Sad you see


 There is much in the world right now that is polar opposite. The politics and the media are thriving on dividing and conquering the masses through messages of panic and paranoia. It is such a terrorism tactic. 

In my own family there are people I love on both sides of the aisle and I can see the seed of truth on both sides but see how it has been magnified and blown all out of proportion to become something false and frightening.

As I have been thinking about it I have prayed and pondered often what the Lord thinks about it all. As both sides think they are righteous and hold to their side with religious fervor I have wondered if the Lord agrees with one or the other.  I had the thought about Jesus's day and the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Political opposites who took the truths of the Torah and made it into polarizing opposites that made them enemies. I have wondered if the Left and Right of our day is not the same to the Lord and like the Jews of Jesus's day the enmity and division has made us miss the mark entirely on the truth of the gospel and the saving grace of Jesus Christ. 

I have been thinking also about a story that was posted on Facebook 

"An anthropologist showed a game to the children of an African tribe ...
He placed a basket of delicious fruits near a tree trunk and told them: The first child to reach the tree will get the basket.
When he gave them the start signal, he was surprised that they were walking together, holding hands until they reached the tree and shared the fruit!
When he asked them why you did that when every one of you could get the basket only for him!
They answered with astonishment: Ubuntu.
"That is, how can one of us be happy while the rest are miserable?"
Ubuntu in their civilization means: (I am because we are).
That tribe knows the secret of happiness that has been lost in all societies that transcend them and which consider themselves civilized societies ....... !!"

Because I have been reading Alma 50-52 and seeing the consequences of contention for the Nephites I have been wondering if we what we need more of is Ubuntu. Less competition and who is right and more love and caring for each other. More acknowledgement that we do not know it all or know what others need or are going through and more compassion and grace to allow the things we don't understand to be just that -- none of our business.



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