Things may not be going well in the world, but they’re going well with me.

How can you say that???!!!  There’s so much to worry about! So many things messed up! People doing wrong, government and politics are out of control!!! How can things go well with me?

Sounds crazy, but I don’t live all over the world. I don’t even live all over my country. I live in one small community. That’s all I can deal with and manage by myself. If I am doing all I can within my capabilities and responsibilities, that’s it! That’s all I need to do and ‘worry about’. Yes, I am deeply concerned about events happening around me and the impact on me and mine, but I can only do and control what I can do and control. The rest I leave to God and pray about it all.

The alternative is to live inside the newsbox, worrying, fretting, afraid, suspicious, critical and unable to concentrate and produce what I need to make and do to make my portion of the world a better place! Can you hear me?! (I have had to talk to myself this way often!)

We have got to keep ourselves moving forward so things go well in our area of responsibility. We cannot lose steam and energy stopping to listen and ponder the next bad thing that happened. It’s not being cruel or thoughtless. It’s maintaining our own well-being. Our minds and bodies are not designed to shoulder the events of the entire world. We don’t live there. We are here and here is where we need to focus our energy to improve, protect and grow.

I can maintain peace in the storms of life through tending to my affairs and helping my neighbors. If we each help and watch out for one another, then our portion of the world will be better and hopefully spread to and encourage our neighboring ‘portions of the world’. But yes, it begins with us.

It is personal responsibility. I am a person. I am going to be responsible. It may be hard and seem out of my comfort zone, but so what! It is my life, my family, my community.

Let’s take care of ourselves and not leave it to another who might not do as good a job!