No News is Good News?

When we were growing up, if we started worrying if someone in the family who wasn’t home was alright, my dad would say, “No news is good news.” The saying means unless you hear something to the contrary, assume the best. The truth is bad news tends to travel fast and gets spread pretty widely. Good news is often slower. My dad didn’t want us to worry about things, especially things we couldn’t do anything about.

This weekend our sons came up from Texas to visit family in Indiana. I must admit I still checked my phone occassionally, but I intentionally tried to avoid following the news while they were with us. I am sure that helped make a special weekend even better for me.

My dad making breakfast for us.                 Father-son disc golf doubles with my brother, nephew & son.

While I think it's good to be aware of what is going in our world, we have little to no control over most of what happens. It’s easy to let the news we follow affect us more negatively than we realize.

Enjoying some great food with family!

On a walk together before our sons got to Indiana, Cathy reminded me that our word for the year was “present.” She reminded me to just be present with our family over the weekend. Just enjoy whatever we were doing while we were doing it. Since my mind tends to race in lots of different directions, it was wise advice.  My spiritual director, Ruben, often reminds me to “love the one in front of you.” That’s good advice too.

Are there people in your life who could use your focus? Maybe someone right “in front of you?” Might focusing on God more than the news be a priority this week? While it is not bad to know what is happening out there in the world, in a time when news is available 24/7, every once in a while, “no news is good news.”