Life is to be valued daily!

Published on June 21, 2021

As I write this, I am thinking about how many people are in this world that have stress, anxiety, worry, and depression. It is a worsening pandemic that effects more people than any virus ever could. Mental health concerns are VERY very real and have an overall effect on someone that can truly be extremely detrimental to their health and others.

In 2020, almost 1/4 adults in America reported considering killing themselves at one point during the year. That statistic is truly alarming.

There are many reasons that this was higher than usual in 2020 (pandemic, unemployment, political turmoil, etc.) but the scary part is the trend happens to be growing. We cannot solely blame it on the Pandemic and the consequences that came with it. We can probably blame it on a lot of things, but most importantly we can blame it on Isolation, or as we now know it, "social distancing."

The truth is that we continue to be alone more and more as time goes by. We no longer hangout with friends or family, some of us avoided public places and interactions a long time before Covid started. We have lost respect for one another, but maybe most importantly, we lost respect for our God and for ourselves.

We have deemphasized the importance that others hold in our lives, and therefore lost crucial aspects and elements to life we need. As a society, we no longer give extra patience to others, we no longer help others unless we get something back. We talk before we listen to others, and speak before we think. In fact, we are mindless, believing what is told to us by others because we are too lazy to do the research ourselves. This is the problem... We don't put in effort anymore. As a society, everything is given, not earned, everything is expected, not taken as a gift of thankfulness but rather an expectation.

We must change this. As Christ followers, we must go the extra mile, turn the other cheek, and listen and serve others. Even if others wrong us, we must not further the conflict, but seek to end it. We MUST grow out of our old ways and move into our more advanced Christian faith, which calls for serving others and not ourselves. we should not hold grudges, rather we should forgive, even if we don't forget what harmed us. We need to be bigger than a political party, a hateful person, or sinful activity. Only then can we truly consider ourselves Children of God, and only then can we be mentally HEALTHY and spiritually right. By his grace and mercy he has saved us, now we must help others to experience the same.

In closing, I pray that God renews us, energizes us, and blesses us to turn the other cheek and become better people. Forgive us for our sins God, and we trust you to fix any wrongs that we committed in our past lives. Change us from the inside out, light a new flame, and build us a new heart. Give us a new birth, and give us a new breath in our lungs enabling us to work for you better each day. Help us to serve others with a grateful heart. And finally, bless our ministry and our readers of this article. AMEN!