Celebrating In these trying times

In over 40 years of ministry I have noticed that when people’s lives are under stress from work or other uncontrollable events that they look for places where they can have some control and vent their frustrations. Today we are under a lot of economic stress across the strata of our society. Even people who have jobs are worried about loosing them. The rich are getting a lot richer and the poor are growing in number. The gap between rich and poor is widening.

There are two places where people under stress vent their frustrations. The first is often in the family where more abuse of spouse, children and elderly are on the increase. Passing your hurt on to the defenseless is a coward’s way out and really gets you no where. It is really sad when children become the target of a parent’s wrath at society.

The second is in volunteer organizations like clubs and church. I have often watched as someone disrupts a church board or committee meeting seemingly without cause. It is all about exerting some control some where. Many church pastors have been attacked simply because some one was venting frustrations in the only place they can and get away with it.

Here we are celebrating Independence Day in a time of radical changes in our society. Many people are angry at on thing or another with no place to vent except perhaps social media. Many will still vent their anger at those who can not defend themselves and cause pain. Some how we need to instill self-control and a path to personal inner peace in all our children before they become adults in this crazy world.