thinking through the ashes...

If I thought the moon rise was spectacular, it had nothing on the moon set this morning!  I need to download the camera, I am hoping to have caught at least one shot of that breathtaking view!  Hubs and I walked all over the neighborhood with the boys looking for the best angle.  To the point that I was standing in the turn lane of Big Bend praying that my clothing choice (all black) didn't lead to me being road kill at 5 am.

Circled by high clouds, it radiated and glowed! It was so inspiring.

And as I sit here sipping on my morning smoothie, I am watching a sunrise that fills me with hope and joy.  I need it.

I woke up this morning to the sad news out of Brussels.  My heart is breaking for the people there.  It is one of my favorite cities!  I have spent many hours and days roaming the streets and exploring this exceptional city.  The old and new combine in a such a way that both feel as though they belong.  The people are kind, warm, loving, welcoming (unless you are driving - then it's hands down a bumper car derby)... in fact, it's probably those very traits that are hurting them so badly now. Their kindness, generosity, accepting and welcoming nature have led them to a place where now people with none of those traits are doing heinous acts just for attention and destruction.

I am struggling with so much that is going on in our world today.  I wonder what lessons the universe is trying to teach us that we are stubbornly not trying to learn.

Each day I see so many homeless people, lying in parks, doorways, streets, leaning on fences or huddled inside playground structures.  Some of them are in dire straights because they are unable to reason or understand what is going on.  Those rip at my heart. Family either doesn't know or doesn't care.  They are the lost ones.

Then there are the ones that are battling chemical demons. So much of it is killing them - not their bodies, but them.  Several that I know are such wonderful, vibrant people, and then they use.  And you see the blank stares, the swaying bodies you are worried for them.  Wondering if it is the heroin or the K2, praying it isn't a combination of both.  Paramedic's and police won't touch them if it is K2 - that crap isn't illegal.  Just deadly.

And I watch the city treat them with disdain.  The part that breaks my heart, so many of these men and women are our veterans. People that have put their lives on the line for us, people that we are treating like yesterday's garbage.  Stripped of their dignity and grace by life events.

We have people that are being taught to accept poverty and demand more be given to them, taking away self respect.

There is an increase in murder, theft, abuse and so much more.

What are we missing?  When did we stop fighting the good fight.

A hug costs nothing.  Well okay occasionally it is an assault on the senses. The lack of bathing is sometimes hard.  But hugs save lives.  They build hearts, they heal wounds that you cannot see.

A conversation.  A smile.  Common human kindness.

We are losing a battle... and it's one that we might never get the chance to fight for again.

Brussels feels so far away when you live in the US, it feels like another planet, when it's really only 8 hours or so from most locations by plane.  Less than some people spend at work each day.

Is our lack of human kindness, love, empathy, respect, caring, kindness and compassion as a whole going to cause people to follow the same insanity that is raging over across the ocean?  When people feel lost, desperate, and a deep need to belong and feel valued does it cause them to lash out?  Are we as a country allowing grown adults to act as children demanding and expecting everything?  Will this lead to them as a whole lashing out when those needs and wants aren't met, not owning their own responsibility in any failures or disappointments?

It's hard to be surrounded by the beauty that is all around us while knowing there is so much falling apart, so much pain and anger ready to swipe it all away.

Today... I need a moment in prayer.