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Abraham's Eyes | Part V | Unity

Just 41 days before his assassination, Lincoln addressed the nation in his Second Inaugural Address. Let's consider the scene: 

It had been raining all morning. Citizens flocking to the Capitol were dressed in their finest clothes and were found unbothered at the mud that was caked on their leather and lace. No amount of rain or ruin could wash away the palpable joy and Anticipation emanating from the United black and white faces in the crowd.    

What must they have Expected? Condemnation for the South for starting our country's bloodiest war? Vindication for the North for their noble efforts to preserve the Union? An epic speech to compete with his First Inaugural Address, which had taken about a half hour to deliver, a package elegantly wrapped in sophisticated terms?  

In a violent clash of Expectations, Lincoln stepped up to the podium as the clouds broke and the sun burst forth for the first time that day, and gave a simple speech that lasted not seven full minutes.

In the spirit of a United Nation, Abraham's address did not focus on the differences between the North and South, but rather their similarities:

"Both parties deprecated war but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came."

"Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God and each invokes His aid against the other." 

"The prayers of Both could not be answered - that of neither has been answered fully." 

"He gives to Both North and South this terrible war..."

We are more alike than we would like to believe, I think. The ones we judge most harshly - at least in myself, I've discovered - are the ones who are mirrors reflecting back to us the Whitewashed Tombs we hide behind. 

At the close of his meager 703-word speech, he leaves the Nation's Citizens with this...

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to See the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan; to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

...An Invitation to Goodness. A kind of Goodness that is not only an Expression of who God is, but Goodness that you participate in by caring for the least of His Kingdom's Citizens. 

...An Invitation to Truth. A kind of Truth that is not acquired through knowledge, but Truth that you participate in by Seeing the world through God's eyes - making the InVisible Visible. 

...An Invitation to Beauty. A kind of Beauty that is not only experienced subjectively, but an objective Beauty that you participate in through Action. 

...An Invitation to Unity. A kind of Unity that is not based on moral agreement, but a kind of Unity that you participate in by remaining seated at the Kingdom Table despite disagreement.

Love is the cord that ties these Transcendentals together, the lens through which we are able to clearly See. Embodying Love makes participation in Goodness, Truth, and Beauty second-nature. 

Here's the thing about Love: It existed before we did. In the beginning, there was Love. It was Good. It was True. It was Beautiful. And it still Is, and forever will Be. 

So often I have tried to find God by loving others but not letting myself be loved. As we shift our Perspective upside-down, we realize that the question, "How am I to find God?" is turned into "How am I to let myself be found by God?" 

Likewise, "How am I to love God and love others?" turns into "How am I to let myself be loved by God and be loved by others?" When our cup is filled to overflowing, it naturally spills out. This is the upside-down order of things. 

Beloved, may you have Eyes to See this Good, True, and Beautiful Kingdom - created by the same Good, True and Beautiful God that made you in His own Image. Come and See. 

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