Keeping Up Appearances

Have you seen the British TV comedy called, Keeping Up Appearances? The main character is a lady by the name of Hyacinth Bucket. Her only goal in life is to look good to other people, primarily important people she wants to be associated with. Those people would especially be the rich & famous.

She will go to all ends to keep up an appearance of money and respectability in a uniquely British kind of way. One of my favorite episodes is when she & her husband Richard purchase a flat in a huge country manor. She's so taken with the idea that living there will make others think them to be rich she fails to address the fact that their flat is VERY VERY small. It's so small that when they sit up in bed their heads hit the slanted ceiling. And it goes on and on from there.

You might be tempted to condemn her but she has a lot to overcome. Her elderly father is running around with a wooden gun thinking he's still fighting in the war. One sister is married to Onslow who's only goal in life is to drink beer and watch TV. They live on welfare. The other sister lives from one relationship with a man to the next in desperate search for love in all the wrong places. The other sister is rich so Hyacinth likes to point out she's related to her. She drives a Mercedes (never mind this sister has a horrible marriage).

It's a funny and at times annoying show. But, my question is this, how much do I behave like Hyacinth Bucket? What am I trying to hide from other people? How much energy do I expend keeping up my notion of respectability to others? How stressed out do I get trying to keep up appearances?

Confessions of a Conservative

When we set up a political candidate, a political philosophy, a political issue or a political party as our ultimate point of reference we are in trouble. We have likely created a reference point that is a mirror of ourselves. Sometimes that mirror is not so pretty.

I used to be one of those hardcore conservatives who listened to Rush Limbaugh every day. I relished having the correct views on the world. I had contempt for those who disagreed with me. I was right and they were wrong. It felt good. I had a tightly held conservative idealism and was praying for a political savior who would change the world for conservatism.

God was a conservative and was on my side of the issues. It was the bad culture out there that didn't believe in God and my way of seeing the world. They were bad. I was good. They needed to change. I didn't. I was angry at them for messing up this good nation. They were the problem, I wasn't. They loved death, I loved life.

Problem was, my political views started getting in the way of more important things like loving people. Contempt has a way of souring your attitude toward anyone who does not agree with you. If I am called to love my neighbor, then I have to love people with different views of the world.

Lately I'm attempting to take a step back and look at issues through the eyes of my faith. The answers are sometimes less clear. More often I find myself saying I'm not sure what's best. I'm still a bit of a political junkie but I try to avoid being too partisan either way.