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 Serendipitous Thoughts by Sugar Bear

“A Strong Horse Still Needs a Wise Courageous Citizen Rider”

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”

Proverbs 14:34

I have lived long enough to know that America is not an easy story to tell.

Some folks want to wave the flag so hard they cannot see the wounds. Other folks want to point at the wounds so long they forget the blessings.

Galatians 5:15 says "if you bite and devour each other , watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. "

And my Grandma Maggie would have told me, “Baby, don’t curse the house just because the roof is leaking. But don’t sing so loud you ignore the water dripping on the floor.”

"Drip Drip Drip"

That sounds like America at 250.

A blessed house.

A wounded house.

A powerful house.

A divided house.

But still a house worth repairing.

The article from The Economist says America is anxious and awesomely powerful.

I think that is about right. Our politics may be wounded, but the country is not dead.

We still have people creating, teaching, building, serving, praying, inventing, farming, coaching, caregiving, and getting up early to do right by their families.

But strength is not the same as health.

A strong horse still needs a wise rider.

America has power. But power without wisdom can become pride.

Power without humility can become domination. Power without grace can become cruelty. And power without truth can become propaganda!

That is why I believe both sides need to slow down and take a breath.

To my conservative brothers and sisters, I say this with A spoonful of sugar Bear love:

patriotism is a beautiful thing. Borders matter. Law matters. A Courageous Citizenship matters. But patriotism must never become fear of the stranger, worship of a leader, or blindness to injustice. Every person still carries the image of God.

To my liberal brothers and sisters, I also say this with the same of love:

justice is a beautiful thing. Compassion matters. Inclusion matters. Repair matters. But justice must never become contempt for faith, tradition, rural people, working-class people, or folks who do not use the newest language.

Every neighbor has a story before they have a label.

My truth says this:

"America does not need more people trying to win every argument. America needs more people willing to tell the truth from the heart 'courageously' without trying to destroy their neighbor."

That is where my Christian faith checks me.

The kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world are not the same. The cross is not the flag. The church is not the government. Jesus is not running for office. My first Savior is not America, and my final hope is not a political party.

But that does not mean I stop caring about the country. It means I care with a different spirit.

In God’s kingdom, Christ rules by grace, forgiveness, repentance, mercy, and truth.

In the earthly kingdom, we still need law, order, justice, responsibility, and concern for the common good.

If we confuse the two, we can turn politics into religion and religion into politics. That is dangerous ground.

So I can love America without worshiping America.

I can criticize America without hating America.

I can honor the flag without forgetting the cross.

I can disagree with my neighbor without forgetting that Christ told me to love my neighbor.

That is the hard work for a courageous citizenship. That is the hard work of faith.

America at 250 is not asking us to choose between blind pride and bitter despair. She is asking whether we still have enough character to repair what is broken, protect what is good, confess what is wrong, and pass something better to the next generation.

Old school common folks used to say, “Don’t throw away the whole quilt because one patch is torn.”

Well, America’s quilt has some torn patches.

Some were torn by slavery.

Some by racism.

Some by greed.

Some by arrogance.

Some by broken families.

Some by forgotten towns.

Some by wounded veterans.

Some by children who feel lost.

Some by politicians and media voices who profit from keeping us angry.

But that quilt also has patches of courage, sacrifice, invention, faith, freedom, hard work, neighbor-love, and people who kept believing when they had every reason to quit.

So where do we go from here?(remember where you came from but don’t build your house in the Graveyard!)

We start where we are.

We listen before labeling.

We hear the biography before the ideology.

We stop sipping anger, fear, party loyalty, race pride, cable news, and social media until our spirit feels dizzy.

We remember that a nation can be powerful and still need repentance.

We remember that a people can be wounded and still have hope.

We remember that God does not call us to be loud first. He calls us to be faithful first.

At 250, America is still restless. That restlessness can become rage, or it can become renewal. It can become a shouting match, or it can become a better covenant with our children and grandchildren.

The founders were worried too. They knew this experiment could fail. But they also trusted that ordinary citizens, with enough virtue and courage, could help hold the republic together.

That means the question is not only, “Is America declining?”

The deeper question is, “Are we becoming the kind of people who can help renew her?”

Because a strong horse still needs a wise rider.

And a great nation still needs humble citizens.

God bless you and this ministry!