By JC
Another election has come and gone. The yard signs are coming down, the ads have finally stopped, and somewhere a man is peeling a bumper sticker off his truck with the quiet regret of someone removing a tattoo.
Every couple of years, we line up, cast our votes, and hire people to go somewhere far away and take care of the things we were supposed to take care of ourselves. Feed the hungry. Look after the widow. Visit the sick. Help the guy on the corner. Then we go home, turn on the news, and get mad that they didn’t do it the way we would have, if we’d done it, which we didn’t, because we hired somebody.
It’s a little like paying for a gym membership and then getting angry at the gym because you didn’t lose weight.
I’m not saying don’t vote. Vote if you want to. But I’ve noticed that a lot of us treat the ballot like the end of our responsibility instead of the beginning. We outsource compassion and then complain about the service.
Jesus never told anybody to elect a representative to love their neighbor. He said love your neighbor. Directly. In person. No middleman, no committee, no four-year term. The Good Samaritan didn’t file a request with the Department of Roadside Assistance. He got off his donkey.
The people who’ve changed my life the most never held office. They were the ones who showed up. The friend who drove me somewhere when I had no way to get there. The guy who told me the truth when I needed it. The folks at Iron City Trykes who bring mobility to people who need it, not because a policy told them to, but because somebody ought to.
Self-government doesn’t start in a capitol building. It starts in your kitchen, on your street, in your church, and in whatever you do with your Tuesday afternoon. Free people don’t wait for permission to do good.
So here’s my post-election plan. I’m going to keep praying for whoever won, because Scripture says to and because they’re going to need it. And then I’m going to go find somebody who needs help and help them. No campaign. No slogan. No yard sign.
Although, honestly, “No Yard Sign” would make a pretty good yard sign.
“Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” — 1 John 3:18
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