What in the world is going on?

As I walked down our long driveway to get the newspaper this morning, I thought, “I wonder what is happening in the world today?” With steep stock market declines, bank failures, shrinking GDPs around the world, war in the Far East, and other calamities facing humanity, a major headline of distress seems to hit the headlines about everyday.

Rather than anticipating a new disaster to mull over, I quickly reversed the curious thought and declared, “I know exactly what is happening in the world today! God is in control supplying solutions, providing answers, solving problems and restoring health to troubled nations and peoples around the globe.

It felt so much better to affirm the positive than to stay burdened by the negative.

The human mind lives out what it perceives to be reality. Whether justified or not, if individual thought is embroiled in fear of lack, worry about loss, and fascination with every proclamation of doom broadcast over the media, it is likely to be overwhelmed by a sense of lack, loss and doom. It could start living out those dark impressions of mortal mind, and this is not necessary.

God is an ever-present help in any time of trouble. Christ is always at work in human consciousness supplying wisdom, insight, guidance and direction that enables one to overcome struggle and demonstrate success.

The purpose of prayer is to open thought to Christ’s presence and let God’s help be revealed.

However, if we let mortal mind capture our attention with prophecies of doom and gloom, we aren’t listening to God. We are not praying. Mental absorption into negative news takes thought into a foreign land of loneliness, despair and discouragement. It is not a helpful perspective to hold on to. It’s destructive mesmerism, and it needs to be reversed with conscientious and meaningful prayer.

So, as I meandered down the rest of the driveway to the paper box, I decided not to wait until I read the headlines to decide what was happening in the world today. I was not looking forward to reading more depressing news. I was going to know ahead of time what was spiritually true about the world I lived in before I read the paper!

This type of positive expectancy felt so much better…

What do you expect to find in the world today?