I struggle to reflect warm love instead of the world’s cold fear

By David McElroy · August 2, 2026

I’m still looking for my place in this world.

In reality, though, I’m trapped between two worlds. I was born into a flesh-and-blood world which is ruled by a mindless culture which feels cold and indifferent at best, angry and evil at worst. At times, I glimpse another world — a world in which love and decency and compassion lead us to connection with a creator who is often hidden.

I’m a part of both worlds, but I want to live more and more in the world of the spirit. More in the world of love. More in the world of this creator spirit who I know as God.

There are times when I want to rage against the dysfunction and the evil of what modern popular culture has become. That’s partly because what I see seems so wrong, but it’s partly because being immersed in that culture keeps us from seeing the spirit world.

So there are times when I’m angry about the world in which I’m living, when I’m filled with confusion and hurt and outrage about what we have created.

But this is not one of those times.

Tonight, I am filled with a love that is far beyond my own ability to fathom. I’m filled with the desire to touch the face of a God who I know is there. I’m filled with the need to express a boundless love — an expression of the loving spirit who made me.

But I’ll be clear. This isn’t about religion. It’s not about any specific theology. I have nothing to sell you here — not even the things I believe are true.

I could dress this up in flowery religious language that reflects my own faith. People who already agree with me would like that. I know how to reflect my own Christian culture and the Southern Baptist subculture in which I grew up.

But what I’m talking about isn’t about copying that culture, because the culture I see inside modern churches is just as off-course as what I see in the mainstream culture. What I’m talking about here is far more fundamental to the difference between this physical world and that spiritual world.

What I’m saying here is more about the Sermon on the Mount than it is about Paul’s Roman Road, to put it into a theological context.

When I’m able to keep my heart focused on that other world — and when I can allow my behavior to reflect that love — I am a different person. I become the man who I was created to be.

When I move through this physical world — bathed in the dysfunction of our culture — I want to tell others how to fix things. I want to point out all the terrible things I see. I want to ask my fellow Christians to be more loving to our enemies, as Jesus ordered us to do. I want to beg people to be kinder and gentler to the people around them.

But when I do feel love in my heart — in the way I do tonight — I know better.

I’m the only one who I can control. I’m the only one I’m responsible for. I’m the only one who I have any right to lecture.

When I feel the way I do right now, I feel as though I can love others. I feel as though I have blinders on and I can stop — at least for a moment — worrying about things I can’t change.

When Jesus told his followers to love others and take care of people who have needs, he didn’t add a footnote giving me authority to force others to behave as I think they should. And when I feel as though my heart is full of the love that my God wants me to have for everyone, I know where my focus should be.

I need to keep my eyes on the world beyond this one. I need to keep my heart softened and open to divine love. To see the state of the culture around us — and refuse to harden our hearts — is one of the most radical and loving decisions we’re called to make.

When I focus on the flesh-and-blood world around me, I’m prone to feeling fear and anger and disdain for others. I know that’s not who I need to be. It’s not who I was created to be.

I was made to love. I was made to connect — with the divine and with people around me, whether I think they “deserve” it or not.

My feet are in a world where I have to live, but my heart needs to remain focused on a world where love is the common currency.

Share on Social Networks

Here’s another reason to appreciate the cats in your life: New research involving 93 countries found that places with more cats per person also tended to have happier people. The researchers say the finding fits with previous evidence that living with pets can reduce loneliness and stress while providing companionship, emotional attachment and social support. The study doesn’t prove that cats cause greater happiness, but it certainly adds to the evidence that sharing your home — and your life — with a cat might be good for you.

The company that owns Facebook and Instagram is heavily promoting its new AI-based software assistant called Muse, but people who are using it as it was designed are incredibly foolish. An early adopter of the software discovered that a few days ago when he advertised an item for sale on Facebook Marketplace — and he inadvertently gave Muse full authority to act on his behalf. The software agreed to a lowball offer made by another Facebook user and then gave that man the home address of the man for whom he was an agent. The software told the buyer that the seller was home and waiting for him. When the buyer showed up and waited angrily, the would-be buyer left an angry review for the man. And this angry man had the seller’s home address. It was only well after that that the software reported what it had done and admitted it had made a mistake. I won’t be putting that much power into the hands of any software. I think anyone who agrees to such terms is a fool. And the software’s user agreement says you’re responsible for purchases the software makes in your name. Nope.

Meet my new girlfriend. Her name is Meg. And she’s my little sweetheart. A couple of months ago, a neighbor across the street told me about a new stray in the neighborhood that she and I were both soon feeding. The cat had been very skittish about contact and she had a lot of scabs and parasites in her fur, but a trip to the vet last week revealed that she was otherwise in good health. The vet estimates her to be 1 to 2 years old. I named her for Meg Murry, the 13-year-old protagonist of Madeleine L’Engle’s wonderful book, “A Wrinkle in Time.” (Please read the book. Don’t watch the horrible movie.) Since we lost Lucy almost a year ago, it seems appropriate that we finally have a new little girl to join the household. She’s already captured my heart, but Alex, Oliver and Sam aren’t there quite yet.

There’s nothing socially acceptable that’s as dangerous as drinking alcohol. Most people grow up being told to “drink responsibly” — and all of us see people abusing this drug in one way or another — but the truth is that drinking alcohol is always a terrible risk. The alcohol in these drinks is toxic and the human liver has to work hard to filter the toxins out. What most people don’t realize is that alcohol is classified as a known carcinogen by the World Health Organization — because of the well-established connection between imbibing and various cancers. Many people have taken refuge behind the idea that light or moderate drinking might be safe, but a new study shows that drinking even one drink a day increases the risks of 10 types of cancer. When I was a teen-ager, I looked around and saw the negative effects that this behavior had on a lot of people and decided not to start drinking, so I’ve never even tried this poison. The evidence keeps piling up that I was lucky to have come to that conclusion early.

It turns out that the radical far left has been training “Antifa cats” to sabotage anything important to Donald Trump. Everything he did was perfect. Honest. It was all the cats’ fault. Arrest all the cats! This is the latest of my ridiculous satirical shorts. Please go watch it. Then “like” it and subscribe. Please. I’m begging you. (Too much?) Although a couple of the previous videos have had views in the hundreds, most have still been seen by fewer than 20 people. So I seem to be having trouble letting people know that page exists.

Related Posts