Playing the Long Game

I am all for civil discourse, patience, and moderation, but I understand how irritating that can come across to some people on some issues.  When your house or head is on fire, it's not the time to hear "well let's take a step back and listen to all sides" or "let's politely agree to disagree."  Anger is an appropriate emotion at times, and it can lead to the expression of that emotion through protest, disruption, and even what some would characterize as violence.  Jesus, after all, overturned tables, and more than once God is described as angry and vengeful.  So we need to give room for these sorts of expressions, in our lives and in the lives of those who are hurting and outraged around us.

And we also need to play the long game.  Rachel Held Evans, the late Christian blogger, evokes a wonderful analogy in her blog post about her son being born into a Trump presidency.  She writes of author Madeleine L’Engle deciding in the midst of her anxiety about raising children in the midst of the Cold War to plant onions, as "an act of faith in the future," and a tangible way to invest in a small and quiet task that would take a long time to yield dividends.  What a beautiful metaphor.  Let us rage where rage is warranted, for indeed our houses and our heads are on fire.  But in the midst of that, let us consider what are the onions that we can plant, and in doing so believe in a future that is worth fighting and preparing for.