Questions Not Answered (Today)

Why can’t we just all get along? Why does the world not work that way? How come one nation say to another, “Peace be with you! Prosper. How can we help in your need?” While the other nation answers with thanks and acceptance, in turn offering to help the other nation where it may need it most because in truth, we’re all in need of something.

Why can’t people seem to love those who are different than them? How come when different opinions arise, we immediately jump to conclusions, aggressiveness, and disregard? Even those who are evil can be and should be loved, justly, but still treated certain amounts of dignity and respect as a fellow human being, though we all have moments when we act not human, but as selfish beasts.

Why are we so quick to tear down one another when we hear something we do not agree with? How come we’re too quick to slander, gossip, and write off those who are not like us in thought or deed and cast their thoughts and beliefs up to hate each time, rather than listening to where their mindset comes from and listening some more, and actually hearing what they say, before responding.

Why is it no longer okay to disagree with someone but still love them? How come we get the feeling of needing to respond, retaliate and defend ourselves deep in our chest when someone says something that we don’t agree with, letting that feeling rise up, sit under our tongues and spill out in passive aggressiveness, demeaning words and lack of respect?

We are a people quick to speak. Quick to take things personally. Quick to assume. Quick to find those most like ourselves in a circle. Quick to hide behind screens and say things we would never say exposed to someone’s face. 

We are not united, but we carry the title.
We are not united, but we wave the banner.
We are not united, but how can we be?

-Cliff

Cliff’s Note: Today, unity feels like an easy to say buzzword with no weight to it. Tomorrow, will it feel the same?

Good Different

There’s something extremely refreshing about being in the company of individuals who are different than you. Each time, it’s like a crash-course in, “Things I Missed in ______.”

Last night, I met up with a friend at a local pub to share a few pints, and we talked about literally everything: drinks, movies, work, jobs, girls, racial inequality, social justice, religion, sports, EVERYTHING. And with each topic, it felt like I was getting so much background that I had never had before because this person saw things I could never see, experience things I could never experience and know things I could never know. And that, my friend, is refreshing.

It’s peace to know that your thoughts and beliefs aren’t the only thoughts and beliefs because we all know, all of our thoughts and beliefs, no matter how strong they are, have holes in them. It’s peace to know that seeking to understand, rather than to be understood, is a position of love that we can all pursue. And it’s peace to know that the backgrounds that define who we are today will continue to teach us tomorrow, as we create new backgrounds through learning from those who are not like ourselves.

-Cliff

Cliff’s Note: Seek the goodness in not always being right and hearing the stories of those who prove you wrong.

Is Unity a Moron?

This morning, I was thinking about how unity is a moron - an oxymoron.

Unity feels like an ambiguous term, in that it’s an immeasurable word with a moving target. Your definition of what unity looks like is probably going to be different than what my definition of unity looks like, based on whatever situation we happen to be in. There’s no clear definition to it, other “Let’s all just get along,” which isn’t really a definition that solves many problems at all.

For this reason, it feels like unity is ambiguous, and that saying that unity is ambiguous is an oxymoron, or a figure of speech in which contradictory terms appear in conjunction.

Unity - joined together as one
Ambiguity - the quality of being open to more than one interpretation

Maybe that’s why striving for unity is so hard - everyone’s version of it looks different, so there’s no set benchmark, and just as there’s no set benchmark, there’s never any easy answers. The chase for unity is foggy and never quite in focus until it’s right in your face.

-Cliff

Cliff’s Note: “Let’s all just get along” doesn’t cut it anymore.

Small Steps

Today, unity feels like reaching out to a friend who’s different than me, who doesn’t hear from me very often and asking how they are, what they’re doing and when I can see them again.

Today, that friend may or may not answer my call, but as the rising and the setting of the sun can only control today, I can only control what’s in my hands. God has given me tools for communication, a heart that longs to know my friends and ears to listen to those friends, so today, I will take what God has given me.

What does unity feel like today for you?

- Cliff

Cliff’s Note: Unity is small steps. We must crawl before we can walk and walk before we can run.

Seeing Beyond the Color

Why is color often the first thing we see and say about something?

When it comes down to identifying something within a group, identifying it by its color color is just about the easiest way to pick an object out in a crowd of similar objects. Whether it's a car among cars, a flower among flowers or any other thing surrounded by things just like it, colors are what we see on the surface, so they're what makes it easy to identify things. 

We do this every day:

"Hey! Look at that red car."

"Cut the green wire; not the yellow one, but the green one." (It's always the green one)

"Did you see that orange shirt that guy had on?"

And we don't think anything about it. We identify things by their colors all the time, but what about people? How do we identify them?

The other day, a group of guys were passing my friend and I at a restaurant, and my friend turned to me and mentioned that, "the guy in the blue shirt looked really familiar to him." After he said this, I turned around to look at the guys that had just walked past me at who it might be, trying to find a blue shirt in the throng of people. It took me a cool minute to pick him out, but when I did, I noticed that the guy my friend had mentioned was African-American, and also the only African-American in the building.

I didn't think much about it at the time, but after looking back on it later, it seems like it would've been a lot easier, and much more my own personal instinct, to have identified the guy as, "the black guy." After all, he was the only African-American in the building; that would've made it much quicker and easier on my eyes to sort through than trying to pick out a shirt color. If I had been my friend in that situation, I would've turned to me and said, "that black guy looks really familiar," rather than saying, "the guy in the blue shirt looks familiar." It's a simple instance with little to no real implication to a broad scope of people, yet it did reveal something about myself that I didn't really like; I'm quick to see race and slow to see equality.

Afterward, I talked to my friend about the situation, and he told me about how he's been trying to be more hyperaware of how he identifies others, not as their color, like he would a 'thing.' I thought this was a great point. It gets down to who a person is and not just what's on the surface. A guy or girl may be white or black, but we all wear clothes. A guy or girl may look a certain way or be a certain way, but we have commonalities as humans and as people. There's more to than what just meets the eye, and if we can start identifying others in a way that is being hyperaware of knowing a person is more than just the color of their skin or how they're different than we are, then I think that would be a great start. We may find out we're more similar than we are different.

-Cliff

Cliff's Note: The irony of color is that there is more behind color than what meets the eye.

The Power of Unity

Have you ever tried to play matchmaker with your friends? You know, like when you’re dating someone, and then you try to hook your best friend and his or her best friend up together. If it works, it’s the best feeling ever because you know you’re set on double dates for a lifetime! If it doesn’t, well . . . things have the potential to be a tad awkward. Anyway, the point I want to make is that it feels amazing when you see two people who never knew one another before that you care about get together and enjoy one another’s company. There’s nothing like seeing unity between people who had no unity before. There’s power and life in it.

This is why I love unity so much and why I love striving to see it happen. I love playing the matchmaker, not just in relationships but in friendships and business situations, as well. I love whenever I have two different groups of people I know come together to hang out and everyone has something in common. It always makes for a good time. I also enjoy seeing people connect who have never connected before. When folks find common ground in something and begin to share successes and struggles, it’s one of the realest things humans can do.

Lately, I’ve been reading the book of Nehemiah (Knee-huh-my-uh), and it’s a book full of unity. It’s a story of a guy getting together an entire group of different families and people in order to achieve a common goal based off of a commonality- their faith. Nehemiah is essentially a book about a guy who finds out the wall of Jerusalem has been knocked down. He goes off to rebuild it, and with the help of the Jewish people coming together, they rebuild the entire wall in just 52 days, despite (a lot of) opposition- An entire wall around a city, while fighting off bad guys in just 52 days. That’s fast, especially for ancient times. More so than just finishing an entire city’s wall in 52 days, everyone in the parts surrounding Jerusalem became terrified because of the work God had done in them to finish the wall saw fast. All the people from the outside looking in saw the unity the Jewish people had in their faith in God, and the outsiders were afraid all because of the unity they saw, and all because of the unity they saw, they saw God. Weird how all that works, huh?

Unity is a powerful thing, and that’s why it’s so special. It’s amazing when people can set aside their differences, come together over a common cause and overcome whatever obstacles are in their way. Whether it’s the United States turning from their political differences and coming together during a time of national crisis, a small town like Stillwater, Okla. coming together time and time again after a tragedy or simply a couple set up on a blind date, when unity happens, it’s a special thing. There’s nothing like it in the world. Strive for unity.

-Cliff

Cliff’s Note: There’s beauty in unity.