A FINE LINE

Shots rang out in Arizona that were heard in every home and around the world. Congresswoman Gabriella Giffords, Arizona Federal Judge John Roll, and nine-year-old Christina Green were among the dead and injured. Some are saying that there is a fine line between inflammatory speech and civil discourse. That may be true, but there is not a fine line between truth and lie.

Let this tragedy be a call for love to underpin our conversations, while at the same time seeking truth, not as we want to believe it, but as it is. Seek and speak facts from a position of grace and love.

Let this tragedy not be a call for silence. A society can only remain free when truth is spoken with boldness, but not with blisters. Voices are better heard when spoken with calm and confident timbre or texture. I cannot hear you when you are yelling.

But do speak, speak boldly. Our freedom is at stake. The whole world waits and watches to see if the people of this free nation will still have free voices when all the manipulation of these events is accomplished. Let our voices never be silenced. Our truth is never supported by anger or name-calling, however. Truth stands on its own when facts support the details of our thoughts.

There is, sometimes, a fine line between sanity and insanity. Mental illness is that, an illness. Let us understand mental illness, put aside political correctness, and bring treatment for those who are ill.

We may all feel like we walk a fine line every day. Still, God lives on the razor’s edge. He will keep us on our sharp line if we will but know we are in his hands, within his domain. Blessed be the name of the Lord! Let us pray:

“Father of truth and love, we come before you with broken hearts over the senseless shooting in Arizona. We ask that your healing power may wrap those who have been harmed within your creative and re-creative love. We pray for the families of those who are hurt and those who have been lost. They are going through unspeakable grief. Let them know that you are in control, that you are always there beside them, that you will walk this new road with them. Forgive the shooter, Father, for he is yours too. May his sanity return so that he may know what he has done and seek your forgiveness. We turn our voices over to you Father that we may speak truth in love and not anger. But, truth must always be spoken in this free land you have given us. Give us strength to be brave, discernment to know the words you would have us say, and your grace buried in our heart that the words may be spoken in love. In the name of Jesus, your son, our savior, we pray. Amen”
Doris
“God gives us stories that testify to His love. Let me tell you mine.”
Copyright 2011 Doris Gaines Rapp, Ph.D.

Order Prayer Therapy Primer, by Doris Gaines Rapp, at www.bn.com. An eBook.