I have loved ones who do not know Jesus.

I have family members who are awaiting test results.

I have four children who must, one day, navigate this messed up world without me.

And, this morning on Twitter, I watched as women got themselves all worked up because someone referred to them as girls instead of women.

People are exhausting, y’all.

I have seen people criticize and judge a young couple who have adopted seven children from Ethiopia. Seven! I have been sent ugly emails because I linked to a blog written by Jen Hatmaker. She, too, has rescued children and redeemed them through the power of adoption. Why has it become acceptable to sit behind a computer screen and sling mud at those in the trenches?  It’s a shame, really, because there is so much more work to be done.

I want respect as much as the next girl. Or woman. Whatever. Here’s the thing. This little Twitter debate was among people who all had “Christian”, “Christ-follower” or the like in their bio. We are so busy fighting among ourselves. We desperately claw our way to the top trying to make a name for ourselves. The world watches and Satan laughs.

We bicker.

We debate.

We quarrel.

All the while, as Thoreau would say, the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. People are desperate for hope. Men and women lead lives full of emptiness and pain. Children go to bed hungry. People are going to hell.

We can not hold out hope to a dying world when our hands are full of the stones we’re throwing.

Put down the stones. Pick up a shovel and get to work.