{"id":6878,"date":"2016-11-16T23:22:43","date_gmt":"2016-11-17T04:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=6878"},"modified":"2016-11-17T07:17:17","modified_gmt":"2016-11-17T12:17:17","slug":"the-election-and-the-unthinkable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=6878","title":{"rendered":"the election and the unthinkable"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"photo-1451471016731-e963a8588be8\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In case it isn\u2019t clear, the Intramuralist is not a conflict avoider. It\u2019s not that I love it, desire it, nor welcome conflict with open arms. It simply doesn\u2019t scare me away. And I have realized that navigating through conflict wisely is undoubtedly one of the most effective means of growth.<\/p>\n

Let me be clear: I am not speaking of growth for others; I am speaking of growth for me.<\/em><\/p>\n

When not recognizing the\u00a0growth opportunity, conflict has the potential to bring out the worst in us. In the last week, we have felt and witnessed \u201cthe worst\u201d\u2026 name calling, gloating, violence, judgment, and disrespect… on all sides.<\/p>\n

Friends, you can\u2019t love your neighbor well if you only love half your neighbors.<\/em><\/p>\n

Last week we had an election. It was tough; it still is. Many are struggling with the vote, even though no candidate tallied a majority; no one received 50%. That means whomever each of us voted for, we are each in the minority. But being in the minority is hard; it’s hard to process all that happened. There is grief. There is fear. There is celebration by some. But there is still grief and fear. We must be cognizant of all.<\/p>\n

Allow me, if you will, to humbly share the events of my day last week\u2026 Tuesday, November 8th, Election Day\u2026<\/p>\n

As typical, I chose not to vote via absentee ballot. I enjoy physically going to the polls, catching up with my neighbors, interacting with those in my community. First, I ran into some old friends from baseball. Our sons played together when they were six (\u2026 that was 13 years ago!).<\/em> I then saw another show choir mom, a man I coached with, a teacher friend, a couple couples from church, and another close family set of friends.<\/p>\n

Then I saw Richard. Oh, wait… Three years ago, when I actually ran for a local precinct position \u2014 and lost,<\/em> by the way \u2014 Richard was my opponent. We hugged, gleefully caught up, exchanged a few ideas, and wished each other well. I love Election Day.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll remember, however, that going into last Tuesday, I had serious reservations about both primary party candidates. With no intended disrespect, I saw neither as all good or all evil. I saw neither as the Messiah nor as God\u2019s gift for us all to somehow put our hope in. I saw each as a significantly, ethically flawed candidate, whose flaws were minimized by sincere supporters and carefully crafted PR campaigns.<\/p>\n

I think perhaps what concerned me most leading up to that day, is that I also witnessed people screaming at only the flaws in the other \u2014 forgetting that both<\/em> \u2014 no, strike that \u2014 forgetting that each<\/strong> of us,<\/em> have ample dents in our armor\u2026 each of us have screwy sides\u2026 each of us are sinners with the opportunity to be saved by grace. I was grieved by the masses\u00a0who only acknowledged\u00a0flaws in persons other than self or in the likeminded. I foresaw conflict only increasing.<\/p>\n

Friends, the way to navigate through conflict wisely, is to at some point pause long enough to quit pointing the finger at everyone else. It\u2019s ok to observe. It\u2019s ok to be hurt, frustrated, even angry. I believe it\u2019s totally all right to utter \u201cwhat in the *$&%^# [bleep] are they thinking?!\u201d<\/em> But at some point, in order to navigate through things wisely, we must stop and ask, \u201cWhat here, do I<\/strong> need to learn?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Exchanging\u00a0the exclamation of “you<\/strong> need to learn”<\/em>\u00a0for the humble question of\u00a0“what do I<\/strong> need to learn”<\/em> is one of the most effective means of growth.<\/p>\n

Back, no less, to Election Day, as I then did the unthinkable\u2026<\/p>\n

Even though the Intramuralist pays more than ample attention to current events in hopes of always encouraging respectful dialogue, I went to bed early Tuesday night. That\u2019s right; I paid no attention. I left my laptop off and never turned on the TV. I watched zero tweets and results as they were coming in. I said my prayers \u2014 thanking the good Lord for this gift of life, praying for mercy and grace for all of us \u2014 and then slept very well.<\/p>\n

My concern was copious\u00a0both after and<\/strong> before<\/em> the outcome, knowing that as a nation, we do not deal with conflict well. We fail to grow because we take turns justifying the name calling, gloating, violence, judgment, and disrespect. We get sucked into those PR campaigns. We ignore the flaws in one and promote the flaws in another. We have biased news sources. We are insulated by the likeminded. We don\u2019t embrace true accountability. We get puffed up. We only see one side of an argument. We stop talking to the ideologically diverse. We unfriend. We judge. We limit grace. We then put hope into something other than the divine. All sides. We all do it.<\/p>\n

I get it\u2026 it\u2019s easier. Humbly asking what we must individually learn is harder indeed\u2026<\/p>\n

It is also the key to loving our neighbor well.<\/p>\n

Respectfully\u2026 always\u2026
\nAR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In case it isn\u2019t clear, the Intramuralist is not a conflict avoider. It\u2019s not that I love it, desire it, nor welcome conflict with open arms. It simply doesn\u2019t scare me away. And I have realized that navigating through conflict wisely is undoubtedly one of the most effective means of growth. Let me be clear: … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “the election and the unthinkable”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8],"tags":[579],"class_list":["post-6878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-event","category-current-issue","tag-2016-elections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6878"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6894,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6878\/revisions\/6894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}