I couldn’t change what was going on outside, but I could change his view.
Last weekend, I was up before my teens and having some much needed quiet time at the kitchen table, with a cup of coffee, my laptop and my Bible. Silence is a rare thing for me these days and I was basking in it.
Then, the dogs started barking. They ran to the window in the dining room and barked to the top of their lungs. I kept shushing them, but they kept barking. There was someone walking another dog in the cul-de-sac and they were upset and stressed and no amount of shushing them would make them stop.
Have I mentioned that they aren’t the most obedient dogs on the planet?
Exasperated, I finally pulled the curtains closed, so they couldn’t see out. It worked like a charm. Immediately, all barking ceased and my peace and quiet were restored.
It was really kind of amazing. Covering up what was agitating them, was all that it took.
I thought about the resulting peace from my action over the next few days. I couldn’t remove what was going on outside of my house, but I could limit their vision of it.
What other things would have the same results?
Well, for one thing, there’s social media. Depending on who you follow and the pages you like, your news feed may be full of inspirational quotes or it may be full of political rants. If social media stresses you out our makes you angry, or makes you feel badly about your imperfect life, stay off of it. Life will go on, and quite likely, more peacefully.
Then of course, there’s the news, this election cycle is a hot mess to say the least. There’s been nothing that’s ladylike or gentlemanly like about it. Sure, we need to stay informed, but reading through the headlines in the evening before bed will probably suffice. If we all refused to watch all of the mudslinging, it may even get better.
But, here’s the bottom line, we can’t change it at the moment. The election is not until November. Is watching the daily negativity helping us in any way? If it’s causing stress and anger, we can simply turn it off, pull the curtains, like I did with my dogs.
As I continued to think about it, there are many things in daily life we could choose to block out, things ranging from office gossip to squabbles among friends.
In each situation, we could ask ourselves if participating or watching can better ourselves in any way? Will it cause us stress? Will it draw us closer to God?
If the answer is no, then perhaps, we should pray about it because that always works. We can give it to God on a spiritual level, but physically, we can just close the curtains and block it out. We can’t always change what’s going on, but we can change how we view it.
We might find ourselves living with a little more peace.
My barking dogs reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂