I have a huge distaste for politics. I don't like controversy. In fact, I avoid confrontation and the tentions that come with disagreement as much as I can. I'm really annoyed with the news, the political strategies, and the way we as people 'deal' or don't 'deal' with each other. How did we get to a place where to have different opinions or views or beliefs means that your business is called to shut down and close it's doors? How do people who call themselves the 'hated' ones do so much hating themselves?
The people asking for Chick-Fil-A to close their doors are exactly the same as the people who ask for Women's clinics to shut their doors. You may be on different sides of things, but you're acting in the same way.
There is very little open-mindedness anymore. It's agree with me or be gone. It feels like the middle is disappearing more and more, and becoming silent.
We're in a gimme gimme world. I'm right. You're wrong.
I hope to live better. I hope to love better.
I need to know that You're still holding the whole world in Your hands.
Why is it so easy to go on mission trips to third world countries and to love so greatly, but it is so difficult to love our neighbors, the people who vote beside us.
I believe in a God big enough to teach us to love in the disagreements. A God who accepts and loves ALL people. Our job as children of God is to show that love to ALL people, no matter the differences, or what they believe or don't believe.
Please call me out if you ever hear me condemn someone else for believing differently than me. There are too many people who need an encounter of love. My hope is that I can be intentional about the way I treat people. Live intentionally, to love, to be a disciple, to be an example, to change to the world.
It's never been my goal to change the world. But if I can be an example to the people around me, and love beyond myself, love to my best ability, then I will know I have done my best.
Come let it shine.
Boycotts of this nature are much bigger than simply changing one individual or company's opinion; this is a call for everybody, even fast food companies, to love better. Marriage is a legal issue, and Chick-fil-A is a politically active company. They aren't simply holding their beliefs in their hearts; they're using money to bring those beliefs to fruition and dictate the law. This is absolutely a scenario in which MLK, Jr. would have called for a boycott in the 60s, don't you see? Gender/orientation inequality is as just as oppressive, unjust, and, quite frankly, insane as racial inequality. Where there are companies or groups with money and power who use that power to influence the law, the oppressed must fight back. This is a peaceful way for the oppressed to be heard. This boycott of Chick-fil-A is not a boycott against a belief, it's a boycott of the legal ramifications that belief has in our country. You don't have to participate, but I think this boycott IS in the name of open-mindedness and love.
ReplyDeleteI understand that this is much bigger than just one man's statement of belief, and the political/legal aspects of marriage/gender/orientation equality are in the forefront of today's civil rights movement. Maybe at 28 I'm still naive to believe that everything could be solved by simply loving each other no matter what.
DeleteI don't think that's naive at all. The "no matter what" clause seems to be impossible for us to grasp. One day, though, we'll all need each other and there won't be any other choice but to accept people as they are.
DeleteOn a side note...I don't think I would find Jesus at chick-fil-a today.
ReplyDelete