Life Besides Politics :)

It’s been an interesting time. (“Interesting”. Ha. There's a mild word.)

Our country has been in such commotion, and it has been an emotionally exhausting time for ... everyone, I imagine. But maybe especially for those of us who recoil at contention and confrontation ... and who truly want to be peacemakers — all full of love and wisdom and compassion, but who consistently stumble over a mortal inability to truly respect and understand opinions so passionately different from our own. 

It’s much harder than I should like it to be having the people I'm connected to seeing things in a way that simply does not connect with my own leanings. It always feels like a small wedge pushed into my heart, and, these past months, I have prayed more constantly and desperately for charity — to truly love those around me and see them as Christ does; to have all those wedges plucked back out of my heart — than I maybe ever have before; and to have the ability to go about, without judgment, strengthening others "in all [my] conversation, in all [my] prayers, ... in all [my] doings." And yet, still, I admit to avoiding certain interactions altogether simply because I don’t trust my ability to find the common ground and give space for the unity I want so much to let thrive.

I feel, I think, a bit how Joseph Smith felt in his day when he was listening to the shouting back and forth between the different churches in his area. Replace church and religion with political parties and politics and I think this sums it up pretty well:

“[T]here was in the place where we lived an unusual excitement on the subject of religion. ... Indeed, the whole ... country seemed affected by it, and great multitudes united themselves to the different religious parties, which created no small stir and division amongst the people, some crying, “Lo, here!” and others, “Lo, there!” ... [And] notwithstanding the great love which the converts to these different faiths expressed ... and the great zeal manifested by the [those] who were active in getting up and promoting this extraordinary scene of religious feeling, ... yet when the converts began to file off, ... it was seen that the seemingly good feelings ... were more pretended than real; for a scene of great confusion and bad feeling ensued ... so that all their good feelings one for another, if they ever had any, were entirely lost in a strife of words and a contest about opinions. ... During this time of great excitement my mind was called up to serious reflection and great uneasiness; ... so great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible for a person young as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong. My mind at times was greatly excited, the cry and tumult were so great and incessant. In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it?”

And, the discouraging thing is, that while we must choose sides to some degree and decide where we will cast our lots, I’m afraid that, just as there was no pure sect in Joseph’s day among the churches, there is certainly no pure and fully correct party in our day. And there won’t be until Christ himself eventually reigns. 

So we are left to make the best of it. And, even among those of my own faith, "the best of it" has wildly different meanings.

Anyway, all of that was actually to say that amidst all of these things; our own little lives continue to play out in all their ordinary and complex ways. And that is what I wanted to actually focus on. 

Last week was the first time since March that I was able to teach my Sunday School class again. It had to be over Zoom -- which was certainly not ideal (as it makes the lighthearted connections, interactions, and comments much harder to keep a part of the class), but it felt so good to be discussing nothing but truth and scripture with my little class again. 

Also, leaping widely from politics and religion: I love a good banana squash. My dad always grew them in our garden during my growing up years. My mom would store them for months in our cool basement and cook them throughout the year with butter and brown sugar for Sunday dinners. The only trouble is ... they are gigantic. And it takes a good deal of motivation to even cut them open, much less cut them in small enough chunks to peel, etc. So often a giant banana squash will sit on my counter for a full month before I will cook it. But the other day I determined to be not even remotely put out by the cooking. I simply picked up the entire squash and hefted it into the oven. Then dusted off my hands, patted myself on the back, and went about my business.

It proceeded to leak squash juice in great abundance -- filling the entire house with smoke and a burnt smell. And when I removed it from the oven it sort of fell apart so that seeds were mixed throughout and almost impossible to tidily remove without removing most of the edible squash as well. 

Mike happened by in the midst of this mess of smoke and squash and me trying to sort out seeds and skin in a pile of orange. He patted me and said, "You're a good homemaker." And that was that. (Hahaha. Smart alec.)

ANYWAY!

I currently can hardly begin to get my blog in order. My computer with photo editing software has gone bad. I had a host of pictures on there waiting to be edited and added to the blog. I kept thinking it would shape up and I'd get them done. But it didn't shape up. And in the meantime, photos were piling up on my camera. And some were being pulled to my phone for a quick phone edit before sharing on Instagram or emailing to Abe. But most were still on my camera. And then the photos taken with my phone were getting all mixed with camera ones I'd pulled over and chronology was getting all mixed up. And it is STILL all that way. Only yesterday I finally decided to quit trying to finish editing the ones on the bad computer before proceeding. Lest I never record anything again. I simply pulled them over -- unedited. And am putting them here. And then we will hope I can begin to make sense of all the other photos scattered haphazardly hither and yon.

For now:

An evening with particularly extreme lighting (sun and bright here; gray cloud and dark there) spent at the park.

Daisy home for Labor Day weekend. Sunday dinner in the backyard. (And she made me eclairs!)

And a day playing around at the farm.

And that is all. For a minute. While I try to make sense of a mass of photos with no place to call home.