Vote. It’s your duty.
It’s your civic responsibility.
It’s how you can change the world.
Meh…..
Sure, I agree, voting is important. It is a huge honor and responsibility. We need to take it seriously and do our research. Through this privilege we can affect change, it’s true. But, I would argue it’s possible to take our civic duty a smidge too seriously.
Hear me out. As Christians, we must have faith that God will accomplish His will regardless of who is in office. As Christians, we must not elevate the role of any man (or woman) too high. God alone is in control and no single person has the power to overrule Him. As Christians, we must be reminded that we have the ability to make changes in the world every single day, not just on Election Day.
During this election season, I have fallen under the spell of believing that voting is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING I can do. It’s easy to believe because I am inundated with this narrative when I turn on the news or flip through a magazine or scroll through social media. Friends, it’s simply not true.
LOVE. It is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. It’s spelled out so simply in the Bible. The very most important thing we can do is love. We love our Republican friends and we love our Democrat friends. We love our neighbors who interpret the law differently than we do. We love our neighbors who see things mostly the same as us. We stretch, we grow, we challenge, but we do it all through love.
Yes, we need to exercise our right to vote. But not at the expense of basic human kindness. We must continue to smile and listen and look for ways to serve.
Vote. It is a big deal but don’t negate it by eliminating love from your daily ministry to the world.
Read more of Abbie Mabary’s contributions to AllMomDoes here.
