New Year, New World

"For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world." --[1 John 5:4].


Another New Year is here. Everywhere, I am bombarded with Year In Review reports on television, on the Internet, on social media. We seem to be obsessively cataloguing our losses-- the amazing people who died this year; the stresses on the world economy; the global violence and conflicts.

Honestly, all this Loss Review makes me depressed. On New Year's Eve, I just want to go to bed at my regular hour and pretend it is just another day. On New Year's Day, I just want to stay in bed with the blankets over my head, because I feel like I cannot face the world - or my new day.

New Year's makes me feel guilty. And why? Because I was not able to brilliantly transform myself into perfection, according to some impossible standards? Because I do a mental global survey, and I find that the world is in worse shape than a year ago?

I am not alone in my global assessment. In a WSJ article, Nov. 14, 2012, Bret Stephens writes, "The U.S. finds itself today in a post-Cold War global order under immense strain, even in partial collapse. Four Arab States have unraveled since 2011. The European Union stumbles from recession to recession, with each downturn calling into question the future of the common currency and even the union itself. In Asia, China has proved to be, by turns, assertive, reckless, and insecure. Russia seeks to dominate its neighbors through local proxies, dirty tricks, and even outright conquest. North Korea's nuclear arsenal and Iran's effort to develop one tempt their neighbors to start nuclear programs of their own. And, even as he core of al Qaeda fades in importance, its jihadist offshoots, including Islamic State, are metastasizing elsewhere. The old guarantees of the post-war Pax Americana no longer seem as secure as they once were."

Thin about it-- when was the last time that America won a war, without destroying the entire country it invaded? [Former General Colin Powell famously warned, "If you break Iraq, you own it." Not getting anywhere with this line of thinking, he retired.]

Then, there is global warming. Science? Or Science Fiction? I don't know, but those videos of whole sheets of glaciers tumbling into the ocean totally terrifies me!

The oil market has collapsed, the ruble has collapsed. Young people are not, not ---- going to church; buying cars; marrying; buying houses; having children.

No doubt, we are undergoing a world transformation. The deacon, who teaches my New Testament class at Biblical School, discussed this recently. He said that we are undergoing a huge shift in the world order. The old paradigm does not work any longer.

There is always pain and suffering when that happens. Consider the Crucifixion of Christ. Unimaginable pain, but out of that, a new age of unimaginable Hope. As a Christian, I am fully aware of how difficult and even painful life is.  But IF I do not believe in a God who works always to our ultimate benefit, then is life even worth it? Certainly, without God, our life here on earth is unexplainable, unbearable.

I guess what I am looking for is to control the Peace and Love in my own life. Mother Teresa said that Peace begins at home. If I am not in harmony with my loved ones in my own home, how do I dare criticize all the hate and violence out in the larger world?

I imagine sitting at my computer, zooming in on Google Earth. I zoom all the way in, to my home. I try to make peace there. Then, I zoom out to my neighborhood, to my town, to my region, to my State, to my country. To my world. How large a sphere of influence can I create?

You have heard of the phrase "zero carbon footprint"?  Well, I am looking to create a Zero Harm Footprint. As St. Paul says, " Love does no harm to a neighbor." -- Romans 13:10. "Do not repay evil with evil." - Romans 12:17. "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." -Romans 12:21.

Even better than that, I want to contribute to the good in the world. Yet, I sometimes fear that all of my small efforts will not add up to a thimble-full of Hope, in an ocean of evil.

But, then there is the "Broken Window" theory, explored in a study based on the experiments of psychologist Philip Zimbardo. In an article in Atlantic Monthly, authors George Kelling and James Q. Wilson conclude, "One un-repaired window [in an otherwise well-kept neighborhood] is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing."

NOW, I want to fix all the little hurts in my path, to repair the "broken windows" in my line of sight. The world simply cannot believe that no one cares-- Or, we really have lost everything.

"When something happens to upset you and you are discouraged, try to feel that life's difficulties and troubles are not intended to arrest your progress in the spiritual life, but to test your strength and to increase your determination to keep going. What ever it is that must be met, you are either to overcome it, or use it. God's strength will always be there, waiting for you to use it." --Author
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