What happens when our political words divide?

Ok, so admittedly I do not have the answer to that question, but after many internet and ‘real-life discussions’ and classroom sessions on the issues lately, I felt compelled for my own sake to reflect on the question.

Today my heart hurts. My heart hurts for the nation people.

I (probably much like you) am reading about blame, about threats, about legislative hostage situations. It isn’t pretty, and it honestly just makes me tired. And sad. Tomorrow I will probably be fired up and ready to go out and fight the good fight, but today my bones just feel so weary. Achy. Sore.

I feel weary because of what is being spoken. Because of the tension I read and feel in the Facebook posts, the tweets, the accusations. Because of the fear being spread and internalized. And the energy-stealing superiority and ‘rightness’ that flows from me externally.

I have a tendency to side with a particular political member or one specific party. I also have a tendency to adamantly oppose “the other” party simply based on buzzwords that have been stolen from our vocabulary and have been morphed into signals for division. To divide us. To separate us.  To make us feel and think that we have more differences than we what have in common.

Democrat, Republican, family values, liberal, conservative, feminist, communist, Capitalist, Tea Partier, entitlement, welfare, one percent, the working poor, _____ (fill in the blank) there are many more. If any one of these words is boldly placed in the title of an article: my interest is instantly piqued, or I just brush it off and shut it down. It has gotten so bad, that I find myself doing this with people. If they don’t agree: what they say on the issue isn’t important, and I stop listening.  But these opinions are coming from people. Who matter.

Barack Obama is a human. John Boehner is a human. Harry Reid is a human.  That crazy liberal democrat republican conservative radical anarchist on your facebook feed is also a human.

What we say to them, say about them and how we engage with them matters.

I have to constantly remind myself that how other people use their words does not define how I use mine. We don’t fight darkness with darkness. We fight darkness with light.

Words are powerful.

The words we speak to others in person or online are so important. They bring life or death. (Prov. 18:21)

We are always creating or destroying with our words.

God could have formed creation in any way that he chose, but God chose to SPEAK creation into being. He didn’t carve it out. He didn’t paint it, or light it up in neon lights, he spoke it, and it was. God made everything with words. (Genesis chapter 1) 

I just want to reflect for myself on how I am using my words to heal, to hope to uplift. Posting articles online for others to see, brings awareness. And I think that is good.  But how am I posting them, what message am I sending?

I want to be more mindful. I want to be more truthful. I want to speak life. I want my words to heal. Because it is so badly needed.  I don’t want my opinion to be the best, but I want the best for the person I am talking with. These are my brothers and sisters. I want to listen. I want to love.

Sometimes my identity gets wrapped up in ‘the issues’, in a political side or a cause I feel strongly about, so when someone negates that online, I get defensive.  Because I feel that a part of me is being threatened. Like a cat cornered with its claws out, I fight back because they are stepping on what I think I am defined by.

But I am not defined by the issues. I am defined by Christ.

While we were given hands and feet to do, we were also given a heart to trust. To trust that His plans are greater than ours, even when the world around is broken, confusing, lost, and shutdown.  

But Christ is not. And our hope is found there. Let us rest easy in that promise, and the hope that is to come.

Be encouraged friends,

You are so loved.