So tired of it!

Aren’t you?

Extreme propaganda at every turn. The algorithms get a whiff of our drift and feed us more and more and more of the same, deepening entrenchments, alliances, and divisions with every inflammatory twist of the truth.

The finger pointing becomes gnashing of teeth.

Ya’ll. Watch yo bad selves.

But before you think I’m preaching, I’m telling myself the same. It’s all too easy to react. I just did it the other day, answering a short quip in an inflammatory post I should have just passed over. (Where’s that little emoji with the forehead slap to the self when you need it?)

People, we’re so quick to anger, to self-defend, to rage even, over the atrocities that press our buttons. We can’t understand how we can be so right and they can be so wrong.

And then there’s the paid trolls. The ones who are actually being paid to go online and stir up strife. Yes, I believe they must be getting paid for it, because who else has the time to overwhelm posts the way they can???

In my quiet time this morning, the Lord whispered the prayer he’d prayed soon before his arrest, trial, and death on the cross.

In searching for it, I read through all of John 15 through 17. No, I won’t cut and paste it all here. (You’re welcome.)

But I will paste the portion that came in a whisper:

"I do not pray for these alone [it is not for their sake only that I make this request], but also for [all] those who [will ever] believe and trust in Me through their message, that they all may be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe [without any doubt] that You sent Me. . . and I have made Your name known to them, and will continue to make it known, so that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them [overwhelming their heart] and I [may be] in them." -John 17:  20, 21, 26. Bible AMP Amplified Version (boldened sections mine-jw)

He prayed this long and detailed prayer in a tender combination of angst and faith, like it was the prayer of his life. John 14-17 is a bucket list of things that had to be in order for him to finish the work he came to do while in the flesh as man with us.

I believe God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the complete package that’s secured our forgiveness and empowered us to become his sons and daughters) is answering this prayer still. I believe that the degree to which it is fulfilled is mutually intertwined with our degree of agreement.

Our free will, saying, “”Yes, Lord. I want that, too.”

Even when it’s hard to say. Even when we’re at polar opposite sides of political, philosophical, personality and lifestyle views and choices.

Choose love. Unity. A bridge to relational opportunity.

After all, we’re all cells in the same Body.

I’ll bring to mind a silly little poem from way back in the 1970s. I don’t know the author, so we’ll say it’s anonymous and I’ll post the site where I found it again:

The Boss
When the body was first made, all parts wanted to be boss! 
The brain said: Since I control everything do all the thinking, I should be boss. 
The feet said: Since I do carry man where he wants to go and get him in position to do what the brain wants, I should be boss. 
The hands said: Since I must do all the work and earn all the money to keep the rest of you going, I should be boss. 
The eyes said: since I must look out for all of you and tell you where the danger lurks, I should be boss. 
And so it went with the heart, the ears, the lungs. . . 
At last, the asshole spoke up and demanded to be boss. 
All the other parts laughed at the idea of the asshole being boss. The asshole was so angered that he blocked himself off and refused to function. 
Soon the brain was feverish, the eyes crossed and ached, the feet were too weak to walk; the hands hung limply at the side; the heart and lungs struggled to keep going. 
All pleaded with the brain to let the asshole be boss. 
AND SO IT HAPPENED, all the other parts did all the work and the asshole just bossed and passed out a lot of (crap, my edit, jw). 
THE MORAL: You don't have to be a brain to be BOSS, just an asshole.
https://harvester.lib.uidaho.edu/collection/items/lumber244.html

What am I saying? Don’t be an ass? Or realize there needs to be a place to let the crap–the toxins, the leftovers, the stinky stuff, release and vent. . . but it probably shouldn’t be all over someone else?

Like I said, I’m tired of all the crap I see on social media. I want to be a voice that calls for love, unity, peace, productive measures, constructive actions. . .

How do you feel about this? How do you conquer the urge to follow the algorithms into polarization and, instead, create a bridge for healthy relationships online?

We can learn from one another’s input here, so please, find the comment section at the end of the post and continue the dialogue, my loves.