To Live as One

Was Kafka right?  Nameless authority stops a man in the street, a number is assigned, the man vanishes into a legal labyrinth, the family hears nothing, no charges are made, no trial takes place.  Years pass.  “Regrettable but necessary for security” reads the press release. We sigh and turn away.

One group battles another.  Even family splinters at times.  How to read these signs?  Which way is the wind blowing?  What differences are real and matter?

We get stuck and do not settle with our opponents.  The differences cut too deep.  Besides, why talk to people who act that way?   Dialogue sounds weightless and weak.   Common ground gets dismissed as wishy-washy.  Aristotle called us political animals.  Now politics gets hurled as an insult, and the sides harden.

How do we live as one?  From the window we watch colors splash across the trees.  The beauty of fall interrupts our splintered thoughts.  Differences spread across the landscape in peaceful ways. 

Like the honey locust, we belong to You.  We don’t have to win.  We don’t have to be right all the time.  We just have to find You…even in our enemy’s face.   Show us how to work through our differences together.  Wake us each morning with a clean heart so we might judge well.