I think that I am an “either/or” kind of gal. I’m either all in or I’m out.  I’m either for something or against it.  There is right and there is wrong, in my book.  And though this sounds as if I am without compassion or empathy, that would be wrong.  I am also all about grace.  I believe in seeing the best in people.  This is just how I govern my life.

The problem is, the world is not so easily defined.  There is good and there is bad in just about anything and everyone.  Taken to extremes, everything reaches a saturation point.   Breakdowns happen. 

There is plenty these days that feels like we are being forced to pick a side.  We are guilted, even.  Caused to be painted into a corner, to be marked by some symbol, some identifying trait that would have us thrown on one side of an issue or the other.  

Sadly, there is no middle ground here.  There are no rules.  It’s truly either/or.  And the world is on fire.

You wonder, don’t you? What is God thinking about us right now?  He’s watching, seeing the unraveling, witnessing our “free will” be doled out in heaps of hate and fear and raw emotions that are channeled into ways we hardly recognize.  

Where are the rules?  Where is the grace?  Where is the love?

I was talking with some friends of mine the other day, trying to come to grips with all of what we are now living through.  And we came to the conclusion that it’s a heart issue, not a skin issue.  

Everything in life comes from the heart.  Everything.  It’s when when we dilute our thinking with exceptions, when we make what is unacceptable “acceptable because….,” when we essentially play God, we are headed for trouble.

And here we are in Troubleville.

The forces of evil, invisible powers that stir and instigate and channel behaviors, that would cause us to find the exceptions in every rule of good, all have a purpose.  

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy

I have come that they may have life,

and have it to the full

John 10:10

The condition of our hearts is what governs the patterns of our life.  If we are open and loving and kind, if we seek Him in all our ways, then what comes out of us, will be a reflection of Him within us.  We won’t  be influenced by darkness, by what is not right or kind or good.  We will walk out our love in action.

I know it sounds simple, right?  Everyone just gathering together and singing Kumbaya, and everything just comes out hunky dory… We know that’s not how it works, as much as we would like it to.

So what do we do?  How do we reconcile — not just the terrible things that are happening around us — but the other things, the burdens, the hurts, the circumstances that were not of our making.  How do we keep going when it feels like our world is unraveling faster than we can handle?

We pray.  We stand.  We believe that God is in control, despite what it looks like right now.  

Submit yourselves, then, to God. 

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

James 4:7

There are powerful forces at work in our land. They are fighting to divide us, to harden us, to destroy us.  The personification of evil is being played out right before us. It is gut wrenching to witness lives being ruined and torn apart and taken over as if by mind-control.  Oh, how the enemy is having a field day.

I offer here the only thing I know for sure.   

God always wins.  Truth always prevails.  And though it is hard to believe that good will come from times such as these, it will.  It will.  It will.

It all starts with the heart.  Guard it and keep love flowing from it.  

Love triumphs over hate.  Good triumphs over evil.

God still reigns.

His is the only side that matters.