I’m a person who gets overwhelmed by the news. I actually avoid news stories as much as possible because I’m rather thin-skinned, and I don’t have that filter that most people have that lets them distance themselves from awful things.

I’ve heard lots of ways that people cope (“look for the helpers“, for example), but this is mine:

 

 

The mist is just as real as the street, and it transforms everything. It might be fleeting, but it’s real. And while the mist might burn off, it keeps coming back.

As a Christian, I believe that the beautiful things in life–no matter how fleeting–will last for eternity, whereas the ugliness and hatred will go up in smoke. That doesn’t mean that I don’t fight the ugly stuff–because I believe I HAVE to. We can’t let hatred take over. But it also means that I have permission to stop and appreciate the beauty; not because it is so fleeting, but because it is more resilient than anyone seems to realize.