I was watching the news on television the other night and I got so discouraged that I turned the television off.  Every story was either sad or just plain aggravating.  People were dying from natural disasters or killing one another and it seemed to just take its toll on me.  It caused me to reflect and that saddened me even more.

We are so quick to report disasters or horrific events that we fail to note those stories that are uplifting or about one’s sacrifice for someone else to live.  These are the stories I want to hear.  I am not playing the role of a fool and saying that disaster and bad times do not happen.  In fact they happen (thanks to the exposure from the media) more often than we admit.  However, so does the good story.  It just does not always get the same coverage.

So how do we navigate in this world if all we see is the negative and the ugliness of human kind?  How many times must our hearts break before we decide to do something about it?  How do we make a change?

We re-focus and decide to change our attitudes instead.  Once we determine that this is of the utmost importance it changes our perspective and how we can treat one another.  We are a world focused on vengeance, bitterness, resentment, and hate, but we also live in a world in which we become our main focus, not others. It occurs on a daily basis all around this world.  Everyone contributes to this in one form or another.  It is time to put more love in this world and let it guide us to making better and wiser decisions, to learn to think more about others and about our actions towards one another.

How do we do this?  It seems so basic, yet so perplexing for many.  We need to live selflessly and learn to live for others.  Easier said than done, right?  How do I go from my needs and put someone else’s needs ahead of me?  I start small and then each day I learn to take bigger steps.

So what are the baby steps we can make now?  Maybe just opening a door for someone or carrying packages for a person.  We can find words of encouragement to offer someone going through a rough season.  We can smile more and let that infectious trait reach others who find it difficult to smile.

I am not saying that we have to have all of the answers now, but if each day we find room or make room in our lives to help or service others; maybe we can come across better solutions to resolving difficult issues.

I used to walk around in a daze and caught up in my own problems.  I prayed for help and I prayed over and over again.  It is when I realized that I was my own problem, that I saw the answer staring me straight in the face.  I needed to step outside of myself and see everyone else around me first.  I needed to pay attention to issues that affected others.  Once I learned to give of myself, only then could I take care of myself.

We need to act out of love for one another and take care of each other.  When we can do this out of instinct, out of caring, or a gentle nudging from a higher being, only then can we begin to let love into this world.  Problems exist and we all go through bad seasons that test our strength and test the hearts of people around us.  However, if we depend on our faith and if we seek to live for others by meeting their needs, we create a connection of love.  Love is patient, caring, and kind.  Love should be available to everyone, especially those who have hurt us.  It heals us, it rejuvenates us and inspires us to be aware of the world in which we live.  It motivates us to be better stewards and when we sow love, we reap much as a result of our actions.

Take a moment and decide if you want to plant seeds of love for others or if you want to center only on the bad in this world.  A child needs you, as does our elderly; there are those who cannot eat without our help, and those that need someone in their lives that allows them to feel they are loved.  We all can help one another.  Please do not hear this message and decide to walk away.  Your heart will rejoice if you answer this request and the more we respond, the more we are sending love out there.  Slowly the world will begin to change as a result.   Respond to love and let the joy flow from your heart.

One day you may turn on the news and find out that someone made it through the day because someone else cared about them.  It would be a refreshing alternative to the hate that now resides in this world.  All it takes is a baby step, a heart determined to make a difference, and a willing participant to get this started.  You can make a difference if you choose to.  Answer the call of your heart and make that choice to matter to someone.  Show love to others and feel the love that will eventually come back to you.