrasting PDCA model, which tells us to 1.) plan, 2.) do, 3.) check, and then 4.) act.
The problem is that we’re often overly aware yet underprepared to act.
We collect data on threats all around us, but we run out of energy to address them meaningfully.
In light of all the headlines, we desperately need more hope.
We need imagination to find solutions to the problems that plague us.
We need energy to keep doing things that move the needle toward a measurably better world.
We need community because we can’t possibly fix it all without working together.
We need faith that things actually can improve.
And none of those resources will be discovered in the paralysis we experience when we’re absorbing more headlines.
We have to withdraw long enough to seek deeper wells.
We need to pause, close our eyes, and force the pace to slow.
We need to recall and rehearse what we know to be true about our place in all of it.
We need to remind ourselves of our intrinsic value, our ability to handle more than we thought we could, and our need to rely on the strength of others.
We need to collaborate, dream together, hold each other up, and share the load.
Saint Peter wrote a letter to Christians who were scattered and suffering for their faith under the Roman Empire. As followers of King Jesus, they were motivated to act redemptively in the world, but the list of things to worry about was daunting.
So Peter encouraged them…
If with heart and soul you’re doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you’re still better off.
Don’t give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master.
Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy.
~ 1 Peter 3:13-18 MSG
There will be more headlines tomorrow.
Do you have enough hope on hand to handle them?
There is no well from which to draw so infinitely filled with hope than Christ.
Photo by Austris Augusts on Unsplash.