Neighborly Waves

Two days ago, there was a moment when something happened that just kept coming back to me. You know those moments that seem to have the weight of significance to them? The ones which stick in your mind and replay over and over and cause you to search them closely to find the secret message? That was this moment. 

That day, I was driving down my sister's street and, as I passed her next-door neighbor's house, I saw the neighbor's little boy in the front yard. As I passed, this little nine- or ten-year-old black boy looked up from his work and gave a friendly wave. I waved back and went on to my sister's, but the image of that sweet innocent little face and his open and friendly wave stuck in my head. I told my sister about it and how it reminded me of riding through the countryside and how the locals all wave when they pass one another. Later, after I left my sister's, I found myself smiling and waving at people in their yards. A couple waved back; some looked confused, even suspicious.

I just kept thinking how we need to bring back that open friendliness to our world. The fact that he was black and I am white seemed significant. As I thought about it more the next morning, words started coming together and thoughts and phrases began to take shape. 

When I looked at that sweet little face, it was as if he reached out and touched me with his wave, immediately drawing my full attention. He reached across the great divide in our country and his brown hand touched my whiteness. His touch connected with me on a deep level, and everything else around me faded away.

I was reminded of an exercise I heard a few months back. I was told to imagine myself standing on the side of the road with all the traffic whizzing by. In my imagination, I was totally aware of all the cars, the noise, the "busy-ness". Then I was told to glance across the street and see that Jesus was standing there watching me. When our eyes met, He smiled, and then He waved. Suddenly, in my mind, all the traffic, noise, and busy-ness just faded away, and all I saw was Jesus. And I smiled back. And I waved. And that morning, as I imagined it, I realized that it would have been a brown hand waving at me. Jesus was a Middle-Easterner. 

I was suddenly struck by the similarity between the two incidents, and I realized how powerful a simple smile and wave can be. This child's smile and wave affected me almost as profoundly as the image of Christ smiling and waving at me. Would it be this simple to affect our world? Our nation is being torn apart by brown and white fists shaking at each other, guns pointing, and angry faces glaring, hurtful words hurling. Our nation and world are so very in need of that old habit of looking into one another's eyes and smiling and waving the friendly wave. The fists need to open into waves while dropping the guns and the glares relax into smiles. That simple act can make all the noise and rushing and stomping and crashing around fade away. And maybe it can begin to heal wounds and calm the anger. 

Maybe I'm being overly simplistic, but it's a start, isn't it?

#bringbackfriendlywaves

#wavesforneighbors

#changingtheworldonewaveatatime

Scriptures for love and peace.

Mark 12:29-31 <Jesus considered these the two Greatest Commandments.>

"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind and with and all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." 

Romans 12:18 "As much as possible, as far as it depends on youlive at peace with everyone." 

#PandemicPrayers

On February, 2020, my friend Lisa Joyner asked me to be her prayer partner.

Lisa was starting a health and weight loss plan called "New Life Promise" by Isabel D. Price which is founded on the premise that God can renew our minds and create a new person in us, a person who is surrendered to God in all aspects of our lives, a person who understands that our bodies are God's temples, the place wherein He has chosen to dwell, and that it is His will that we take care of and honor His temples. Lisa asked me to start the plan with her and to be her prayer and accountability partner. 

We had no clue what was about to happen in our lives...

We started praying together by phone on February 25, 2020 at 6:00am less than three weeks before our country began to shut down in earnest. Lindy, my husband, came home from Washington, DC about two weeks later and told me that everything in Washington was starting to close down as he was leaving that morning. New York's St. Patrick's Day Parade was cancelled. Then ours in Savannah followed. This was mind-blowing enough to get my attention. I had not really given COVID-19 much thought. I was one of those who was lulled into the false security of "it's happening over there, not here." On March 21st, Savannah Mayor Van Johnson's state of emergency went into effect mandating business closures and restrictions and limits on gatherings. On March 24th, Mayor Johnson issued a "shelter at home" order for Savannah. Our entire world changed in less than four weeks.

Lisa and I started praying together to help each other stick with a weight loss plan. So we thought... As usual, God had much bigger ideas. It became so much more and has literally changed both of our lives completely. God has shown us that it really is possible with our willingness and by His power to be "...transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- His good, pleasing, and perfect will."

We began in March to read YouVersion Bible App Bible study plans on prayer, and each more was more amazing than the last. Through these plans, God instructed us, encouraged us, challenged us, stretched us, pushed us to dig deeper, and used His Word to begin to transform and mold us. It has been a mind-blowing ride, to say the least.

Before long, another friend, Wende Chaille, and I began to pray together, too. I had never prayed so much in my life! Literally. A few weeks later, my nephew's wife Alex Lamb joined Wende and I during our prayer time.

We have been constantly amazed at what God is revealing to us in His Word. Some scriptures we've read many times but never saw what jumped out at us now. A LOT of new and less familiar scriptures that confirmed familiar promises or gave us new promises. 

One thing we all saw over and over is that God is using this COVID-19 pandemic for His purposes to turn people's hearts the world over to Him. God is, always has been, and will forever be in control, and, according to Isaiah 46:9-10, His plans WILL be accomplished.

Isaiah 46:9-10 NKJV
9 "Remember the former things of old,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all My pleasure,’"

I have always loved these verses, especially the fact that He
declared the "end from the beginning." He started writing His
story with the end already written. Before He does or allows
anything at all to take place, He already has the outcome decided and established. Does that comfort you as much as it does me?

Romans 8:28 NLT
"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them."

We also know that it is His desire that every person - EVERY
PERSON - come to Him.

I Timothy 2:1-4
1 I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. 2 Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. 3 This is good and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.

2 Peter 3:39 The Message
8-9 Don’t overlook the obvious here, friends. With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand years as a day. God isn’t late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change.

We can be confident in His Word. God is faithful. He always has been, always will be. We can have hope in these strange and scary times. He does have our best interests at heart. Always has, always will. He is the great "I AM," and He never changes. He is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. He is all that and more.
We can trust Him. He's proven Himself trustworthy. He's proven Himself faithful. And the best part of that is that it all depends on HIS FAITHFULNESS, not our measley, flimsy faith. It's ALL HIM. NONE OF IT DEPENDS ON ME! Or YOU! And I can live with that!

Psalm 27:8 NKJV

When You said, "Seek My face," my heart said to You, "Your face, LORD, I will seek."

Lessons From a Drifting Cloud

Just as I turned from the kitchen sink, a cloud outside the window caught my attention. A huge puffy cloud sat low in the gray morning sky with only the front of the cloud clearly visible as morning sun shone on the tall puffs, moisture reflecting the golden light. Behind that brightly shining wall, the rest of the cloud faded into the gray-blue sky. 

I watched, mesmerized, as the cloud moved slowly forward. Toward the light. I felt there was a message in this seemingly random happenstance. And, as the cloud drifted slowly forward, I saw it. As clear as the morning sun. As the cloud moved closer to the light, more and more of it began to reflect the golden light. Then, just one thin silver streak of lightning stretched down from the gray-blue of the cloud toward the ground.

WOW. What a spectacular moment, LORD! What a promise! 

If I just stay on course toward my God, I will reflect more and more of His love, grace, and mercy. HIS VERY IMAGE. I will look more and more like my FATHER.

But that wasn't it for the lesson from the cloud. No, God had more for me to see. A lot more. The next morning, I remembered thinking about the distinction between the SOURCE of the light and the light. As I reread what I had written the day before, it suddenly became clear. When I focus on things other than God - even good things like writing my prayers, Bible plans, Bible and prayer journals, discipline and organization, checking off those things in my calendar - even things of God rather than just GOD, the SOURCE, I get distracted from the main thing, the SOURCE of the POWER, and I get disconnected. 

The cloud continued to move toward the SOURCE; it didn't stop in the light and just soak up what it provided in that one place. It didn't focus on the light and sit still in it while striving to reflect more of it. It kept moving ever so steadily toward the SOURCE, its focus ever before it, not turned toward the light it was reflecting itself. And, as it moved toward the SOURCE, more and more light was reflected. 

And more and more power was added to the cloud to keep it steadily moving forward. The Lightning! That one silver streak that reached down from the cloud and touched the ground. That symbol of God's power available to me when I keep my eyes on Him and move steadily closer. 

Dear Precious LORD Jesus, help me keep this image in mind ready to pull out to remind me whenever I take my eyes off the SOURCE - YOU, the GREAT I AM, the CREATOR, the ALMIGHTY, the OMNIPRESENT, the ALPHA and the OMEGA. 

Help me fix my eyes on You, LORD. Help me remember that I DO KNOW the ANSWER to every question. It is YOU, the SOURCE, of EVERYTHING. 

As my friend Lisa pointed out to me, not one other soul saw that cloud at that exact moment from that exact location, set of coordinates, or angle. You showed it just to me! What a treasured moment with You, Father. Wow! Thank YOU!! 

#PandemicPraise

#PandemicPrayers

#1000GiftsandMoore

MAJOR FAIL: Organization Resolutions

Okay, here's what the title was supposed to say, but you can't strike through in the title line.
MAJOR FAIL: Organization Resolutions  
Organization.Period.   An Organized Life.Period.  
ME. PERIOD.

Yesterday morning, I read Ann Voskamp's blog (aholyexperience.com) about making "Soulutions" rather than resolutions. This woman is married to a farmer, has six kids, homeschools all of them, writes books, and publishes a devotion blog. And, to my knowledge, she doesn't have a nanny or a secretary or a housekeeper. This woman is busy! She doesn't try to paint a perfect picture of herself or her life. She talks about being overwhelmed at times, about losing her cool, about being frustrated with all she has to do, etc. BUT she still does it all. She's my hero. One of my many heroes. Any organized person is my hero.

As I was reading her list of 25 points in what she calls her "sanity manifesto," I felt the anxiety begin to rise up from the pit of my stomach. Do certain things on the same day and/or at the same time everyday to establish a rhythm in your life. Have a daily time to just be still in addition to set times to stop everything and pray. Take a walk everyday. Work on a project everyday before noon. Get up each morning and do these three things: read God's Word, work out (as in exercise), write out your day's plan and work the plan. In other words, Be Organized; Be Structured.

Ohhhhhhh........ Breathe. Just breathe.....

You see (and anybody who knows me HAS seen) there is not an organized bone in my body. My life is always a mess. I start things and never finish them. I can't do the same thing at the same time on the same day if my life depended on it. (I brush my teeth every morning and before bed. Does that count?) I can't follow a schedule to save my life. (As Director of the summer camp and Principal of the Boys' School, I LOVED making schedules - because I could give them to everybody else. I didn't have to follow them.) Write out a daily plan and work the plan?? Are you serious? Oh, I could write that plan, but then I'd never look at it again - if I even finished it. I sure as heck wouldn't stay on track to work the plan. I HATE it when my husband or anybody asks, "What do you have planned for today?" NOTHING. PLAN???  And, oh my gosh!! Those people who want to know in September what you are planning to cook for Thanksgiving!! I don't know what I'm going to eat today! The ANXIETY builds....

I have lived with this my whole life, trying to hide it from the world, feeling embarrassed about it, ashamed, always disappointing myself and everyone else, always FAILING. I have two sisters who are both very organized, very task oriented. And then there's me - this fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants-kinda-girl. I know it looks like I'm flighty and irresponsible and selfish and unthoughtful and lazy and undependable. And I HATE that I'm like this. I can't tell you how many books, articles, blogs I've read about organization. Right now, you can go to my Pinterest page and see several boards related to organization with HUNDREDS of collected ideas.

And I'm kind of bipolar about it. (NOT literally. Really, I'm not bipolar.) My classroom? One of the most organized in the school -- usually. In a group, I usually become the leader. Not by forcing my way in; the group members usually turn to me for leadership. Laughably, I really am the one who keeps the group on task. My own private school and office supply department in my home is beautifully organized in my antique file cabinet. My grandchildren's toys are organized on the shelves (when I make them go back and pick up all the things they just threw toward the shelves). But...my house is ALWAYS cluttered. My Christmas decorations are still up. There is usually at least one pair of shoes in the living room and in the kitchen. I have collected frames for years to put pictures on the walls. Most of them are still under the bed in the guest room. I try to decorate, but it just doesn't happen. I know what I like, but I can't for the life of me replicate it at home.
This bipolar-ness leads to my DVDs being in alphabetical order and the paper clips in my desk drawer looking like this (sometimes even sorted by color):

And the top of my desk looking like this (on a good day - seriously):

I'm not even going to show pictures of the rest of my mess.

Every time I have taken a Spiritual Gifts Inventory, two of my top gifts have been mercy and administration. I think that explains a lot about how my brain works. Those two gifts are about as polar opposite as you can get. I'm a big-picture thinker. When you are building a school, writing education programs, this is a good thing, a necessary thing. In my personal life, it can be disastrous. I can't look at one thing at a time. I look at ALL of it ALL at once, and I get totally overwhelmed and anxious and have NO clue where to start. As a teacher, I worked with kids like this, and I was great with them. One of my strengths was teaching them how to break things up into manageable pieces. Can't do it for myself without a LOT of anxiety and gnashing of teeth.

So, bring that person to yesterday morning, reading about all of Ann Voskamp's perfect structure and organization. I seriously felt the anxiety swelling because I know I'm such a failure.
Lindy walked in about that time, and I asked him if he had a minute. He sat down, and I said, "I just don't understand why my brain doesn't work right." Lindy is like Ann Voskamp, by the way - organized, habitual, dependable. I told him what I'd been reading and how I just can't be organized, how I feel about me. Lindy said, "So what? You don't have to do any of those things." So, I told him how I feel about the house being cluttered, the Christmas decorations still up, etc, and why, oh why, can't I be organized and get things done, too. He said, "What does it matter? Do it when you want to." Then I asked the real question, and my voice cracked a little, "But you don't think I'm lazy?" He looked at me. "No, I know how hard you've worked and what all you do. I've never thought you were lazy." And my chin was quivering and the tears were about to overflow. And he asked the sixty-four-million-dollar question. "Why are you crying?" And I gave my standard answer, "I don't know." Because I really don't know any one reason. I just know all the reasons that add up and make me feel like a failure.

So, I sat there a few minutes feeling pretty awful about all this mess, all these unfinished projects, all this wasted time not sticking to a schedule, all this, and that's where the Lord led me. That's where He got my attention. I went to my bedroom and took out my Thank You Journal and started thinking of all the "this" I could be and was thankful for. Ann Voskamp says in her book that giving thanks always precedes the miracle, and I needed a miracle. My heart was heavy. There were tears in my eyes, a lump in my throat. Through blur of the tears, I wrote one. entry. after. another.
Until the miracle happened. No, I didn't suddenly get a burst of energy to clean. No, I didn't suddenly feel organized. No, He didn't suddenly rewire this crazy, flighty, imperfect, embarrassing brain!!
No, He just held my face in His hands, looked in my eyes, and said, "I know. And I love you just the way you are."


And, OH, the JOY that FLOODS MY SOUL!
HE knows how I am -- He created me!
He Knows how imperfect I am -- He watches me every day, sees everything I've done or ever will do!
He KNOWS how short I fall -- and He CHOOSES to use me!!
He KNOWS how I FAIL -- and HE LOVES me!!
He KNOWS how inadequate I am - and He CHOSE to ABIDE - TAKE UP RESIDENCE - in ME!!!

He led me right to the ALL THIS of me. The ALL of me - the good, the bad, and the ugly.
*That I can thank Him for eyes that see -- but I can also thank Him for eyes that look at everything at once and totally overload my circuits.
*I can thank Him for creativity, artist hands and eyes -- but I can also thank Him for my messiness, my disorganization, my lack of follow-through.
*I can thank him for my ALL THIS because He created me. He knew before time began that my Christmas decorations would still be up on January 3, that my 1 Story Book Lane booth would sit untouched for two months, that Lindy's shop would remain jam-packed with all my collected furniture, decorations, paint, and tools while I made no progress at all for two months. That, if I'm honest, I have to admit I've spent a good bit of the past 2 months in my pajamas. That, after losing all that weight and feeling so good and improving my health so much, I've gained back more than I want to admit.
He knew ALL THIS before time began, and He didn't toss me into the "unusable" pile, the "mistake" pile, the "trash" pile. That He doesn't even HAVE those piles! He knew ALL THIS before time began, and He didn't change a thing!
He knew ALL THIS before time began, and He still chose to love me! He still chose to ABIDE in me. 

HE STILL CHOSE ME.

And how could I not cry thankful tears that the Great I AM, the Sovereign Lord, King of kings, my Savior, Redeemer, Almighty God CHOSE me. 
That was the miracle. That He chose me. 
And the second miracle was that I could really, seriously, sincerely look back into those loving eyes and say, "Thank You for ALL THIS that is me, ALL THIS that You created to be me."

So, if all that is true - and it IS, then why am I always so anxious about who I am, always so worried that the real me will show, always looking back at and expecting failure? Why am I always so disappointed in myself? God obviously isn't. He's never surprised or caught off guard. I'm His creation. I'm His beloved child. My very name was on His cracked lips as He died on that cross. And I am covered completely - mixed up, crazy head to clutzy toes - by His blood and GRACE.
All of this. ALL OF THIS ME.

Which Way Do I Fall?

I have been reading a lot lately, and it seems everything I read tells me pretty much the same thing. Even my last blog entry. I'd even forgotten writing it and was surprised to see it when I opened my blog this morning. And. it. said. the. same. thing.

I'd been reading Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young, and my eyes and soul were opened to God's Truth and Love in ways I'd never experienced before. And then, on November 21st, I started reading One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp, and I knew immediately this was a life-changer. Jesus Calling had been preparing my heart for One Thousand Gifts.

As I've read, there have been so many times I've thought, "oh my gosh, this needs to be in my blog," and I had great intentions, but it never happened. But maybe it wasn't supposed to until today. Maybe what I perceived as a failure on my part was actually God's timing, His sovereignty.
Even this morning, I started one way with this blog, deleted it, then went back to it, and then sat back in confusion because too many things in my brain wanted to take precedence in this entry. I wanted to BACK UP too much. Wow! I didn't even realize the implications of this until just now.
Two days ago, my friend Valerie sent me a blog entry by Ann Voskamp about looking back at our failures and shortcomings instead of moving forward (http://www.aholyexperience.com/2014/12/how-to-step-forward-into-the-new-year-when-you-want-a-do-over-on-the-last-year). She says when we get stuck, we need to fall FORWARD. 

These are her words from the article:

Failing? What feels like losing is really gaining experience. Forward! Falling apart? Fall forward into whatever. comes. next. Forward! Fearful? Fear is always the first step forward of faith. Forward! Whenever you are lost, FORWARD is always the way Home.

I've been stuck in the not-wanting-to-look-forward mode the past few days. I've been stuck on past failures and shortcomings. (Didn't I just write about this in August???) In her book, Ann Voskamp challenges us to live fully in each moment in God's presence by living a life of thanksgiving - Eucharisteo, being a seeker of God's beauty in everyday life, opening our eyes to the gifts He gives us each moment of every day. When our eyes are turned forward seeking out the beautiful, they aren't looking back at the ugly! When our focus is different, our perception is different. When giving thanks to God is our priority, wallowing in our failures is hardly on the screen. She dares us to begin a journal in which we number the gifts we are thankful for each day. She challenges us to number 1000 gifts. And I can tell you from personal experience that this can change your life. I have sat down with a knot of anxiety in the pit of my stomach and begun to number my gifts, and that same knot has turned into a swelling of JOY.
Then, today, Valerie sent another article for me to read (https://perrynoble.com/blog/should-christians-take-medication-for-mental-illness) which, on the surface, really had nothing to do with any of this. My response to her regarding this article was the spark that started this new blog entry. This was my response with a few minor revisions just so it would make more sense:

"Funny, I was reading an article on fibromyalgia when your message popped up. Depression and Fibro have always been associated & depression is listed as one of the signs and symptoms of Fibro. It was usually assumed that the constant pain and fatigue led to depression and anxiety, but I didn't really believe that was what caused mine. Two articles I read this morning said that could be true, but that the same chemical imbalances in the brain that cause Fibro could cause depression. Makes a whole lot more sense to me. It's kind of a which came first, the chicken or the egg kind of thing. I have been hurting/aching so badly recently; so tired, fatigued, and so emotional, constantly feeling on the verge of tears. Very sensitive, feelings hurt easily, irritable, defensive, and all the while feeling like a failure, totally falling backward on all my failings. Feeling like it's my fault that I have these problems (and technically, it is) because I know that sugar sets it off, that not sleeping makes it worse, that not exercising adds to it even more. I know that changing those things could make me feel better, but I'm stuck in the rut of exhaustion, depression, and anxiety. The anxiety causes agoraphobia. I'm not only too exhausted to even get dressed, the thought of going out makes me very anxious. It's interesting that he (the author of the article) began to experience depression and anxiety again when he started to write a book about his previous battle with and victory over depression. I have found that revisiting that painful dark time of my life sometimes "awakens" dark, painful memories deep inside. Just the memories sometimes make me very sad. I know I talk about it a lot, but I think I talk pretty superficially about it most of the time. Just that I have suffered depression, but when I touch those deep places where the pain was, I find it's still very tender. It's a feeling similar to grief. You're ok most of the time, but, even years later, specific memories are painful and sorrowful. You feel the loss all over again. 

I don't think I've ever actually put that together before, but that is exactly it. There is definite loss and grieving involved with depression.

I had another thought while reading this article. I clicked on the link to his book and just felt a heaviness at the thought of another self-help book. And I thought of One Thousand Gifts. I believe with everything in me that she has found the answer. It's not in looking back at disappointments, failures, trauma, etc, or deep inside at the scars these things left. Going back to old scars and scraping them raw doesn't help them heal. It just causes more pain and scar tissue. I think the answer is in falling forward into Christ's arms and filling your mind with the things of Him - everything pure and holy and good and decent and just and then abiding in His presence through constant thanksgiving. 

So now I know what I need to do. Everyday, all day."

I heard Dr. Wayne Dyer give this analogy once. Picture yourself standing at the back of a moving boat and looking back at the wake. Ask yourself if the wake can move the boat forward. The answer is no. The wake is simply everything you've left behind. It's what has already happened - the good and the bad. It cannot move you forward. The energy of the motor (our brains, our souls) moves us one way or the other. He said to hold onto the positive energy that moves us forward.
I believe that positive energy is found in focusing on and thanking God for the gifts He has bestowed on me.
(Oh, so many other thoughts come to mind from Ann Voskamp's book that I want to take off on here, but I need to stop, and you need to read her book. I promise you it is a life-changer.)

"Whenever you are lost, FORWARD is always the way Home." 
(Ann Voskamp, "How to Step Forward into the New Year...when you want a Do-Over on the last year", December 29, 2014)

I Am What I Think I Am

I am a procrastinator. I am a sugar-holic. I am co-dependent. I am a closet binge-er. (I don't know how to spell that. If I follow the rule of dropping the "e", it looks like I'm a binger, rhyming with dinger.) I am a product of generational sin and a fallen world. I am weak because of clinical depression and generalized anxiety. I am scattered and unorganized because of ADHD. I am a giver-upper. I am a disappointment. I am a failure.

At different times, I've been all those things. More accurately, I've let all those things and more control my life -- control me. I've let them define me. I've let myself BE those things.

I AM, actually, a child of the King. I've been redeemed. I am redeemed. I am HIS. I am cleansed and covered by His righteousness. I am a believer. I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me. I am loved. I am cherished. 

THESE. THESE are the things I want to control my life. These are the things that I should allow to control me and define me. THESE are the things I want to let myself BE.

Philippians 4:8 KJV (I love the poetic language of the KJV.)
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be an virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Philippians 4:8-9 The Message (I love the personal language of The Message.)
Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious -- the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into His most excellent harmonies. 

Why have I never paid attention to verse 9? That is the promised result of doing the things in verse 8. That is the important part.

Philippians 4:9 KJV
Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

I need the God of peace to be with me. I need to be worked into His most excellent harmonies. I need to stop living these wasted, listless days controlled by the negative things I allow to define me and start living the life He created me for -- a life full of love and trust and peace and rest in HIM.

Maybe, if WE start living this way individually, it will work its way up to the leaders of our broken world. I would like living in a world that is woven into His most excellent harmonies.