FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE

from villages in the Amazon,& Ghana, 

 to the bumpin city life of Capetown, London, & NYC

to the suburbs of Jersey & the farmlands of Lancaster
I've been to them & all and have observed this truth;

Humanity is fighting. for. their. life.

The tendency is to say;

 " Look at how much we have in The States we are so jaded  & ungrateful lets go serve in Zimbabwe"

( or fill in the blank with whatever impoverished nation of your liking).

Whats crushing is 

while people are indeed fighting for the most basic life necessities 

in several  nations (including this one) 

and please don't misunderstand me those necessities are indeed crucial 

 there are people in our lives who are fighting to face each day.

It is universal.

It breaks through all socioeconomic & cultural backgrounds alike.

No matter where they come from or what they have,

Humanity is struggling to feel like they can go on.

and all too often we don't even see it.

It is MORE than fine to cry yourself to sleep after a hard day,

to be frustrated or annoyed,

to wonder when can I start living the dream,

or to not quite have figured out how to start doing what we love.

Those are all important steps as we try to make sense of our person, 

& discovering where we see ourselves thriving.

We've all been there its healthy, necessary, & beneficial for growth.

But this is not why I'm writing  this post.

Today I write because 

my heart is SO heavy

 for so many

 who feel hopeless and pointless

for the beautiful people I've seen reach an all time low

for the time I've spent crying & praying for those who just want to give up.

The truth is; to one extent or another we're all fed with little lies that whisper

failure

replaceable

annoying

boring

unsuccessful

unimportant

etc.

The devil is a liar & likes to see us self destruct and buy that garbage.

IT INFURIATES ME.

When people make genuinely make  fun of others,

IT INFURIATES ME

when people disrespect others 

IT INFURIATES ME

when people ignore people

IT INFURIATES ME

when people act like they're better than others

IT INFURIATES ME

...because humanity is already fighting for their life, 

there is no need for adding to that pain. 

I'm embarrassed to say I don't always notice when people are struggling.

Partially its my oblivion...

but Greg is the most observant man I know & when he doesn't see it

I know it's partially because people guise up their lives pretty well..

The other day Greg & I went to Lititz Spring Park & loved it,

our dog went BUCK and wanted to run after the hundreds of ducks and baby ducklings,

we walked around for a bit peeping at the various artists proudly displaying their art,

 had some delicious chocolate,

& then we saw a bench.

Painted on this bench was the quote

" Be Kind; EVERYONE you meet is fighting a hard battle".

EVERYONE.

not just the impoverished.

not just the famous.

not just the non christians

not just the people overseas

EVERYONE

this is a call to be kind

extraordinarily kind

to go out of your comfort zone 

& SAY to someone they matter

or INVITE SOMEONE OVER

or WRITE A LETTER
or MAKE SOMEONE DINNER

or PRAY FOR SOMEONE

or LET THE WAITER KNOW YOU APPRECIATE THEM.

do whatever it takes to demonstrate love for others in this life, 

even if it makes you look like a fool

even if it means standing up to the mean person

 or showing love to the mean person

None of us have the eyes of Christ who sees all and knows all

we can only beat ourselves up so much for not knowing someone was struggling

but what WE CAN DO is step our game up.

We can practice speaking life to others so frequently that it begins to pour out as naturally & powerfully as PA thunderstorms in the summer.

Please focus on intentionally adding joy & life to one person you come across.

*commit* to loving them

This life we are given is beautiful , good ,& hard.

nobody even for a moment needs to believe they're at it alone.

We don't need to cave into the dog eat dog world that society insists on, because more dog's make life more fun !

Humanity is fighting for their life

won't you join Christ

& join me 

in shouting 

in TANGIBLE ways

to whomever crosses your path

that they are not alone

that speaking + showing love is louder than lies,

& that life is worth fighting for.