I am a confessing news junkie. It’s genetic. My father named his cocker spaniel FDR. Not after the president. After Frank D. Reynolds, the ABC News anchor. I’m not kidding.

When I am in the car I listen to news. Not music. Not sports talk. News.

It’s been a tough cycle. It was talk radio for a long time. Then, the realization hit me they had quit talking about news and were more into themselves as hosts. I wanted to news. Any news.

But even National Public Radio was making me yell. The soft-spoken reporters of NPR would be talking about some action in Washington and my blood pressure would start to rise and I would find myself yelling at the radio.

This past month I have been in the middle of an intervention. I can only listen to music in the car. I have CDs and then turn on any station that will play music. Sometimes the withdrawal gives me the shakes. A cold sweat forms on my brow.

It doesn’t keep me from looking at news sites on the internet. I try to limit it, but I can’t go cold turkey. I HAVE to know what is going on in the world!

But when I read about the lunacy of politics and the incredible violence in Syria and Iraq and the circus going on in my state capital… I know where I turn.

It is the beauty of the Lord.

As we end this Advent Season and prepare for the celebration of our Savior’s birth, the psalms in our Advent Reading turn my attention to the astounding beauty of our Savior. Then the admonition is this: declare it. Declare his beauty to the nations.

In the ugliness of this world I can turn to the One who is altogether lovely. And I can point others to him as well. He is the Beautiful One.

³ Declare God’s glory among the nations;
   declare his wondrous works
   among all people
⁴ because the LORD is great
   and so worthy of praise.
He is awesome beyond all other gods
⁵ because all the gods of the nations
   are just idols,
      but it is the LORD
      who created heaven!
⁶ Greatness and grandeur
are in front of him;
   strength and beauty
   are in his sanctuary. (Psalm 96:3-6, CEB)