laneys.info Beware of Yankees, drunks, and loose women.

Take a look around you for the next 24 hours. See if you can notice every advertisement in your environment. I suspect that it will overwhelm you.

One interesting thing about advertising - it all assumes that the problem is on your outside. Use this cream or that pill, eat this, go to this doctor, join that club, and everything will be all better. Blah blah blah.

The problem is, if you take a good, hard look at the actual problems we face as a society, you'll soon see that our problems have nothing to do with the outside, but with the inside. The "War on Drugs" is doomed to failure, not because drugs aren't bad, but because drugs aren't really the problem. People who have happy, healthy lives, and feel good about themselves don't need drugs. People who don't have that inner peace will do whatever it takes to try and find it, whether that's drugs, sex, bad relationships, crime, or whatever.

Poverty and hunger are, perhaps, the only exceptions to this, since many people find themselves destitute through no fault of their own. However, we all have heard the stories of people who live in their car, but have the best satellite TV system that money can buy. Where are their priorities? They're caught somewhere between escaping from reality and feeling better through consumer spending.

The problem is that this "outside-itis" is spreading. Have you wondered why our country is so divided and litigious? Everyone is suing everyone else, or so it seems, and our nation is polarizing itself into fake divisions - politically, economically, socially, spiritually - you name it. The perception is that the problem is outside. "I'm not responsible for this, it was that person over there, and I'm suing." "Don't blame me, I didn't vote for him." "It's their fault, they're to blame." Once again, though, the real problem is that no one wants to take a good, hard look inside themselves for the seeds of their destruction. No one is able to accept that accidents happen, because that might imply that they had some fault in the situation. No one is willing to take any responsibility, pay any of the price, or accept any of the blame, because the problem is outside of themselves.

There's very little that the government can do about it. The answer is just like the problem - it lies inside every one of us. If we bring ourselves to accept what the Bible has been saying for thousands of years - that people are inherently flawed, corrupt, and prone to make crummy, selfish decisions - then we are in a position to do something about it. Psychologists and 12-step programs everywhere know that the first step to fixing the problem is to admit that it exists. The second is a lot like it - quit blaming others for your problem and start working on it yourself. The rest of us will be more than willing to help you. After all, we're on the same road you are.

I achieved my own inner peace by accepting three things: 1. my problems, though unique to me in their specific combination, are inherent in the human condition and need the help of God, through Jesus Christ, to correct. 2. my problems are within me and will follow me wherever I go unless I confront them. 3. my problems cannot be solved through my own power alone, they will require me to be dedicated in my approach, dependent upon God, and willing to accept my wife's help in fixing them. Accepting these three things allowed me to return from the brink of a very ugly divorce to have the most wonderful life and family a guy could ever hope for.

I want that for you, too, if you don't have it. The problem lies within, but so does the peace.