I wonder if a society so accustomed to instant gratification, to i-everything, addicted to social media status updates and apps that make everything easier really has the heart to seek peace. Really seek peace.
The optimist in me hopes so. The daughter of God and believer in the good inside of each of us hopes so. The me who knows, beyond a shadow of a doubt that love overcomes hate and EVERY evil, believes we of the microwave society can do what needs to be done to heal division, work for peace, and see change happen in our communities and cities and states and nation and world.
But will we?
Have we become so accustomed to getting things quickly that we’ve forgotten that the BEST things always require hard work?
Is a generation more comfortable talking to each other through devices and keypads willing to put the devices down and look another person in the eye and see beyond the stereotypes and into the heart?
Are we who are too accustomed to “click bait” willing to do some research into organizations that are
- on the front lines of social justice
- or working on the opportunity gap
- or feeding the poor
- or healing the sick
- or ministering to those whose lives are wrecked in ways that would make most us ridiculously uncomfortable to truly consider?
Is our celebrity-obsessed culture ready to stop “following” over paid athletes and actors and start following God? Could stop feeding on outrage and punditry, and could we start feeding on the Gospel?
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest commandment.
And the second is like it:
Love your neighbor as yourself.
There is not a small part of me that thinks our societal addiction to media and self-absorption ~ in all the ways it manifests ~ is powerful fertilizer for the rage and hate and distrust and anger and bitterness that seems to be sprouting up in so many places.
We are made for connection. We’re made to be in relationship with each other. But I fear we’ve substituted “Click to like” digital connection for heart connections, social media sympathy for tear-stained, hand-holding empathy.
Peace isn’t a noun. It’s a verb. We must MAKE PEACE happen and the place we can start is within ourselves, then our families, then our neighborhoods….then our world.
And we must know that this is a life’s work — and we must commit to it.