Faith in Humanity

So, I tend to be pretty negative and cynical. Some would call it realism, regardless of what title you give it, it is not very cheerful. However, about 4 years ago I started to really focus on being more positive about all circumstances. The phrase I used was and is "but on the positive side...". Now at first I really struggled to remember to say it but I persevered and discovered that it has stopped being a phrase I have to remember but has simply become part of my regular speech pattern.

Despite it being a part of my regular speech pattern I still often think of the negative first and the positive second so I guess we know what my next step is in becoming more positive. However, even though I think of the negative first I am often so impressed by the every day goodness of people.

As I watch people come together to support families with illness or death, or see support that comes so freely for people in need I am so impressed with the sight of basic goodness in people. I know many who subscribe to the beliefs of William Goulding in the Lord of the Flies, that we will all descend into anarchy without guidance, yet often I think that while we are all depraved there is hope for us as long as the love of God is around in the world. Goulding did not really take that into aspect of the world into his book.

So, on the positive side, God is still at work in the world and he shows it in many ways. Lets all allow ourselves to be impressed by the goodness of humanity, and have renewed faith in humanity this week to try and erase some of the negativity that's kicking around.

Being a redhead

To be clear I am writing the below post strictly from my own opinion and point of view.

I read a newspaper article recently about...redheaded bullying. As I had no idea that this existed and am a natural redhead I was quite curious as to the nature of this article. It turns out that the article was honestly about people being bullied due to the colour of their hair. In all honesty, I'm not sure that this supposed bullying is any different than the other stereotyping of hair colour types but because redheads or "gingers" are so much more rare it has been allowed to be brought to our attention above and beyond the other colours. For that matter, the fact that this is an issue when there are other more concerning mistreatment issues in our world is an issue for me. Lets stop identifying types of bullying and just stop bullying in general.

I'm a redhead and yeah, I've been made fun of it for it but ya know...I bet most people who have just about any colour of hair have had jokes made at their expense too or any other appearance based issue and a bunch of other reasons too. Instead of retaliating I just move on (although the comments about having no soul because of being a redhead stung a bit) and laugh it off. It doesn't matter what colour my hair is or that I have glasses or am short. All that matters is that I am who God made me and I can roll with that. I don't mind being teased too much for being fiery like redheads are supposed to be but I hope that no one ever means it to hurt me or others but if they do...well I'll go with Matthew 5:38-42 and just maybe we'll have to stop saying we're attacking for any reason but sin in our world and can get on with no longer attacking.

Seems a bit silly to write on something like this but I just keep thinking about that article.

New Years Resolutions

So, New Years resolutions are a big thing of course. Loads of people still make them, although, I bet a lot of people deny that they make them. I have made resolutions in the past and will probably do so again. I didn't make any firm resolutions this year although always in the back of my head is that this will be the year that I finally successfully manage to make the change to a healthy lifestyle. The only thing I really want to do though is to be a faithful follower of Christ and live out his call on my life in ways that are pleasing to him.

It's not much in some ways but it's everything in others. It also isn't a New Years resolution for me but is something that I try to do every single day. However, it wouldn't hurt if I was finally successful at eating better and exercised more regularly. But if I'm only going to succeed at one of those...well you know which one.

Are you willing to admit to making a New Years resolution?