Municipal elections are coming up.
Booorrrring, right? I admit, in the past, a municipal election has triggered about as much excitement in me as...well, I was going to say watching grass grow, but I have been known on occasion to throw myself down on the lawn for exactly that purpose. How about - as exciting as Saturday afternoon TV? Or as exciting as my early morning Apologetics class in Bible College, many moons ago? Oh, here's a good one! As exciting as...
But I digress.
I do pay attention to federal elections, and even to provincial elections, mostly to get my blood racing in disgust and frustration over political maneuvering and deception. (Usually in the midst of some televised debate or say-nothing speech, there is a moment when I'm tearing my hair out and yelling at the TV screen. This is the moment Jeff chooses to sweetly remind me of my self-righteous admonitions for self-control when he's yelling at the Leafs.)
But municipal elections? How important can they be? After all, it's my own neighbours, people who live in the same place I do, who are running this level of government. People who presumably like the community, but who are at the mercy of the other levels of government anyway, so their power to change anything is pretty limited.
This year, I'm changing. I'm checking out websites, asking around, paying attention. It's more INTERESTING than I thought. (If you saw me in the audience during the televised debate, you might have thought I looked bored, but that's actually my gaze of wise and discerning intelligence.) And, almost certainly, more IMPORTANT than I thought.
It's tough to sort out the actual truth from the "you can't handle the truth" rhetoric. I don't quite understand all the issues. But I do live here. I pray for my community and its leaders. And I'm asking God for wisdom as I watch it all unfold, so that my vote is a thoughtful one.
God keep our land!
(any thoughts?)
