There’s a powerful phrase that can help when life is confusing. When you don’t understand what’s going on with the people around you and with the world at large, this little phrase can bring some much-needed clarity and resolution. The phrase is,

As for me…

When it comes down to it, no matter what is going on around us, we still have the opportunity to decide for ourselves how we are going to respond to adversity and how we are going to live in the midst of the brokenness. We cannot control all of our circumstances, but we can control how we respond to them.

In other words, regardless of what everyone else is saying and doing, we have the agency to speak for ourselves and conduct ourselves in a way that is consistent with what we believe.

When David’s world turned chaotic and he was forced to hide in caves to avoid being assaulted by angry people, he refused to allow it to steal the music of his soul. He said to the Lord,

But as for me, I will sing about your power.
Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love.
For you have been my refuge,
a place of safety when I am in distress.-Psalm 59:16

The reason David could still sing when he was having a string of bad days is because he still had something to sing about, namely the strength, love, and safe refuge that he found in God.

At the end of the day, we make our decisions. Each of us gets to say, “As for me…” We decide what we’re going to do and no one else can decide for us.

Victor Frankl, reflecting on what he had learned as a survivor of the holocaust, put it this way:

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

Dear God, help us to respond gracefully to the adversity in front of us and give us strength to rise to the challenges. Regardless of what others are doing, help us to choose to serve You with all we have and to sing Your praises, even if we’re singing from a cave. May others hear the echo. In the beautiful and powerful name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

It’s a new day with God. Run with it.