Praying for The Ability to See “Common Ground.” A few days ago I was reading about the closing of the famous prescription drug “doughnut hole.” For those of you that don’t know, this is the gap which occurs between certain amounts of expenses to the next higher amount which the government will not pay for seniors. More can be found at: medicare.gov/part-d/costs/coverage-gap/part-d-coverage-gap.html I was wondering when the “work doughnut hole” will be repaired. That is the age between 50 and 65 when employers don’t seem to want us, yet we have to eat. It seems to beginning to start to abate some as corporations are recognizing, more and more often, the loss of the qualities of timeliness, steadfastness, and ethics are costing more than the health care, and productivity slow-down of the older worker. We can only hope. Much of the problem, on the job, is interpersonal relationships. It is difficult for the older worker to drop in pay, and then to take orders from a much younger individual. As an older person we must realize, some of the “wet –behind-the-ears” young people know more about the profession than we have time left to learn, and so on and so forth. I have had three supervisors much younger: two males and one female. I was old enough to be the father of two. However, we must also understand the situation from their standpoint. It is as uncomfortable for them as it is for us. They do see us as our parents. They have the desire to treat us as parents. How many times do they suppress their superior understanding of the job, just not to offend us? What struggles do they encounter juggling this desire against company efficiency? These are not easy questions to answer indeed. We can attempt to ‘bridge the gap” through reaching common ground. In the military and Law Enforcement it is not hard. When you must work as a team to avoid death, differences become a moot point. How to transfer this concept to less than life or death situations becomes the “million dollar question.” The same goes for the world of Christianity. It is interesting to notice how one can post a saying, no matter how true, as taken from one sect or another, and the reaction it engenders. Whichever “side” it comes from, elements from the other “side” react. You can see the helmets of the “offended” rising from the “bunkers of self-righteousness” to do battle against anything which is not of their making and origin. They don’t care how true, relevant, and helpful it may be. If it is not of their “people,” it is a damnable lie,” and must be shunned, ridiculed and attacked at once. This is simply counterproductive to the whole issue of truth. Whatever is true is acceptable. Paul did not quantify, or qualify: Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. Philippians 4:8 He did not say, whatsoever things are true and come from my office, and there is no need to qualify. Truth is truth, and truthful people recognize it as such. The exploitation and propagation of truth stands on its own. We should not be so insecure that we cannot recognize and encourage the propagation of truth if it merely emanates from a different source. We must not be trapped in the corner by people wishing to tie us to a particular group because we used a quotation from that group. We must not allow ourselves to be hampered and hindered by people who wish to forsake critical thinking, and place everything in “nice neat little boxes,” with labels, and stereotypes. This is counter-intuitive, small-minded, and counterproductive. Christ Himself discourages such behavior: He refused to allow people of little understanding to block him into a corner. He understood, there was common ground between groups in the pursuit of birthing the Kingdom of God on this earth, and adamantly refused to discourage them, in what they knew, but took the proactive and productive path of encouraging all that worked towards the agenda of The Father. This is a good example, and we should follow it. We should encourage all statements of truth from all quarters, and realize that there is much common ground we share. I have read that most human beings want the same things. Well, actually what the Constitution proclaims: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” In many ways Jesus echoed these desires and said HE WAS COME TO BRING THEM. He accepted help from all quarters, without compromise of the will and wishes of His Father. We can and should emulate this attitude in our everyday lives and communications. It is not just the Christian’s job to call out wrong and unrighteousness, but to support and encourage that which is good and just and true. If we fail to do this, we have missed a wonderful opportunity to advance the Kingdom of God, and we have strengthened the division of all peoples, and have “become part of the problem, instead of part of the solution.” We have ignorantly played into the hands of dark forces which have been using “divide and conquer” for years to rule this world.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 15:49:28 +0000
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