I have been podcasting a lot about how tears help me notice stuff I may have otherwise skipped over. My personal challenge to tap into tears has taken me to some interesting places. In this blog post I’m tapping into some recent tears that poured down my face while I read stories online.
Out of the Closet
This is also a coming-out-of-the-closet post too. Rarely do I publicly mention anything about politics or world events; however, recent tears, prayers, and hashtags for peace have moved me to confess I’m a closet political-junkie. I’m not glued to the nightly news, or to Twitter, as much as I used to be; nonetheless, I get just as passionate as ever when I perceive injustices towards ordinary people anywhere in the world.
Twitter is as volatile as politics is. There’s ugly stuff and beautiful stuff posted on it. What I do love about Twitter is the chance to literally listen in on current events as they unfold. With the aid of hashtags, ordinary people, brave journalists, and heroic demonstrators alert us to see what’s happening in faraway places.
Beauty (My One-Word for 2020)
Bold and beautiful was an old, Iranian woman who cried out in front of armed soldiers—she risked all to beg for a better world for her offspring.
This made me cry.
I cried as I watched demonstrators voice their desire for change—for freedom. While Western governments pretty much allow freedom of speech, there are other places where people are killed for speaking against policies the populace abhors.
I cried because people are scared, people are suffering, and people are persecuted for raising their voices.
And Then I Prayed
And then I prayed. I prayed for peace. For freedom. And for the Lord’s intervention to protect people from ungodly rulers.
Tears, prayers, and hashtags for peace remind us in the West of how much we have to be grateful for. The need others have for freedom must be echoed in our prayers, because many don’t have a safe space to crave, cry, and call out from.
Good Neighbors are Peacekeepers
We must pray for our neighbors—whomever they happen to be. And it just so happens the whole planet is our neighborhood now. The recent death of fellow Canadians, and other world citizens, whose plane was reportedly “accidentally” shot down by Iran is evidence of how closely linked our lives have become. I don’t know the details behind the attack, but I do know we all need to start living like we’re peacekeepers of our sisters and brothers.
Wisdom Wins
Blessings as we pray for those who mourn, pray for those who cry out for justice, and pray for those who are desperate for freedom. And bonus blessings as we pray for world leaders to lead wisely. Because as it says in Ecclesiastes 9:18 NIV:
Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.
And now I’d like to close with a poem.
Pray for the people
Who aren’t sheltered by love
Pray they receive justice
And power to rise above
Pray for the people
Who simply wish to live
At peace with their neighbors
So hope prevails within.
~ wlm
I’m nosy-to-know what current event has caused you to pause and pray?
Blessings of God’s wisdom ~ Wendy Mac
