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 I am travelling this week and have had the opportunity to attend two pretty cool sporting events. First, I got to watch the Bengal play the Patriots in Cincinnati and then supported UVA’s men’s golf team as they came back to win the Inverness Intercollegiate in Toledo. https://virginiasports.com/news/2024/09/10/virginia-comes-back-to-win-inverness-intercollegiate/ At both events, I was struck by the fact that after the contests, folks who cheered for their favorite team left the events as friends, even though someone won and someone lost. It made me think about why that can’t happen when it comes to politics? We aren’t always going to agree but it shouldn’t impact our ability to be friends. All of us should make a commitment to lead the way in this endeavor. Do not minimize what God wants to do with your life. What follows is a blog that I posted a couple of years ago which still is relevant today. I don’t know who it might have been but I am guessing someone inspired Dr Martin Luther King and that he had no idea what impact his life would have on our country, yes, even the world. Have you ever thought what would happen if, like Martin, you stepped out to start making a positive difference in your world? Let’s be clear. No matter who you are, you have the ability to create Unity in the world in which you live. What will the ripple effect be of you taking this first step? It is about being willing to lead; helping others find UNITY with an Uncompromised Never-ending Intensity Toward Yes! https://thankfulinallthings.com/if-you-focused-on-one-word-in-2022-which-would-you-choose/Jon Gordon writes in The Power of Positive Leadership, “Your one decision to be a positive leader will not only impact your life, but your relationships, your family, your friends, and your team. A life touches a life that touches a life. A person changes and they help others change. A leader inspires others and develops more leaders. The seed you plant today becomes the harvest you and the changed world will benefit from tomorrow.” https://powerofpositiveleadership.com The seed mentioned can also be a flat stone that you skip across a stream. It is not only fun to count the number of skips but the ripples that little stone creates as it bounces along represents the impact of our actions. We can create that same ripple effect in our quest to create Unity.One of my favorite authors, Henri Nouwen shares this about this ripple effect in his book, Our Greatest Gift. https://henrinouwen.org/?book=our-greatest-gift “ I am surrounded by family members and friends. Even wider is the circle of those his actions and words have shaped my life and thoughts. Beyond all the many circles of the countless men and women whose names I do not know but who have, in their own unique way, made the journey I’m making and shared and pains and joys of being human.” We have the opportunity to be counted amongst those Nouwen writes about. To be people who strive each day to create ripples that impact others who we don’t even know. As we think back to when Martin Luther King was trying to move freedom forward, we are reminded that our country was divided then, like it is today but for different reasons. As he said in one of his speeches, “If democracy is to live, segregation must die. We have come a long, long way, but we have a long way to go.” We do have a long way to go. We won’t get there by standing on the sidelines waiting for someone else to step up and do the right thing. Will you be one to grab the baton from those who have come before us and lead us to where it is we need to go? If you do, by God’s grace and under His mercy things will be made better because like Isaiah (Isaiah 6:8) you respond to the calling by singing,“Here I am, Lord Is it I, Lord? I have heard You calling in the night I will go, Lord If You lead me I will hold Your people in my heart “ Dan Schutte https://youtu.be/Z4ATBaI7ycY  Please subscribe to this blog ⬇️ so you can receive email notifications whe. New content is posted. I can be reached by email at [email protected] |
What can be learned from the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg?
The country lost an amazing force when Ruth Bader Ginsburg died Friday. How meaningful it was that this, small in stature but mighty in character woman, passed away on one of the holiest days of her religion.
Affectionately known as RBG, Justice Ginsberg, was indeed a person of great righteousness. I personally admired and respected her even though I sometimes disagreed with her legal opinions. I was not alone in that regard. “What’s not to like?” Scalia said of Ginsburg at that joint appearance six years ago. “Except her views on the law.” Thus did the two ideological opposites attract for what became from that day on a close friendship – one their families, friends and colleagues recalled affectionately after Scalia’s death at a Texas ranch in 2016 and again following Ginsburg’s death Friday on the eve of Rosh Hashanah.” (from USA Today article) https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/09/20/supreme-friends-ruth-bader-ginsburg-and-antonin-scalia/5844533002/
I don’t know about you but I am tired of the rancor and divisiveness in our society these days. Why does it feel so much worse than in years past? Could it be that it isn’t but social media is making us feel that way. A Netflix documentary, “Social Dilemna”makes this very point. The way the apps are set up cause us to be pulled one way or another making us feel like there is no middle any more. The relationship between Scalia and Ginsberg begs to differ. Judge Scalia was known to say, “We agree on a whole lot of stuff,” Ruth is really bad only on the knee-jerk stuff.” Ruth Bader Ginsberg exemplified the words of David in Psalm 90:10 “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom as each day takes us one day closer to eternity.
Her life and the relationship she had with one, so diametrically opposed to some of her views, support what I have been writing here for the last few weeks. Like the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37, when faced with opposition, we need to STUDY the issue, seek to UNDERSTAND, and then allow ourselves to be VULNERABLE enough to listen to another point of view. The Samaritan had a choice. Instead of crossing the road to avoid the man who was robbed and beaten, He got close enough to SEE he was alive, FEEL his pain, so that he could be SHAKEN into action. Where do you need to do the same? Will you cross the road or meet the challenge head on?
The USA Today article goes on to say, “In an era of increasingly bitter partisan enmity, the odd coupling of Ginsburg – petite, serious, seemingly shy – and Scalia – rotund, garrulous, overtly opinionated – may be viewed as an anachronism. But many cited it over the weekend as a signal of hope.” Who with opposite view points is God asking you to build this same kind of friendship?
My Guillain Barre health challenge www.caringbridge.com/visit/michaelguthrie was the impetus for this blog. I hope you will subscribe. Contact me at [email protected]