31/01/2020
The theme of this month could easily be BREAKING NEWS. Day in and day out, we wake up to one sad news after another – and it’s not the stereotypical daily bad news. They’re extreme natural calamities, unbelievable tragedies, and threats to peace.
It’s hard not to be anxious and stressed over the last 30 days. The weight of each disaster that transpired seemed like beyond what we can fathom for just a month.
Australia bush-fire
Iran-US tension
Ukraine plane crash
Philippines Taal Volcano eruption
Turkey earthquake
China’s Novel Coronavirus
Locust swarms in East Africa
Afghanistan plane crash
Lassa fever Outbreak
Kobe Bryant’s tragic death
Add to that our personal battlefields.
So what is January 2020 telling us?
January sends a lot of signals, but one loud message it is telling us also is that no one is spared from wilderness. No one is too big or too small, too rich or too poor, too young or too old to be invincible.
“We may not be invincible but we could be unshakeable.” - Ion Gonzaga
Life’s a fleeting moment. We come ang go and God only knows when. The gravity of unfortunate disasters tells us not to waste our time on something that doesn’t make sense. Be considerate, be compassionate. Love one another. Live with encouragement. Be faithful. Share your blessings. Be humble and live with purpose.
Just do good and be good. You’ll never know when it’s time to go.
These series of events are probably testing the way we respond.
RESET OUR DEFAULT
Many of us are programmed to worry. Just scroll your Facebook feeds and you could say that worry is the default setting for many.
When everyone around us is alarmed or in grief, it is so easy to be swayed in the same emotion. We sympathize, and we also worry.
And when matters get worse, some say, “Now, all we can do is pray.”
Prayer should be our default, not our last resort
The theme of this month could easily be BREAKING NEWS. Day in and day out, we wake up to one sad news after another - and it’s not the stereotypical daily bad news. They’re extreme natural calamities, unbelievable tragedies, and threats to peace.