Most of us have been held in the spell of the news over these last days. I received a voice mail yesterday from a friend who said "I just have to hear your voice. The world has gone crazy. I feel so sad." In the wake of this week’s news, it is easy to fall into the trap of seeing only the terrible things happening in the world. It is easy to forget that every day millions of people are getting up, putting one foot in front of the other, and walking out into the world to do something good.

I am in Florida right now at a gathering of United Methodist Deacons. This morning as I listened to our bishop, Sally Dyck, urge us to practice Sabbath, I began to look around at the people gathered in the room. I found myself looking at those faces who,every day, seek after goodness in the world. They are some of the many who help feed the hungry, who lovingly teach children, who hold the hands of those who are dying. They are just a few in the world who work for justice through the church and government, who accompany people to chemotherapy, who teach confirmation students the stories of our faith and stand with them in their questioning.  They are only a fraction of those on our planet who visit the lonely in the nursing homes, who pray without ceasing for peace,who bring a smile to people in their communities with the stories they tell.

For all this goodness they bring into the world, we rarely, if ever, see their names in the newspapers. We never hear of their acts of kindness in the leading news story on the nightly news. We never have television cameras following them around. No one ever waits outside their houses and interviews their neighbors about "what they are really like."

Here’s a late-breaking story….there are people in the world dedicating their lives to goodness, to faith, to hope, to making the world a better place, to being the presence of the Holy for another. And I know them!

And I bet you do, too.

Today I give thanks for all those who never make the headlines….may God bless them.

Have a wonderful weekend………….