Giant Meteor 2016!

Like a lot of people, I'm not feeling very optimistic about the year 2017. Actually, that's probably the understatement of the year. The truth is, I look at the Year 2017 with a sense of impending doom. If I had placed a bumper sticker on my minivan during the recent (un)Presidential election cycle, it would have read read something like the one in this picture:

But see the caption? The downward spiral to utter chaos is not limited to every. single. political institution in America. This sticker was born in the UK. The slippery slope we are on has been mounted worldwide. Scary times.

Ironically, I've also -- at the risk of sounding like Oprah -- been thinking a lot about how I could live my best life, since it is slipping away at an alarming rate.😅 (Does that emoji have a milk moustache?) I'm now claiming Expert status at making New Years Resolutions, since I've been at it for probably 40 out of 51 years. This vast experience has taught me not to quantify my lists, because that's just setting myself up for failure. That's the same reason I don't read self-help books, but I digress. 😄 So here it is, in all its glory. My list of attainable goals for 2017. That is, if a giant meteor doesn't strike first. 

1. Read more actual books.
2. Write more.
3. Walk daily, hike more.
4. Drink more water.
5. Remember more birthdays.
6. Travel more.
7. Be a better friend.
8. Teach more English.
9. Do creative things more often.
10. Organize my house!

In my dreams, I would have included "learn a new language," or "learn to play an instrument," but if I can just toddle down to the mailbox once in a while, I will consider 2017 to have been a major coup!

After all, with this nice mushroom cloud compare it to, how can I go wrong?

 

Long tailed cat...

...in a room full of rocking chairs.

These days, everywhere I turn, I'm having to watch my tongue and guard my heart from sharing too much.  My innermost thoughts would doubtless render me a pariah.  And as hard as this is to picture me doing (I'm infamous for my unfortunate, accursed bluntness), I often practice the art of the polite nod and smile in the face of the off-hand, meant-to-be-humorous, and understood-to-be-widely-agreed-upon political commentary of others.  I have mastered the internal eye-roll.  The problem, it seems, is that it is simply understood in all the circles that I "travel"  that I'm a conservative person.  But what does that really mean?

con·serv·a·tive

 /kənˈsɜrvətɪv/ Show Spelled[kuhn-sur-vuh-tiv]  

–adjective

1.disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.

2.cautiously moderate or purposefully low: a conservative estimate.

3.traditional in style or manner; avoiding novelty or showiness: conservative suit.

4.( often initial capital letter ) of or pertaining to the Conservative party.

5.( initial capital letter ) of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Conservative Jews or Conservative Judaism.

6.having the power or tendency to conserve; preservative.

7.Mathematics . (of a vector or vector function) having curl equal to zero; irrotational; lamellar.

–noun

8.person who is conservative in principles, actions, habits, etc.

9.a supporter of conservative political policies.

10. ( initial capital letter ) a member of a conservative political party, esp. the Conservative party in Great Britain.

11.a preservative.

 

Except for that whole math thing (see #7 - I mean, what the heck is "irrotational" and "lamellar?") and right up to the assumption of wildly cohesive "group think" on #9 and 10 and a growing number of odd ball issues covered on Fox News daily, I am conservative.   But still, I don't fit in anywhere 100%.  Not at church, not in my homeschool group, not in my neighborhood, and rarely at local political events.  (Note: I don't normally get involved in political events that are not local.)

I grew up in a church that taught that, since our Kingdom was not of this world, we shouldn't become involved in the political process. Hence, I never voted until 2002, when I was 37.  Those of you who know me know that I have since made up for lost time. ;-)    Rather than party affiliation, though, I choose to align my  political action with issues.  I just don't believe that everyone in America falls neatly under one of 2 columns:  Republican or Democrat.  Even if you throw in Libertarian, Constitution, or Green Party, you still haven't begun to cover it.  And I'm just not about phoney baloney labels.  Yes, they serve a purpose, but it is limited -- and if you really do your homework -- almost entirely unnecessary.  The politicians I support are people who will make a difference on matters that are important to me in positions of power to do so.  I don't select local politicians by their position on issues that local government has no impact on, any more than I vote for president based on whether or not my local water source is fluoridated or our local Zoning Laws are administered properly.

My own family has suffered egregiously because of this very human need for labels.  The scars go all the way back to the Civil War, believe it or not.  I can tell you stories of death over better pots of coffee.  Again, if you know me, this isn't hard to picture -- we must have some genetic defect where caffeine is concerned!  But in spite of this and my early neglect of politics and his own personal political "war' wounds, my father eventually became my teacher on this difficult, taboo topic of "politics."  His political views are simple to understand:    
The Golden Rule.

"Mat 7:12  Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets."

 I agree with my dad.  This should be our focus in all that we do.  Never more so than in our own communities.  I'm 45 now, and undisputedly (is that a word?) in the latter part of my life.  I think I've reached a point in which I'm going to move away from polite nodding, put on my Big Girl Pants and clearly identify myself as an advocate for the Politics of the Golden Rule.   Won't you join me?

Wordless Wednesday

Shrill Voice of Politics

Everywhere I go these days, I am assaulted by the shrill voice of politics. Some days, I just don't know if I can endure another four years of the toxic comments that pepper every means of social interaction that I employ from church to Facebook.

While I have heard some reasonable arguments against various administrative decisions - at this moment all of 103 days old - most of these voices are fueled by speculation, misinformation, and even outright lies. Fear is clearly the primary factor in the resulting decibel level.

Almost daily during the campaign for president, I received a different email stating a new way in which the sky would fall if Barack Obama won. Or a new effort to impugn his religion, his family, his reputation, his citizenship. All were easily debunked with a quick google search. I was continually surprised that so few made the effort to do so before making their personal contribution to the "viral status" of these emails. I found it equally alarming that these email rumors and lies came to me exclusively from frightened, well-meaning Christian friends who normally wouldn't touch gossip and rumors with a ten-foot pole. It seems there is an entirely different standard of behavior to be applied by Christians to those we can label a "Liberal."

I hoped all this would end after the election was over and the dust settled. But alas, now I know it hadn't even started in earnest. I also know now that the respect for the office of president is limited to Republican presidents. It seems we only support the ideals of a Representative Republic when the representative is the one that WE personally chose.

Majority rule seems a terrible idea when we personally fall within the minority.

But how we manage this disappointment will go far toward shaping our future relevance as a body of believers in America. From how we manage to raise children who are respectful of those in authority and of our great nation in general, to how the Christian community positions itself to take a more effective role in guiding public policy.

As citizens can we move ahead, and with God's help, learn to not only cope, but to contribute in these circumstances?


Here is an article with a viewpoint I respect. Perhaps you will enjoy it, too:
Christian Standard - This Is the Church’s Moment