Freedom, love, and strength are for the weary

Yesterday, my wife and I had our 1,328th “discussion” (argument) about “communication” (how we each feel the other is failing at it).

If you’re in a longterm relationship like a marriage, you likely know this exact “discussion” yourself.

My wife looked at me and said: “I’m tired of having this same argument over and over again!”

I looked back at her and said: “So am I!”

Our son came into the room. We both looked at him. We both knew that we would have this discussion again…and again… and again. As many times as it takes to finally get it right.

Why?

Our family is worth trying as many times as it takes.

Love is for the weary.

I’m thinking about training for a half-marathon this year. I trained for one three years ago.

When I started the training program, I hadn’t run more than a mile in almost ten years. I never liked running. I was never good at it. But something made me feel like training for a half-marathon was the thing to do. So I did it.

Every week on my long run, I thought I was going to die. I mean it. I thought I was going to drop dead. We would be on a nine-mile run and I’d be gasping and staggering four miles in. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other. One foot in front of the other. One foot in front of the other. I didn’t die. I finished every one of those long runs.

And then I finished a half-marathon: 13.1 miles. The guy who hadn’t run more than a mile in ten years.

Strength is for the weary.

My friend, Melody, and I have been on opposing sides of politics over the last year. I cannot overstate the difference in how we see things in the United States. We do all of our communicating on Facebook. I imagine her reading what I share and write and ripping hands full of her red hair out of her head. I feel the same about some of the stuff she shares.

The other day, I posted a column that Melody thought to be divisive and inflammatory. I explained that I meant for it to be neither; she misunderstood the column and my intentions.

Melody confided that she is “so tired” of political conflict. She really just wants a break from it all.

I agreed that it’s exhausting. It’s the difficulty of democracy and public discourse that makes most of the world believe that America’s experiment in self-government will fail. Citizens will eventually burn out from the effort it takes to govern themselves. They will turn to what most of the world knows: Dictatorship. It’s easier. More efficient. Someone else calls the shots.

So far, the “American experiment” has been a success. We have a Republic if we can keep it.

Freedom is for the weary.

Onward and upward, weary one.