Whew. It’s been a week.
How are you feeling?
Whether you felt celebratory or felt defeated, I bet you are exhausted. This election season has been a hard one and this writing piece is equally as hard. I decided I have two choices:
One, tell exactly how I feel.
Or two, be a source of encouragement to both side and ultimately be Switzerland.
Bold, Strong, & Free’s mission statement was to empower, or encourage, women to be bold, strong, and free. The mission statement does not say to tell you to be bold, strong, and free. It did not say that Abbi, Katelyn, and I are going to sit you down and tell you exactly what to do. No, the purpose of this blog is to encourage and to empower you to make your choices and choices that will hopefully inspire you to live for God in a way that exuberates boldness, strength, and freedom.
So, I am not going to tell you how I voted. In fact, I don’t even know how Abbi or Katelyn voted and I have never told them how I voted. Not because I have something to hide, but because it is not important in our friendship and our blog. So I won’t be telling you how I vote, except for how I voted in Katelyn’s question, I’m creamy peanut butter. Although chunky peanut butter is good for making peanut soup.
Illustration time!
I imagine, we are playing a board game. Let’s say, I won. I am happy and dancing around. Proud that I won. You are watching me, not really saying anything at all. Just watching me in my own private celebratory party oblivious to how you are feeling. How would that make you feel?
Now let’s say I lost. You are proud that you won, and I start to pout. My arms crossed and I immediately put up the game. How would that make you feel?
I think in both scenarios, I would feel unseen and invisible. If I won and saw my opponent pouting and visibly upset, I would find it hard to be excited for my own win and want to comfort the others. If I lost and my opponent was celebrating and in their own world, it would feel like gloating, wouldn’t it?
On a grander scheme, the election.
There was a winner and a loser.
Those who voted for the winning candidate, it is okay to be happy. Those who voted for the losing candidate, it is okay to grieve. Both are valid reactions. It is okay to have feelings and to happy or upset by the results.
So, how do we live in unity if one side is happy and the other side is upset?
Does the winning side tell the losing side how life is going to be so much better? Or maybe the losing side should complain to the winning side how life is going to be so much worse?
Wait… I think that would make it worse.
What if we validate each other’s feelings? Last week, the three of us discussed interpersonal unity and how we can be unified through loving our neighbors. Loving our neighbors is simply listening to each other and letting our neighbors know that no matter our differences, our political beliefs, we will still stand by them. Loving our neighbors is having those hard, taboo conversations (religion, politics, etc) with them and able to leave the conversation without your perspective of each other changing.
Loving our neighbors is loving them in agreements and disagreements.
How do we do that?
- Reading the Word – Scripture is filled with instructions on how to be imitators of Christ (Ephesians 5:1-2)
- Iron sharps iron (Proverbs 27:17) – Finding people who shared similar beliefs and values is good for you and your soul. It teaches you how to build a solid foundation in relationships and how to navigate hardships with one another. A good friend sharpens another, just like iron sharpens iron.
- Rest (Psalm 23:1-3) – Let God lead you to still waters and rest. I know I said to love your neighbors despite disagreements. But take care of yourself. You don’t have to hang out with someone who is constantly saying negative things. Especially if you have (gently) called them out on it. You can walk away.
Elizabeth