The struggle is real, folks

It is, it really is. I've got to tell you, never before in my life have I had such a hard time following Jesus' command to love your neighbor as yourself as I have this year. I've got to tell you. The struggle is real.

Last night, I posted something I thought was funny. Heck, a couple of my friends thought it was funny as well. I mean, I had no negative feedback, no detractors, just thumbs up. Well, I took it down within a matter of hours. Why? Because I was fussed at. Okay, I know what you're thinking, "you just said you had no negative feedback or detractors. What gives?" I'll tell you what gives.

I'm a Child of the One True King, that's what gives. As I was saying my nightly prayers, I barely got into them when one thought kept me from concentrating on what I was praying about..."Take it down." Say what? Continued to pray..."take it down." Opened my eyes and looked no place in particular because the room was completely dark and asked why. Then I became bombarded with Jesus' words about loving your neighbor as yourself. I had a comeback, weak as it was..."But, Lord, she's not my neighbor, she's a politician."

"Does it matter? Is she human?"

"That's up for debate, Lord."

"No, its not. She was made in My image as much as you were."

"But, Lord..."

"Take it down."

After a conversation like that, what do you do? You take down the text.

Sometimes its tough to be a Christian in this world. I mean, seriously, there are a lot of things I don't like that people do, and I have a hard time not despising the people who do them. It boggles my mind how Jesus did it. How do you love someone who is clearly looking to destroy something or someone? How do you not despise the murderers, rapists, pedophiles, and those looking to destroy everything that is good? How do you do it? I sincerely have no clue, but I have a thought on that. Whether its right or wrong, I don't know, but I'm going to give it a shot. 

My take? Hate the sin. Hate it with all you have, but...be as neutral on the person him/herself as much as possible. I haven't figured out how to separate the two, because in my finite mind, you do something like that, that is who you are, therefore, I don't like you. Yeah, its going to be a long, drawn out process. I mean, with family and friends its almost a cake walk. They're part of your heart so its easier to love them and hate what they do. Strangers, not so much. Folks, the struggle, yeah, its real. 

Going to get down to the nuts and bolts here. The race for the Presidency. 

There are three Candidates running. Two are visible, one is in the shadows: Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and Gary Johnson. Not one of them is worth their weight in salt as I've mentioned before. Only one of them do I have a severe issue with in following that commandment. This person has proven over and over again that they are a pathological liar, that it doesn't matter who or what you step on as long as you make it to a decision-making position. That the peons don't matter, all that matters is your authority and power. If I could draw a picture here, you would see this person with a big, crooked nose, wart included, rubbing their hands together while cackling the most evil cackle you've ever heard. Yup, I'm having a reaaaallllyyy hard time separating the person from the actions.

I'm afraid I'm a work in progress here, because no matter how much I try, I can't do it. All I can do is to pray about it, listen to the Spirit's leading, like I did last night, and let God take control. Will my prayers make a difference in this person's life? Probably not, but then again, who knows for sure? All I know is when I start out praying for someone that I cannot stand, every time, every time, I end up being the one changed. Let's hope that goes for this person as well. 

I can tell you, I will never be bosom buddies with this person...heck, this person doesn't even know I exist, but I can tell you that hopefully, with the Holy Spirit's help, I can be objective. That I can understandably dislike this person's policies or what they do to get to where they want to be, but I can refrain from the kind of posts that I had on my news-feed and then took down. That I can stay away from the name-calling and rhetoric that so many of my friends and family are engaging in (that will be a tough one. I predict a lot of apologies and repentance for this one).

I guess my suggestion for those who would like to join me in this quest is to be prayed up, because this ain't going to be a pretty Presidential race, no matter how you spin it. We have to focus on the issues, on what's being done and what's not being done. We have to align ourselves (thank you to a dear friend for this one) to the Candidate to whom we have the most agreement. So, do your homework, research each Candidate, their policies, and where they stand on the issues that are important to you and vote accordingly. No, you don't have to invite them to dinner (which would, no doubt include a bunch of Secret Service Agents that you didn't invite, but will probably feed anyway), but get to know them as much as possible. Use multiple browsers to do your research (Webcrawler, Bing, Yahoo, etc.), so that you have a clearer view of what they're like, so that in November you can say you voted for the one who is closest to your values and that you didn't pick the lesser of the three evils. 

I'm not going to lie, its going to be tough. Yeah, the struggle is real, folks. Chin up, hopefully things will get better, God willing.