How would you describe the condition of the world? Would you use words like peace, joy, patience, love, compassion, kindness, humility, gentle, self-control?

Would you look at the lives of people living in destructive dictatorships and call their lives peaceful? Would you witness the depth of poverty in third-world nations, or right in our own backyard, and call those conditions peaceful for those people? Would you characterize the leaders of those nations as men and women of peace?

Would you read the daily crime log and characterize people as filled with joy? Would you listen to insidious remarks of jealousy and label the person voicing them as joyful?

Would you stand in line at Wal-Mart and see only patient people? Would you sit in the drive-through line at a fast food restaurant and wait patiently for your turn? Would you wait patiently on that child who is always perpetually late getting ready? Would you take the time behind a slow driver to relax a little? Would you give the disabled person the right of way on a sidewalk or in the mall?

Would you listen to people around you and hear love? Or would you hear criticism? Would you observe people taking advantage of others? Would you forget to express love to those who mean the most to you? Would you forget to accept the gift of love when it is given? Would you reach out to a stranger in a loving gesture, or would you shrink away? Would you hear words of affirmation and appreciation? Or would you hear or say, “I want more, more, more?”

Would you see compassion? Would you see yourself and others looking for opportunities to reach out and serve others? Or would you see yourself and others thinking primarily about what others can do for you? Would you see the Boy Scout helping the lady across the street? Would you see a Mother Teresa in your midst?

Would you see kindness? Would you see someone being given the benefit of the doubt? Would you see the wealthy among us taking care of the poor among us? Or would you see us turning our heads and declaring, perhaps not verbally but with our inactions, that they should get themselves out of the mess they’re in?

Would you see humility? In a land of self-gratification, self-esteem, self-made men and women, self-confidence, self-reliance, self-educated and self-assured, need I say more?

Would you see gentleness? Or would you witness a mother cursing at her young child in public? Would you watch teenage girls be gentle with one another, or would you shake your head at their potential for cruelty? Would you listen to gossip and spread it?

Would you see self-control? Or would you see a world indulging every passion it feels to the fullest extent? Would you see a world motivated by greed or by service? Would you see a world characterized by discipline or would you see a world run amok with each person doing what is right in his own eyes?

The world is certainly not all bad. Man is certainly not all bad. There are pockets of good in every land and in every person. But it behooves us all to take a look at how we would describe our world, and thus ourselves.

Before Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, he looked at His world, Jerusalem. And He wept. “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace.” I think He says the same about our world.

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