A Prayer for Politics

Do politics scare you, maybe tick you off, or maybe they frustrate you? Me too. It baffles me that we vote for these people whom we have never had a cup of coffee with or even a handshake. I do not want to vote for a guy who gives a dead fish handshake, there are few things worse than shaking a hand that does not shake back! Regardless of sissy handshakes or rotten morals, we elect and they stand in between the unemployed or minimum waged and the president and the world for that matter. The people in Washington—that is DC not that the state, I was confused for awhile—are supposed to represent what I would vote for, root for the policies I’d root for, get angry at that dumb things I’d get angry over . . . well we all know that for the most part this does not happen. So when Presidents, Senators, House Representatives, Governors, Mayors, Chairmen, etc. act different than I’d like them to I want to bash them until I have no words left. I want to criticize them to anyone who will listen—this does not exclude inanimate objects or even unintelligent animate ones—in hopes, I guess, that I’ll feel better at the end by showing how logical I am and straight thinking I am. But does this help anything or anyone? I’d suggest no.

While it may be entertaining and make me feel better afterwards, I think it is an act of cowardly wickedness to react in such a way towards our elected leaders and here are my reasons:

Reason 1: They are people like you and me. This means two things: First, they are going to make mistakes just like you and me; Second, they are humans which means they are in some way beings that reflect the image of God. Lets take the first part of this—mistakes. While they should be more closely watched than the average guy—they are supposed to represent us after all—the result of watching something more closely is going to result in revulsion no matter what. One time I got a hold of one of those vanity mirrors that is more like a reflective microscope; I was terrified when I looked in it: it was like a planet of living hideousness was existing on my face, but I never would have noticed such filth if I did not zoom in. When we zoom in on people—yes, including yours truly—the result is going to be vomit inducing. The second thing—they’re made in God’s image—is more important because when we attack them personally we, in some measure, attack God himself. ‘No we don’t’ you may say to which I valiantly and sweepingly reply, ‘Yes we do.’ God created the physical body of someone as well as their brains which control mental development and reaction. I am speaking in very general terms here knowing that society and upbringing play a huge part in ones development.

Reason 2: Policies, for the most part are really what we despise. When I get ticked it is when so-and-so voted in favor of a dumb idea. Attack the plan, attack the soulless stupidity that is the ‘plan’ and not the people casting a yea or nay. Write your Congressmen about the plan and not how you wish he was not alive. People don’t mess up countries, policies and administrations do.

Reason 3: How would you do in their position? I know this is not a fair question, but I am still gonna use it. First of all, I read about as fast as a fifth grader so I know I’d lag behind on reading all the policies and suggestions, secondly I know I’d get torched by the resounding rhetoric and rules: I’d get my feelings hurt and go into a raging fit that’d headline CNN and Fox News. I also have the consistency of a wave on he ocean, which is not helpful when you’re supposed to be a rock. And finally, I have the ability to remember things like a ninety-year-old with Alzheimer’s, somehow I do not think this would be to my advantage.

Reason 4: I think I criticize because I am lazy: it is easy to yell and scream at someone who you know will not react or even hear you. I blow steam that they’ll never feel . . .and I kinda like this fact, which is wrong. I give them no chance because they do not even know I exist, yet I continue to butcher them like a piece of meat. Shameful.

Reason 5: I know that the God of the Bible is watching everything and is in control of all of it. For those who follow him we have nothing to be anxious about. Yes it is frustrating because I no longer live in the same country which my grandfathers—heck, even my father—were born in and I try and change what I can, but in the end I cannot be frustrated: God is working his plan, how can I hate that? ‘Sorrowful yet always rejoicing’ the Apostle Paul put it: sorrowful over the tragedies that are going on because we feel and are human and it hurts; rejoicing because there is a greater hope that is sure and coming soon, the kingdom of the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

So let us do ourselves a favor and maybe add a few years to our lives and when we turn on the news be a little less angry and frustrated because something bigger than taxes is going on in the world.

Thankful on Thursday

Thank you Jesus for your death,
the oozing blood & sacred breath.
For your nerves and your skin
bearing the bones & briars of sin.
For the salt and saliva you shed in shame;
your naked exposure & fallen fame;
the mocking murderers cheering your pain.
The breaking of the dance divine,
the dirge of duty & delight
dove into death
to save the wicked
and that was it.

Rising for the rebellious,
we regard your righteous worth,
a wreath upon the head which
was ashen and of dirt.