I've been thinking.......

(image via google)

Please, don't look so astonished!  Granted there was some smoke wafting out of my ears earlier from the hard work of my brain, but I do happen to get into a thinking mood every once in awhile.

For the record, I don't mean for this to be a downer post.  Far from it.  Instead, it's just thoughts.  I would like for my great-great-great-great granddaughter to some day know that her ancestor was more than a just a pretty face.  Or actually in my case, more than just a whacky, irreverent nut job.

Sooo......is it just me or does it seem like there is more than the usual chaos in the world?  It seems that no matter what news channel I turn on, I am lambasted by reports of terrible things across the globe.  Wars, natural disasters, unrest in governments, death, abuse, disease and poverty.

Yesterday I was talking with a friend and we were discussing some of the trials and hard things that we knew personally of first hand.  It took both hands to count them.  Another occasion, I was discussing with another person the seemingly increased rate of cancer diagnosis within our own personal circles.  Again, both hands.  Today, I sat reflecting on the past 6 years and the heartaches that have been close to home, even in my own four walls. It took both hands and feet.

Is it just me, or is there a whole lot more sadness and tragedy going on?  Am I of the age now, that when I do chat with my friends, it's to discuss our health, political, and social issues instead of our parties and new clothes?  Have I gotten to the point in life that the view through my lens is much more somber and serious than that of 20 years ago?  I'm actually quite confused on the matter.  It feels like all around me, more and more friends/family have hard things thrown at them.  I wonder if they have been happening all along at the same rate and I just wasn't as acutely aware, or is this life just getting to be more challenging than it used to be.

So if it's me......why the change?  Why am I now more aware, more sensitive, more touched by my own and others trials?  Is it the maturity that comes with the added candles to the birthday cake? Or maybe perhaps since I am no longer in the midst of raising a family, I have more time to look out my own front windows and see the going's on of the world.   Makes sense.

But if it's not me.........what's happening?  Why the rapid increase in tumult and chaos?

Is it the fact that news travels around the world in a matter of seconds with a mouse and keyboard so it's smack in our faces or is it because really, truly there is a higher percentage of sorrowful events out there?
For those that are Christian and believe in a second coming of Jesus Christ one would answer that this is all part of the plan to usher Him in.  We could point to the bible and other revelations telling that these things would happen as it grew closer and closer for the time for Him to come again. One only has to read to book of Revelations in the New Testament to see the correlation.

As one who is a Christian it makes sense to me.  It gives an answer for the increase in the heartache all around us.  Doesn't make things easier, but it does create a sense of purpose behind it all.
For one who is not a Christian, I...uh....well - I guess I don't really know what to think except that the challenges can be used for us to become better people. More kind, more understanding and more accepting to and of each other.

Either way, it's a win right?

If it's me, well then sheesh - I must be growing up! Getting all soft and gooey, sensitive and more aware in my old age.

If it's not me, then dang!  We're kind of in a crisis mode eh friends?  Perhaps we need to step up the game and either prepare for Jesus Christ to come again, or become better people purely in the process of surviving trials.

I don't know.

I've just been thinking.........