Focus on Love

The following was posted on Facebook by Women’s TEA TIME :

"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there--fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge--they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaking suspicion...love actually is all around. Love actually."

‘Mean is just so much LOUDER than kindness’ that it distracts us, causing us to focus on that which is not lovely or loving.

Seems that when you distill it all down, this is what all the ‘positive’ pics and encouraging words are trying to say--the bottom line so to speak. It’s about focus. What if more people consistently focused on ‘whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are right, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report’?

What if the population stopped rewarding the news media for the sensationalism and the media’s focus on the horror stories, all in the name of keeping us informed, of course? Is it possible to stay informed without focusing on the negative, nasty stuff? Things being what they are, I kind of doubt it, but I can wish, can’t I?

Maybe that is why so many cling to and defend the Christmas holiday, because for a little while they can pretend that everything is okay, or at least could be okay, for a little while. They can take a short break from the over-abundance of ugliness in the world and focus for a bit on the good things like kindness. Maybe that little bit of relief is sufficient to counter the overwhelming stress of the previous year and give us hope that next year will be better. Illusions can be very powerful, especially when they engender hope. Hope is a very powerful thing. But to get to that place of hope in our minds, we have to first change our focus. And so we come back to the beginning--focus. What will we choose to focus on?

Finally, my brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are right, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue and if there is any praise, think on these things. - Philippians 4:8