wow -there is so much to think about. just in the last couple of hours since i got back from school, my mind has gone from tom cruise and scientology, christmas letters and chocolate's life-improving power, to love languages and the "davos question." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCA9vhT_In4)

there's so much going on around me. whether it's happening to the friend sitting next to me or the child miles and miles away from me -it's hard to keep everything straight. political issues, religious ideals, personal problems. what should i care about? how should i spend my time? i tend to focus on loving and investing in the people directly around me -because i can't seem to get my head around anything much further than that. i don't know all the ins and outs of the iraqi war and i don't have an educated opinion on the subject -but when i ask my students the question:
"what do you think is the greatest invention of all time?"
and one of them answers:
"nuclear weapons -because they can kill people."-
i know something is wrong. something is very wrong.

there are millions of answers to the davos question -"what one thing can countries, companies, and individuals do to make the world a better place in 2008." emma thompson said, "listen to eachother." bono said, "end extreme poverty." president hamid karzai said, "be kind and considerate to eachother." another girl said, "support and pursue science and technology." it's good that we're asking the question and thinking about ways it can be answered, even fulfilled, this year. but it's sad because i can't help thinking that no matter how good everyone's intentions are, no matter how hard we try to listen and be kind to eachother, and no matter how much tom cruise believes he is the one who can help the people in the car accident on the side of the road -only God can help. i believe we are His hands and His feet to a broken world -but i also believe the world is in fact broken and only He can ultimately make it "a better place." it's a tricky thing. i keep coming back to the fact that all we can do is love people and pray they see God in us. yep.