There are people so much nicer than I.

There is one Auntie that I have that just goes around spreading sunshine and love wherever she goes. Her words always uplift, and she just has a way of building folks up every time she speaks. Her birthday posts on my wall never fail to leave me a weepy puddle — they are filled with affirmations, blessings, and building up. She does that for everyone, and because of her beautiful spirit, she is the most beautiful woman. (I wanna be just like Auntie Schar when I grow up.)

Social media has a way of bringing out sides of us that perhaps we wish could stay covered. Speaking for myself, I find it an exercise in self-control. I scroll and vacillate between criticism (a little voice in my head that I don’t love) and enjoying the sweet moments.

These days, we cannot get away from the talk no matter how much we long to. The stupid virus has far surpassed any previous situation we’ve found ourselves in. And rather than finding each other in it, we have mostly, once again, found ourselves collectively loud and opinionated and angry; much like the days where our country fought itself over its vehement beliefs, we are similarly pitted against our own family and friends.

I’m not trying to be Pollyanna here, but I do believe it is up to me to choose where I live in my head and in my spirit and that decision determines how miserable I am and how miserable I make the folks around me. I can see the goodness of my God no matter how dark the days have been. This song ( <– Click) has been my quiet anthem through this whole thing thanks to my friend Deb singing it to me from her home many states away toward the beginning of the nonsense.

I happen to believe that thankfulness, a deliberate choice to refuse to engage, and being loving, can and does change the atmosphere. It’s normal and okay to feel the other feelings — I trudged through them all, but then I keep trying to do this…

If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

Philippians 2:1-4

We all know the best way to forget about our own stuff is to find a way to bless someone else, right? I am re-determining to scatter love and the building-up-of-folks wherever I go — whether its on my social media, my interactions with my children and my husband, my words in every encounter with folks at the grocery store. Imagine if that were everyone’s choice these days! I’m determined to fight the ugly and share kindness. Perhaps that would spread further and farther, and be much more contagious than any germ.

Who’s with me?