Living in the Messy Middle

Over the last few months, I have written some thoughts out about an area of thinking I’m concerned about. I have deleted a few rough drafts. I’ve started over and then trashed my work. I will try it again. Contradictory and polarizing ideas and philosophies are unavoidable and are found in areas such as commerce, environmental struggles, race, family structures, conservative and progressive politics. It is difficult to live a healthful life on the excesses of ideas. An honest and healthy thinker can comprehend a variety of levels of thought and ideas in their mind concurrently. Unhealthy thinkers struggle to hold different levels of thought at the same time. They are unsettled by the tension two opposing thoughts create. A popular story line regarding “Black Lives Matters” and “Blue Lives Matter” is that a person can only be for one of the statements and not both. Why? Are people so superficial that someone must be a supporter of one or the other? The two statements are not mutually exclusive and are only contradictory when people are unable to live with the tension. People of color have been discriminated against, legislated against, “red lined” and slain. History is full of injustices against people of color. The truth is unavoidable, it is uncomfortable to admit, and it creates tension. The only way to deny the tension is to deny the truth. “Black/Colored Lives Matter.” Deep down, no one wants to live in a world without law enforcement. A culture without law enforcement erodes towards lawlessness, chaos and anarchy. Without law enforcement innocent people suffer, inequity is carried out on the powerless, and fear becomes the ruling emotion. “Blue Lives Matter.” Colored Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter are not in conflict except when people want to generate conflict. Those two thoughts are not mutually exclusive except when people’s thinking can only hold one thought and therefore choose one or the other. Two opposing thoughts describe the tension of life. The area of tension is sometimes referred to as the messy middle. Jesus described living and thriving in tension when he told the disciples ““Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:16 ESV) We are instructed to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”