I'm sure I'm not the only one, who's starting to feel like I must have fallen asleep and woken up on a different planet. A place, where everything I've ever known or held to be true, right, or just is being turned on its head. Things that have always been viewed as noble and honorable are being shamed. Things that were once ghastly and horrifying don't cause so much as a blink anymore....even garnering thunderous applause. A place where the logical is seemingly invisible and the irrational is the new standard. It's a time when people don't know whether to sit or stand....looking all around instead of inside their hearts to decide what they should be doing. Even with what should be the most obvious choices or the givens, we're frantically checking ourselves against the reaction of others. I mean, being caught out of step could prove disastrous, these days.

It's a time when you can be destroyed in an instant because of a wrong word or foolish decision made in decades past. There is no forgiveness. There is no room for error. No expiration date. No benefit of the doubt. No redemption. No common sense approach to anything. A lifetime of good and helpful deeds could never right a past lapse of judgment or poor choice of words dug up by the wrong hands. There is a low hanging cloud of apprehension hanging over us as we speak or write. I'm even a tiny bit uncomfortable as I type this seldom traveled muffintop ground. We've all seen what can happen. The slightest slip can land you on the front page or penniless or ostracized or, heaven forbid, without any followers.

Even the strongest cave to the pressure. Bending and snapping under the weight of what we should or shouldn't say. What we should or shouldn't accept. What we should or shouldn't do. Just ask the person tasked with finding a singer for the Super Bowl's national anthem. Or stations looking for sponsors for a show embroiled in some sort of petty scandal. No one wants to offend even if it means a large number of people have to miss out in order to concede to the efforts of a small group of opposition. Even Christian leaders and artists are found trying to tip-toe around the areas that could come back to bite them. The pressure to maintain fans and increase followers causes words to be chosen most carefully and issues to be skirted. These are the new rules.

The values and beliefs, which were once considered admirable, are now the butt of prime time jokes and celebrity tweets. The things we were taught as being virtuous and holy now act as a bullseye for anyone who'd like to take a shot at those who still believe that way. Those old, archaic ways are the new signs of ignorance and intolerance. This type of deriding is acceptable only in the case of  Christian beliefs, but is never to be tolerated when aimed at any other group of people. These Christian people are fair game and its open season. So, we find ourselves lowering our voices instead of using our normal tones. We've seen the mockery that could come our way if we call too much attention to what we really believe. And it's done so loudly. So publicly. No one likes to be mocked, especially in front of others, right?

These days, the need to feel vindicated or proven right in our opinions overrides any other need.... especially the need for truth. At the end of the day, if wearing the jersey of the winning team means the truth has to be manipulated, then so be it. Egos are so grossly oversized and their appetites so insatiable that to sacrifice the reputation or character of another soul by misrepresentation is completely acceptable if it ensures your opinions are validated and you are affirmed by the example you make of them. There is no consideration of the lasting effects of those who opposed you. The important thing is that you are seen as being the one who is right and victorious.   

It should cause us all great dismay to know that we'd be fined and/or imprisoned for touching a sea turtle egg or harming an eagle's full nest, but don't dare be so bold as to suggest that it's immoral to do as you please to a human infant with a soul just before its birth. A growing number of states are hoping there will be stricter penalties in their jurisdiction for removing sea oats from the beach or fishing without a license than for killing a human baby at full term. The day before its birthday. The shameless gall of a leader, who would lean into a microphone and, without any hesitation, explain how a child delivered alive by accident, would be laid aside, while conversations and decision making take place. God, help us that a costume worn decades ago, though grossly callous and horribly detestable, drew the bigger response than the idea of murdering a baby in a way widely deemed too inhumane for the most violent criminals among us. But, it seems that's where we are now.

It is no longer acceptable to disagree. Total conformity to the other side is the only acceptable solution to the problem. In the event that this is not achieved, the destruction phase must begin. Defamation. Humiliation. Delegitimization. There is no longer the possibility of two opposing views coexisting in harmony. There is not enough tolerance on hand for that even though the word is a favorite among those who lack it. Unfollow. Unfriend. Block. Boycott. We feel empowered by all of the ways we can cripple and silence each other.      

I know this isn't sounding like a very uplifting post as is, hopefully, the usual here, but hang on. I've tried to sit and write about a few other things, this week, but my heavy heart kept coming back to the new depths of our heartbreaking descent and the tremendous pace at which we're traveling there. I don't think I can have a blog with the word, motherhood, in the title and not speak a word on the recent issues. I guess I just want to encourage us to not look frantically, from side to side, to see what we should be thinking and how we should be behaving in this world that has obviously gone insane. God's word should be our only gauge. Our only cue card.

I hope this will be an encouragement to others, who feel the same way about the recent goings on. You are not alone even when you're made to feel that way. I know we can start to believe that there are only a handful of us left. A mere smattering of those, who reject all the garbage we're being fed. Some days, we may feel awfully conspicuous and a bit self-conscious as we stand alone in a crowd. Standing there dumbfounded and wondering how in the heck we got to this wacky place, where we find ourselves. But, take heart. There are multitudes of us who are feeling like aliens, who've landed on a different planet. We refuse to assimilate. We have to be here for each other. And pray for each other and for our country.

And stand together.  

Not afraid to use our outside voices when necessary.

 
"And be not conformed to this world; but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God."  Romans 12:2        

"Pray also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel."  Ephesians 6:19

"Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech."  2 Corinthians 3:12

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."
2 Timothy 1:7

"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven"  Matthew 5:11-12

"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world."
John 15:19

"What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:31


Have a great weekend! See you soon!