How to Watch the News
Fireflies.
They might be the furthest thing from your mind as you watch the snow fall tonight, but the image of fireflies has helped me think about how to ‘cope’ with the never ending news cycle.
Fireflies, if you’ve ever had that chance to catch sight of them, are fleeting sparks of light in the summer darkness. If you look too hard, you might not see them. But when relaxed and looking nowhere in particular, you catch sight of them out of the corner of your eye.
It’s this relaxed posture, waiting for a glimpse of what you know is there, that inspires me in these days. For when I catch “sight”, as it were, of God’s presence I feel relief, hope and peace even as the world continues to go along with its chaotic urgency.
Fireflies remind me that God’s light is real and present, even when we can’t see it. And when we pause, take a deep breath and open our awareness we are often surprised by what we do catch a glimpse of.
Turn off the news, or avoid it for a day. Instead, sit quietly and watch the snow, or light a candle and ponder the flame. Take a deep breath. Think about what has unfolded today or yesterday that sparked gratitude in you. Pick up a book that has been inspirational in the past and ponder insights that once grabbed your attention. Be conscious of ordinary moments of goodness like the kindness of a stranger. Linger in these small but real and hopeful moments a bit longer than you usually would.
Paying attention to small moments of “light” will start to fill our perspective with God’s story over and above the dominant story of our world that can too often feel distressing and overwhelming. We don’t ignore that, but we put it into perspective and hold it in light of God’s presence all around us.
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This coming Sunday the Lectionary appoints Psalm 1 as our Psalm. Here is a lovely, and currently very appropriate, paraphrase of it by Nan C. Merrill (Psalm for Praying)
Blessed are those
who walk hand in hand
with goodness,
who stand beside virtue,
who sit in the seat of truth;
For their delight is in the Spirit of Love,
and in Love’s heart they dwell
day and night.
They are like trees planted by
streams of water,
that yield fruit in due season,
and their leaves flourish;
And in all that they do, they give life.
The unloving are not so;
they are like dandelions which
the wind blows away.
Turning from the Heart of Love
they will know suffering and pain.
They will be isolated from wisdom;
for Love knows the way of truth,
the way of ignorance will perish
as Love’s penetrating Light
breaks through hearts
filled with illusions:
forgiveness is the way.