I have recently come into contact recently with a woman in our community who will occasionally attend church here and who rabidly and vocally despises Mr. Trump. Her Christmas letter (which I could not get all the way through) was basically a long rant about his evils, and I don't know that I have ever had a conversation that lasted more than 30 seconds where he or his evils were not quickly brought to the forefront.
Now, I don't have any sympathies for Mr. Trump. In starting to blog daily I have had to repeatedly resist writing my own long diatribe on here about how terrible he is on many levels (he's a con artist, a bully, a 12-year old child, an ignorant fool, likely an agent of the Russians, a symptom of distorted conservatism, and a figure who has deluded many people who for years were screaming that 'WE NEED A GODLY MAN IN THE WHITE HOUSE' to think that he's the answer to all our prayers, etc.). He is truly a horrible president.
But over lunch I dropped by the post office to pick up some mail and there she was...and sure enough, the second sentence out of her mouth dealt with some atrocity that his administration was committing. I extricated myself from that conversation as quickly as I could; I just didn't want to go there today, though I am fearing that she may become one of those people that I cannot avoid forever.
Because here's the thing...I really can't do anything about Mr. Trump. I can become educated about what he's doing, and I can prepare myself to figure out how to remove him by the ballot box as quickly as possible, and I can pray for him and hope that God will move his heart to do better. Yet beyond that? What good is an obsession over him going to do me? Or anybody? I don't want to think about someone that awful every hour and every minute. I don't want to become the counterpart to the many people who for eight years had their heads explode every time they thought of Obama. I don't want my conversations poisoned by him.
Yet for all my frustrations about this, I find that far too often I find myself getting irritated by so many other things that are my own Trump. I hate the layout of the parking lot at the post office. I despise the metro newspaper tossing advertising sections into my driveway twice a week. I am frustrated that many people I know keep on making the same mistakes but will do nothing to change their behaviors. I get angry about little things that may matter somewhat, but in the end are things that I can't really do anything about...and so life becomes ruined.
In truth I don't think that my petty little frustrations are nearly as bad as some people I know. My happiness level is high, and I work hard to intentionally put things into m life that will bring joy rather than frustration. Maybe I'm pointing out their specks while my eyes are filled with logs, but I do see people who live their lives who are almost happy to be worried and angry about all the little things, and they are emotionally shot. I don't want that, because that's no way to live. I have worried about Donald Trump, garbage in my driveways, and parking lot layouts enough. Time to hear again what a much wiser man had to say: "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." (Phil. 4:8) If he could say such things while wondering whether or not he would live or die in a jail cell, surely I can do this in the good life that I have.
