Campaigns, Elections, and

I would be remiss this morning if I failed to share my semi-annual rant about government’s use of my time. Daylight Savings Time (DST) is a government devised scheme to ignore nature and to tell us they know better than God does how to use our time. There is nothing in government dictate that makes the sun shine any later or come up any earlier. God does that. And, besides the general crankiness that disturbing my sleep pattern causes, research has shown there are significant negative health effects from the changes. But, other than the reminder that the clocks roll back an hour tonight, DST has nothing to do with my thoughts today.

Like Jonah in the whale’s belly, we are three days away from being vomited up onto Election Day. We should spend some time thinking about what we are going to do when we get there. Early voting ends on the Friday before the election and does not resume again until the morning of Election Day. That is intended to give time for election officials to deploy machines in preparation for the increased voting on Election Day. It also opens up potential opportunities for fraud and abuse, but that is a story for another day.

Prepare to be showered with texts, emails, phone calls, and political ads for the next three days. Your only hope to escape them will be to move to the top of a mountain or the middle of a desert with no electronics or forms of communication and wait it out. Or, you can do what I do. When I check the mail, all political flyers get thrown in the outside trash can and never brought in. Texts are deleted with a “stop and report spam” reply without reading. Phone calls are declined. And, commercials are muted or ignored.

Someone asked me this week how I do that. It is easy—the same way all other spam is handled. Since, for the most part, the only thing most political campaigns get right is the spelling of the name of the candidate, listening to the misrepresentations makes me mad, and I do not like to get mad. Rather than waiting to be force fed what a candidate wants me to believe, a little time researching the individual can generally give me the information needed to know how to vote.

Meanwhile, my righteous indignation does not get triggered, my blood pressure stays within range, and there is a less likely chance my mouth will engage impulsively when it should remain shut. Win/win/win for me.

Besides, the truth is that after every election ends the responsibility for governance begins. And, you have to play with whoever the people put into office—you do not have to like them, but you do have to interact with them. It helps not to have a constant replay of their campaign ads in your head when you are doing that.

Reading Ephesians this morning, it would not be hard to imagine it being written in the midst of a modern day campaign cycle. If “Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander; as well as all types of evil behavior” does not describe what we are currently seeing in the name of an election, I struggle to see what does.

People, myself included, have quite visceral emotions about our choices. But after Tuesday, we will have to play with the hand the election deals us. Will we turn up the heat on the pressure cooker until it explodes, or will we dial it back to allow some semblance of good governance for our state and nation?

I do not know the answer to that question. But, when in doubt, follow Christ’s example. And if you are one of those who says, “Well, Christ cleared the Temple.” Remember He did it himself, he didn’t ask a disciple to do it for him.

Try to forgive your enemies. Forgiving and working with your enemies does not mean you have to compromise your principles. You do not have to like them, or go to their birthday parties. Just work on not hating them. And, if you cannot do that for them. Do it for yourself. Do it because it is what Christ calls you to do.

Lord, have mercy on us. On Tuesday we will have winners and losers. Help us to remember that no outcome of an election will be a surprise to You. Give us the grace to work with the results in a way that brings glory to your name. Amen