One of my friends posted this on Instagram tonight: “The less you respond to negative people, the more peaceful your life will become.” I had to stop my scrolling for a second and think about that one! I do try to keep negativity out of my life. And of course I love the idea of my life being peaceful. But I’ve always thought of it as something I could control – that I was the one who could just keep the negativity away. But this idea, the idea that it’s all about how I respond, is hard for me. It means I have to take responsibility. It means that if I’m not feeling so peaceful, maybe I have to blame myself, and not someone else. As a Christ follower, I can take this one step farther. Did Jesus say we should avoid difficulties? That we should just try to be comfortable all the time? Is that the way to a peaceful life? Not at all. Both His words and His actions teach just the opposite. He was surrounded by negativity – by people who didn’t believe in Him and people who wanted to destroy Him. But he reacted to it in a gracious, loving, peaceful manner. And people noticed. I think this is an important thing to think about, as Christians living in the world we live in. We are surrounded by people with different opinions than us, and some are more negative than others. We shouldn’t run away, but we also shouldn’t respond to the negativity with more of the same. I pray that I can be someone who can stand up for truth in a way that won’t feed the negativity, but will bring light into it. And when people notice how I respond (or how I don’t respond), and they see that I have true peace in my life, I’ll have the opportunity to tell them who I follow. That’s all for now! Thanks for posting those quotes that make me think!