Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Political vs. Real Life

January 6, 2016

Our president kept his promise and signed his executive orders on gun control. I could comment at length upon it, but it wouldn't be any more productive than those orders will be to curb gun violence. There will be court challenges, and already a frenzy of Facebook posts, Tweets, and whatever other media are out there, each side preaching to their respective choirs, getting more deeply entrenched, convincing no one. I guess I have to apologize. It's pretty easy to get caught up in it all, in spite of my decision three years ago to eschew political and negative postings. Bloomberg and the Democrats vs. the NRA and the Republicans and Libertarians; it's going to be an interesting year. But whether our Constitution is revered or revised, I keep coming back to the Gospel and where I live my life.

We had invited our pastor and his family for dinner tonight. Linda spent a fair amount of the day preparing both the meal and the house. The time came, and we sat down to home cooked pork roast, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, and applesauce, and topped it all off with her homemade apple crisp over ice cream. Their oldest daughter Ashley loved Linda's applesauce, and even took a picture of it and sent it to our granddaughter Abi, who is ordinarily our most prolific consumer of it. Before long, Abi was at our door. Shortly afterwards, our daughter Jessie and her three kids stopped by. Before it was all over, the three Pascoe girls, Ian and Eliza, and Abi were engrossed in a cutthroat game of Switchboard, followed by Nines. Jessie and pastor Joe went for a couple rounds of Speed (card game, not illegal substance) in between conversations about church and life, and ended with a rousing game of hide and seek with little Gemma. It was a delightful evening, some of it planned, much of it spur of the moment.

I'm pretty much an introvert, but I must admit that today was a banner day just because of the people in it. This afternoon we received unexpected guests when two friends popped in one after the other, one to give Linda some shampoo and conditioner for Abi, the other to borrow my chop saw. I made a trip to the local builders' supply to pick up a can of foam insulation and sealer and to order a new weatherstrip for our front door. Dealing locally instead of a big box store has its advantages. I talked with Rod who remembered selling me the front door last summer, and in a couple minutes had tracked down the sale record for the manufacturer of the door. He's ordered it by now, and in a week I'll have it installed. Even an introvert like me can see the value and blessing of personal relationships. In small town America, even business is a matter of friendships. We know one another by our first names, root for each other's kids in local sports, grieve together in times of tragedy. And we spend time together. Compared to Donald Trump on the right, and Hillary Clinton on the left, I don't have much of a bank account, but when it comes to life, I'm guessing they are paupers compared to me. I wouldn't trade places with either of them, and will lay my head on my pillow tonight with prayers of gratitude and praise.

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