I don’t know about you, but I’ve found it extremely easy to hate and be angry these days. For one thing, I hate the snow that is still falling so late in the year…I am stinkin’ cold and miss my flip flops. I hate wearing this dang face mask when I have a brand new lip gloss that I want to try. I hate blue cheese crumbles in my salad…because…well…nasty!
I hate watching the nightly news. My heart sinks with every fresh story regarding Law Enforcement. I flat out hate the media and how they generalize police officers to create their own agendas. I hate the anti-police rhetoric I see all over the internet. I hate the social media trolls and every comment made by them.
My hardened heart has made it easier to unfriend people on social media, as well as in real life this past year, more than ever before. My emotional tolerance levels are certainly low for what I can seem to handle. A person makes one wrong move and I’d rather be done with them than even try to talk out any differences. (Don’t get me wrong. Removing toxic people from your life can be a good thing…but that’s a whole other conversation entirely.)
In light of feeling the need to fiercely stand up for our LEOs, it may be a good idea to take a step back every so often to examine our own hearts and minds. God created our hearts to be directly connected to our thoughts, and if I look at myself honestly…I have to confess that my thoughts have been nothing but angry half of the time and worrisome for the other half! My angry heart doesn’t help my LEO when he’s headed off for a shift. My worried mind has never helped me with even taking the garbage out! We can not let the crazy world around us that seems to be spinning out of control, harden us to the point of where we lose ourselves and who we want to become and are meant to be.
All those years ago, my LEO didn’t choose this career because he was angry or outraged with politicians. It didn’t matter who the president was or what the headlines in the news were at that time (I think the light bulb had just been invented). He simply wanted to be the good guy catching bad guys. He wanted to make a difference when he could in our community. He wanted to be a role model for the sons we hadn’t yet had, and quite simply…he wanted to be the one to help people in crisis when they needed it most.
There is plenty going on in current events to be outraged about, I get that for sure. Please know that I’m not saying to let our guard down at all. Far from it. We need to continue to stand strong by our LEOs. Encourage them, pray for them, and when they need it, be the voice that reminds them why they started wearing the badge every day. Recent events have just clearly shown that there are more than enough people on this planet filled with hate and I know that I don’t want to be one of them. Cling to the promise that God wants good things for us and protect your hearts. He never said that this life would be easy, but He did promise to walk beside us through it.
Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
l Sandee l