Elections, Fruit, and Nemo

          Do you remember the presidential election of 1964? It was the November of doom for me. Strong Republicans, my parents were eager for Barry Goldwater to triumph. I was in junior high school and unable to figure out how adults sorted through all the complications of politics. I simply jumped on the same bandwagon.  My school binder proudly proclaimed: AU + H2O (the chemical formula for gold + water).

            I couldn’t wait for the election and the coverage of the vote. It was different then than it is now! By bedtime, the winner was still unknown, but I was confident.

            When I woke up, I was excited, sure that AU + H2O had won!  As I came into the kitchen that morning, my hopes were dashed—not by an announcement but by my mother’s silence. With the defeat came fear. Somehow, whether gradually or cataclysmically, my life would be ruined, and I could never actualize my dreams.

            This week I thought about that election as we experienced the election of 2012, and I realized how much I learned from that election of decades ago.  Life went on, I grew up, and I lived in a country where I have seen many of my dreams come true.        

            That isn’t to say that every election hasn’t had an effect on our culture or to say that there are trends in our country that don’t make me sad. It is to say that when I woke up on Wednesday, God was already at work, directing my thoughts.

What kind of fruit is the Vine producing in your life?

            My computer at work has a luscious photo of concord grapes, beautiful enough to almost taste.  While wishing I could sample those grapes, I’ve also been reading The True Vine by Andrew Murray. Many times in my life I’ve tried to rev up my faith, produce fruit on my own. Have you? It doesn’t work. Instead, as Murray says, the vine, Jesus Christ, is the one who works through the branches—his people-- to produce the fruit.

            As odd as it may seem, grapes and the election came together for me this week. As I experienced the campaigning and then the election itself I was concerned and disturbed for our country. Yet, in recalling that election of my youth, and remembering the work of the Vine in my life, I rested. The fruit the Vine developed in my life was peace, and that was because I looked beyond what is earthly to the focal point of my life—Christ.

            In Disney’s Finding Nemo, Dory says throughout the movie, “Just keep swimming.” In a way that’s not a bad thought. If you don’t get up and move, every day, you’ll obviously be in bed all day. But looking to the Vine—Christ—goes beyond a just-get-up-everyday philosophy.  I prefer to edit Dory by saying: “Just keep looking, just keep looking, and just keep looking at Christ.” That’s transformational.