As we continue to process the results of the election and all of the emotions that people are feeling right now, it’s really easy to say: 

“Why bother caring anymore?  I’m checking out.  Clearly, my values are in the minority and those coming into power are going to decimate them.  So, I’m done.”

Right now there is a real risk of not just retreating to apathy but of hardening one’s heart.  Doing so can feel safer.  After all, when you care about someone or something, you are being vulnerable.  Love, caring, and a passion for doing good all require a level of not only commitment but vulnerability.  

These days, though, being vulnerable is the last thing many want to feel.  The solution?  Stop caring.

That may sound good on the surface but there are some huge consequences to following that path.  For one thing, you will end up isolated.  The only way you can be with other people and form social relationships is by being open to them.  That’s pretty unlikely if you just don’t care.  Not caring will eventually leave you very much alone.

In addition, hardening one’s heart to shield one’s self from feeling hurt won’t lead to contentment.  It will lead to anger.  You will find yourself becoming more and more bitter about people and the world.  Instead of feeling sheltered from harm, you will eventually become consumed by hatred; a hatred that will extend to you, yourself.

Maybe most importantly, not caring and having a hardened heart hampers God’s ability to work through you.  When our world takes a turn toward the darkness, that’s not God’s desire.  God’s desire is to turn things around so that we can, once again, embrace the light.  

How does God do that?  By working through good people like you.  If all good people like you harden their hearts, God has very little to work with and the darkness grows.

So as we all work through our feelings right now of disappointment, disbelief, sadness, and fear, let’s be careful not to stop caring.  Let’s resist the temptation to harden our hearts because God is still good, and God longs to work through us to bring kindness, compassion, and justice to this world.  

Now more than ever.