Be Nonreactive! Be Proactive! (thank you, Imagine Dragons!)
It’s easy to get angry or offended about some of the things we read these days. Let’s seek to always respond instead of react. We can pause to breathe in, breathe out. We can stop and think and consider our response before we say or do something we regret. We can choose our battles and not get rattled about everything we read or get sucked into every fight. We can let our unproductive anger go. All anger is not bad, but when we’re angry, let’s check our hearts before acting on it. If we’re angry for all the wrong reasons, we’ll end up doing untold damage to both others and ourselves. We can channel our anger into fighting for justice or speaking up for the marginalized or voiceless. Just let all we do be done with forgiveness and grace. Thank you, Imagine Dragons, for your great music. May God bless you, protect you, and give you peace!
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Music: “Radioactive” (Imagine Dragons)
Words by me: We’re waking up to read the news. We wipe our brow; a new storm brews. We’re breathing in the rhetoric. They’re making claims, shaping minds, dividing people into them and us. This is it – we’re now offended! Whoa. We’re getting mad! We feel it in our bones. We’ve got to let it go! We don’t have to engage, get so rattled. Swipe onto a new page, choose our battles. Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh. Be nonreactive! Be proactive! x 2 Let’s try to never vilify. Grace and forgiveness in reply. Restrain our lips, just breathe right in. Whoa. They’re making claims, shaping minds, dividing people into them and us. This is it – we’re now offended! Whoa. We’re getting mad! We feel it in our bones. We’ve got to let it go! We don’t have to engage, get so rattled. Swipe onto a new page, choose our battles. Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh. Be nonreactive! Be proactive! x 2 All systems go, tempers haven’t died deep in our bones, straight from inside. We’re getting mad! We feel it in our bones. We’ve got to let it go! We don’t have to engage, get so rattled. Swipe onto a new page, choose our battles. Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh. Be nonreactive! Be proactive! x 2
