Tags

, , ,

President Obama once said,“cynicism is a sad kind of wisdom.” He and I were never that into one another, but we broke up for good that day.  While it is important not to get sucked down into cynicism, I just cannot respect those who do not honor the wisdom to be found in dark places, in the bottom of the pit. Cynicism is something to be aware of, to not get mired down in, but there is still some great truth and wisdom to be found there.

Nothing like a few dark nights of the soul to lead you to the Light.

One of my favorite bits of dark humor quips about how, “on election day, half the country’s hopes and dreams will die. For the rest of the country it takes about 3 weeks longer…….” Yep, words of wisdom from those who have watched these things play out before.

Where I live, which is dark blue, there’s a popular bumper sticker which says, “Democrats think the glass is half empty, Republicans think the glass is theirs.”

I follow the Lamb because He is the only One who teaches us that the glass is refillable. God is the God of all abundance, of plenty, of well watered springs that never run dry. It doesn’t matter where you are or what your circumstances are, when you make Him King, you live in His kingdom. His kingdom is not even of this world, so one could be singing His praises in prison, or from behind the iron curtain. His kingdom is within us and it goes where we go.

There is no place He won’t go.

Some people accuse me of being in the middle and inform me there is nothing in the middle of the road but flat squirrels and roadkill. I rather like that analogy, I am like a flat squirrel in a cartoon, one that has been re-inflated with a bicycle pump, redeemed, refreshed, resurrected even, more times than I can count. I’d like to brag and tell everyone I am just an awesome squirrel, but it isn’t really true. I just serve an awesome King who has scrapped me off the pavement many times.

Just for the record, I am seldom “in the middle,” on any issue. I once took one of those political quizes and wound up so far afield, I went back and tried to rig the thing so I would land somewhere within the Venn diagram of “normalcy.”

Someone said this election doesn’t really matter, and I agree with that in terms of candidates and “winning” and “losing,” but I think this election matters a great deal becasue it has revealed some things about us as people, about us as Christian people, that must be addressed, that must be acknowledged. There’s some real ugliness within the Western Body of Christ, something I have been challenged to forgive over and over again. I’ve watched some pretty blatent racism rear it’s head, I’ve seen total disrespect and outright hatred towards women, I’ve seen hypocrisy, gossip, and vindictiveness. Idolotry too, endless idolotry, placing everything and anything above Christ, before our relationship with Him. There’s been some real shaking going on, wheat kernals spilling forth and chaff blowing away.

That matters, that means something. That’s not a coincidence.

I too have been on the receiving end of some outright hostility towards Christians, hatred I don’t think is fair, stereotypes that just do not apply and yet I can see where they have come from, I can understand why one might look at me and just see….yuck. That matters too, because we are representatives of Jesus Christ. Often poor representatives, but representatives just the same.

I too have been on the receiving end of some outright hostility from Christians.

I follow the Lamb because He is the only One who teaches us that the glass is refillable. What we really need to do is to refill it with milk, lots and lots of spiritual milk. Kindness still matters, the simple things still matter.

As people we tend to over think these things, we get entangled in politics, in supreme court appointments, in elaborate conspiracy theories, in laws and policies, but the truth is actually very simple. As John said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

bread