The world of the internet has made our world smaller.
We read about, hear, see, almost experience things from all around the world, in real time. There is good to this, but also danger.
This bombardment of our senses with the news of the world can take us out of ourselves, and can cause us to miss the reality of what is happening right in front of our eyes. It can cause us to miss our life. Miss the joys, pains, heartaches all around us; things we can actually do something about.
#3 in my Top Ten List of things we can do when the world is at war is Be Where Your Feet Are.
I heard this phrase in my hot yoga class. Our instructor reminds us to be in the room where we are practicing, not thinking about what we are going to have for dinner, or what work projects are left undone or what global tragedy we are distressed about at the moment. Our bodies, minds and souls need to be where our feet are, meaning in the moment, in the current reality of our small circle of influence.
When the world is at war it is tempting to let our minds spin out of control and therefore keep us from focusing on what is right in front of us. Who is right in front of us. What we can influence, rather than what we can't.
So, after we have gathered the information we need from reputable news sources, and after we have given what we can to help the cause, we must practice grounding ourselves in the truth of our own current reality.
We must be where our feet are.
Take a deep breath.
Feel our feet on the ground.
Look around at our surroundings.
Feel the air on our face, the sun on our body, the chair under our back.
Take notice of the people we are interacting with in the midst of our day.
What can we do here - where our feet are - to make the world a better place?
Who has God called us to love in our own community? Our workplace? Our home? Our neighborhood? Across the river?
What tasks - no matter how small they might feel - are we charged with doing today? How can we do them well? With great love?
Throughout the day, stop and ask yourself:
Where are my feet? Where am I right now? Am I present here or is my mind a million miles away? How can I be where my feet are?
No, this will not create peace between Russia and Ukraine.
But neither will our doom-scrolling. Neither will our obsessing over images from the embattled cities. Neither will our fretting and fussing and worrying.
Those things will cause us to miss our own life.
And that will only wound us, wound those around us and wound the world.
Be where your feet are, even when the world is at war.
Be here, now. Do whatever good you can here, now.
Don't miss your life.
