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The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly



A few days ago, I saw a beautiful story of a father's love for his daughter with down syndrome. It was on YouTube...and of course there are comments underneath it.

Why do I read those? Why?

As I scrolled through sentiments of, "Realistically, it was selfish of them to keep the baby knowing she wouldn't be able to function properly in society," and, "It would only be logical for them to have gotten rid of her if they truly loved her," a knot formed in my stomach.

I honestly can’t believe that this is where “logic” and “realism” has gotten us.

I'm so tired of these two words being used synonymously with pessimism. I've heard way too often as of late that even though my faith is all "fine and dandy," we simply DO NOT live in utopia.

What I think people really mean when they say things like this is, "I'm going to be happy when things are good, but I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop, so I'm going to be a nervous wreck about everything all the time just because I realize that bad things do happen and you don't." I am so very grateful I'm (for the most part) spared this anxiety. (Disclaimer: I do have quite a bit of anxiety in my life, but I'm working very hard on not always being so wound about that which I have no control over...which is most things)

Because when I say that I believe in something, in good, in God...I mean it. I believe God uses all things for good, and although we may not see the outcome in our lifetime, it WILL happen. But that's not logical. Or realistic....or is it?

My faith makes it okay for me that I don't understand everything. Do I have my own "whys"? Yes, of course I do. But I do not spend my days questioning God, because I believe that He means what He says. Jesus used scripture to make His points, because it was the word of God. And I believe Jesus to be the son of God, the One who saved me. So, if it's good enough for Jesus, then it’s good enough for me. The Bible is where I learn some of the most important lessons...other lessons God kind of has to smack me in the face with while I'm living life. (And oftentimes, I need a good headsmack.)

God is good, always. That is my logic, that is my realism. And that is okay with me. Because every time I hear something using the logic and realism that only comes from man, it's almost always negative. As a society we've just allowed for so much negativity and yet we're so afraid of being uncomfortable that we just run away from anything that could possibly ever cause us any pain. So instead of resolutions we have constant conflict. Instead of conversations we have arguments. We are constantly on the defense and because of that we don't have any time or energy to truly think about how we feel. So we make room for everything. The bad, and the ugly.

But what about the good? GOD is good. Always. And realistically, I think it’s time we make room for that.

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