Sunrise from my hotel window. San Antonio, 2016.

Approx. read time: 2:15 min.

If the nation’s current administration does what it says it’s going to do, then what do I plan to do for the next four years? 

The question begs for action: Show up, every day, with steadfast heart and pure intention. Work for the good of others, community, society. Work for the good of those consigned to margins. Remember kindness: that we are all “of a kind,” humankind.

But this question—What do I plan to do for the next four years?—also begs for a deep conversation between the ever-moving present moment and my deepest convictions, the meaning-making language at the core of me.

What I know for sure is this: I cannot meet divide-and-conquer strategies with dualistic views of my own. Pitting “us” against “them” is not a freedom. It’s an unfreedom. It’s license to live recklessly, untethered from concern for the wellbeing of others, even “despised” others.

I feel instinctively repelled by “othering” rhetoric, which means that I must embrace a consistently unitive way of being a morally, socially outward-facing citizen in these times. How to do this?

The answer is short and clear. Acknowledge the sobering truth that systems are collapsing and there will be suffering. Cultivate a nonviolent heart, single-focused on the interior disciplines of peacemaking. 

Here’s my plan:

1. I will resist the rush of every late-breaking news flash
2. I will focus on the needs of those who suffer the blows
3. I will act, with steadfast courage and compassion, from the taproot convictions that form my moral core

In short, I must do what havoc-wreakers cannot do: exercise my freedom, which is, above all, the power to love. Jesus gravitated toward the oppressed, toward those who suffer. He also gravitated toward those who cause the suffering. He teaches us now, in attitude-bending, hard-to-swallow words. He tells us, he shows us, how it’s done.

I share with you what I tell myself: Stand strong in your power. It is the power of slow-working transformative justice, the power of Love.

Fortify yourself with my book Gospel Vulnerability: The Key to Costly Love. It’s packed with insight, encouragement, and strength for our times.

Be well. Live in peace. Love one another. And please, share this post!