Rather than fall into the black holes of fear and hopelessness, we can embrace our freedoms and choose to let our faith inspire and direct us to try to be the best people God created us to be. We won’t always get that right, but if we make a consistent effort, we will become better models of heavenly wisdom over time. And that’s progress, and progress is good.

The world wants and needs to hear what we are for more than what we are against. The Good News is that we are for peace; with whom can each of us share some peace? We are for gentleness; with whom can we share some gentleness? We are for humility, not arrogance; how can we model that? And we are for mercy; how can we show mercy, not might, this week?

Let us freely use our words to marvelously remind people that we are ALL precious children of God, created to love and to be loved. This is what it means to be the Kingdom of God – welcoming others, with their flaws AND our flaws, into a community that cares about and wants the best for each other.