Roles

If the news is an indicator, we need fall guys.  One country is responsible for the ills of another.  Because of the actions of someone else – a fellow competitor, a parent or child, and even the hidden conspirator, the current situation is not our fault.  With a gentleness I need, I suggest that we play an active role in the events of our lives.  We influence the good and the bad.  We invite participation from Evil as well as Divinity.  Our actions, choices, and ultimately values are more correlated to life events than we are willing to admit. 
Yet, we blame others. 
It is easier that way.  If it is someone's fault, then I do not need to look in the mirror.  If someone else is to blame, I can stand tall on imaginary principles that may not apply to the situation.  If it is anywhere or anyone but me, I am ok.
Bluntly, you and I are not ok.  We are weak, fragile, and prone to failures.  I am not trying to depress anyone.  I am trying to state a fact that, when coupled with an assessment in the role we play in our own lives, gives each the opportunity to do something about it! 
When bad things happen, before throwing the first stone look at where you stand.  From a third person perspective, if you observe how “the ringleaders took off their coats and asked a young man named Saul to watch them,” (Acts 7.58) ask yourself where you stand.  Are you enabling Evil?  Are you embracing the negative in someone's life, maybe your own?  Are you part of the problem?
The questions are rhetorical.  In some way, the answer is yes to each.  The only questions are ones of awareness and doing something about it.  Realize that we have, are, and will fail.  God knows this.  We are the only ones that may be in denial.  Second, God loves us unconditionally exactly as we are.  Nothing separates us from Divinity.  It is in our weakness that God is most willing to help.