A House Divided Cannot Stand

This weekend the Seattle Seahawks travel to Green Bay for the NFC playoffs. Since my wife is originally from Seattle and I grew up on the frozen tundra near Green Bay, both team flags hang in the workout room of our home.

These two teams have had some very memorable games in the past and they have historically taken place near the time of our wedding anniversary. Five years ago we were returning from a cruise when one of the wildest games in NFL history took place and Ann's team came out victorious. This year we will each be yelling at the television rooting our team on from the confines of our home. For those friends in Europe who may not follow American football this rivalry is like Manchester playing Liverpool. . . except that this is a real sport!

Despite our enthusiasm for our hometown teams, when the game is over we will still very much be married. The reason for that is because there is way more at stake than a game. It's called life.

One of the most concerning things in the world today is the focus on our differences rather than on our mutual similarities and needs. Less time should be focused on whether you are a democrat or republican and more on being an American. Less news time should be focused on the differences between being American and Chinese and more time on being people, and I should even probably consider cutting the soccer fans some slack.

I am certainly not a "peace at all costs" person. There is absolutely a time to go to war but it seems like we are willing do that in our homes, churches, companies and world much faster than ever before. The key ingredient that seems to be missing is trust. When trust exists the entire operation can move so much faster and the propensity to "throw down" is nearly eliminated.

On June 16th 1858 Abraham Lincoln gave his "A House Divided" speech shortly before losing his bid for a seat in the US senate. He, however, showed the world that he was willing to do whatever it took to preserve the union. . . including going to war. As leaders in every walk of life our goal should be the same. This requires a combination of people and principle based behaviors that are equally mixed.

Many issues can be described as being critical (i.e. this is my marriage and my home) and others can be put in the category of "this will be important for 3 hours" (i.e. the Packer/Seahawk), but after that it's not important. Which ones do we spend the majority of our time fighting for?