My Spirit Animals

Lately I feel like a few female country music singers are my spirit animals. Small town girls who battle daily life challenges like self-hatred, nosey bystanders, desire for things that want to kill them...It's so comforting to know I'm not alone, so I put these songs on repeat and remember that we're all human.

Thank you, Kacey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert. You are my soul sisters. :)

Thank you for "Bathroom Sink," "Somebody to Love," "Merry Go Round" and "Gravity's a B*tch." Love you girls. We would definitely be friends.

Agree to Disagree

Sometimes I just can’t take it. I just have to turn it off. Shut it down. Everyone seems to be able to give full vent to their opinions, but I can’t/won’t/don’t, and the effort it takes me to restrain myself is almost too much.

Facebook has a way of raising my blood pressure.

I’m sure I’m not the only one whose heart just screams sometimes as we see people engaging in arguments never meant to be had over a computer. Sharing opinions they’re not brave enough to say out loud. Flaunting controversial material because they can.

Part of me is fully in favor of this kind of behavior, to be honest. Free speech and all. I’d rather it be like that than clamped down by an overbearing government. But just because we’re free doesn’t mean we should say anything that’s on our minds, which is usually my dilemma.

If I engage and start firing away, what good will it do? Am I going to win anyone over with my wisdom and wit? Doubtful. What I will do, though, is lose friends unnecessarily.

But here’s what I really hate about it. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Newsflash, world: WE DON’T HAVE TO THINK ALIKE TO BE FRIENDS.

Novel concept, I know. But the TRUTH is that I don’t have to agree with someone to enjoy them. I don’t have to surround myself with Republicans to make it through the day. I don’t have to protect myself in a cloud of Christians to be happy. (In fact, I very much shouldn’t.) That’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard. It leads to narrow-minded, shallow thinking and deep immaturity.

But that’s how we treat social media. I can only be friends with you if you share posts about protecting gun rights. If you don’t see eye-to-eye on this with me then we have to be mortal enemies.

I hate that. There are plenty of people out there who are for stricter gun control that I love. And I hope they love me even though I’m not. What a horrible world if we can only love people like ourselves.

And what kind of Christ-follower am I if I engage in this kind of behavior? An immature one. But sometimes that’s the point I reach. How could they think that way?? They’re what’s wrong with the world! Um…No. They are created in the image of God just like I am. And I’m part of the problem if I can’t love them regardless of their views.

Of course I don’t have to agree with them. I have every right to form my own opinions as they do, and believe me, I will. No one will ever be able to tell me that killing a baby is okay. No one will ever be able to tell me that Jesus is anything short of the Son of God and the Way, Truth and Life. BUT what I do need to do is see everyone through the eyes of the God who loves them and made them.

(By the way, I have some very vocal friends on Facebook who might think they inspired this post. To you all: You didn’t. This was inspired by a situation last night in which my husband and I watched a video that had gone viral and I had my own little meltdown over what I wanted to say about it but couldn’t. Matt’s like, “You need to pray about your attitude.” Ouch. Yes.)

So here’s my point. The whole goal of this post is to encourage my little sphere of readers that we don’t have to agree with everyone to be friends. That’s such garbage and completely untrue. And it’s a perfectly timely reminder considering we’re entering into an all-out war between Trump supporters and Clinton backers.

Why don’t we all grow up a little and realize that we are never all going to think alike? And that’s okay. We don’t have to lose friends over differences of opinion. Especially when they’re just delivered via social media. We don’t have to agree on everything to love each other. It’s highly possible to pass up a status you don’t like and just let it go. But when you do feel compelled to say something, realize that you can STILL love and be friends with the people who don’t agree with you.

Keep that in mind next time you type something into the status bar.  

And to all my vocal friends on Facebook, I have nothing but love for you, even if we disagree…but only because the love of Jesus lives inside me.

Disagree if you want. J