Doing Better

BC’s beloved (and that’s not an overstatement) Dr. Bonnie Henry disclosed that she’d been the recipient of hate mail, personal attacks and death threats earlier this week. The threats were severe enough that she was assigned a protection team. She said that women are especially vulnerable, targeted and affected by this behaviour in her view. Current MP’s The Hon. Catherine McKenna and Michelle Remple and former Premiers Christy Clark and Kathleen Wynne would agree.

We live in toxic times. Our world has become more polarized than I’ve ever known it to be. Sadly, we’ve lost the ability to disagree politely and respectfully. We’ve made people we disagree with our enemies. It’s not likely to get better with election season in America, BC and Saskatchewan upon us.

It’s one thing for people who don’t identify as Christian to carry on in this manner. Still, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to determine who is following Jesus and who isn’t, based on what appears in my social media feed. 

Think about this for a moment. If ‘the mouth speaks what the heart is full of’ (Jesus, Lu 6:45), we are losing our way. We can do much, much better, and we need to start being better now.

I’m not calling for silence. I’m calling for something more potent than the most well worded social media post. Protest the policy, if that’s what you want to do. Do it respectfully and thoughtfully. After that, I’m calling for you to pray for the person whose policy you are protesting. Do it purposefully and powerfully!

Some see prayer as ‘soft’ and ‘nice,’ an option that you pull out when nothing else is working. We need to rediscover the potency of effectual praying – especially when praying for our leaders. The world isn’t going to change because we’ pile on’ in the latest argument that is happening in our social media feed. These fruitless debates don’t change anyone’s mind. The power of focused and fervent prayer, however, can change everything. 

Our chaplain team sees the impact of prayers for political leaders regularly. Hearts change, lives change, relationships change, policy changes, and the list goes on.

Here’s an opportunity to become prayerfully proactive today. Leading Influence has just launched our PrayCanada network. We’ll be praying for several MPs by name each day. Our team of prayer writers have worked hard to craft meaningful, individualized prayers for each MP. Visit www.praycanada.com or the PrayCanada FB/Insta pages.

If you live in BC or SK, we are leading Election Prayer Campaigns for your respective province. We provide a daily prayer that’s focused on a particular aspect of the election. Check out praybc.com or praysk.com to get the prayer by email or like the PrayBC or PraySK pages on social media. 

Be Kind. Be Calm. Pray Hard. We can do this!

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