This is not intended as a political writing. It is our extreme political opinions that inhibit our, and America’s, abilities to see past those perspectives and so often prevent us from being able to keep learning how to follow Yeshua’s teachings. Let’s read this with this latter goal in mind. . .

I watched on YouTube the entire Oval Office interchange between President Trump and President Zelenskyy that took place last Friday. I did so in order to base my knowledge on first hand observation rather than rely on mass media reported summaries or selected snippets of video on social media. I was grateful in this case that I could watch the entire event. Doing so gave me better appreciation for how challenging it is to know what happened by following the usual sources, on both sides, though I do that too in order to better understand my brothers and sisters who have different political views than my own.

My purpose here is not to discuss whether or not President Zelenskyy was treated fairly, whose side is right, or what were President Trump’s intentions. Those are also very worthy topics, but for another forum. Rather, the focus is what we can learn by watching various approaches to problem solving and how we can grow in our journey to be peacemakers, to follow in the footsteps of Yeshua, the Prince of Peace.

The end game from all perspectives is to end the Russian war against Ukraine that is killing hundreds on both sides daily. It seemed the task at hand at Friday’s meeting was not to take sides as to who is right or wrong, but rather, to pursue a possible next step to ending the war by the signing of an agreement, one not 100% agreeable to either side on the merits. That goal distinguishes a mediation from a trial where there are opportunities for such discussions. In this case the parties are at war and do not like each other. They are unequal powers. The possibility for mediation is tenuous. So there is no constructive purpose served by discussing who’s right and wrong in the context of a mediation even though that is a very important discussion that should be undertaken.

Let’s look at how some foreign leaders took a disastrous situation and reacted in ways that are exemplary and helpful to all of us who seek world peace.

After Friday’s debacle, even though the UK leaders rallied around President Zelenskyy and clearly felt that he was treated unjustly by President Trump, nevertheless, the British Prime Minister Keir Steimer began efforts to have the UK lead Europe in creating a plan to address the issues in the U.S. proposal that were felt lacking by President Zelenskyy.  Even further, in the interest of world peace, Steimer is diplomatically interchanging with the U.S. despite his personal and country’s opinions on the merits of what went down and he is working toward a fair resolution. The Prime Minister encouraged the royal family to invite President Trump to an unprecedented second state visit despite immense domestic protest against doing so. Even with such controversy and the British leadership’s disagreement with President Trump, the UK is making these efforts in the interest of accomplishing the larger goal, mediating peace literally for the world.

These actions do not mean these leaders have checked their moral code or personal opinions at the door. Rather they are prioritizing putting out the fire first and most likely will facilitate other opportunities to weigh in on the deeper issues. Timing is everything.

Russia and Ukraine will not be able to make an agreement face to face. There is too much hatred. It is for the global powers including the United States to help mediate and be the peacemakers. It is on the leaders of each country that can be of help to try to de-escalate the tension. This has been the intent of the U.S. too.

We cannot change how our leaders comport themselves nor their approaches to solutions. We can, however, take note of the different approaches and determine in our hearts what would Yeshua do.  We can work on ourselves to see how we would handle frustrating situations and become more aware of how we speak to others. We can learn how to be better peacemakers in watching the actions of others.

At a practical level when upsetting situations like last Friday’s meeting occur, we can share our frustrations, or not, as appropriate with the challenging goal of not exacerbating the situation with those with whom we interact. By broadening our outlooks, by trying to get in the shoes of the other, we can become more sensitive to how far apart our society is when processing the same set of facts rather than become argumentative with those with different views. We don’t have to condone behavior with which we disagree nor do we have to enter the fray of discord that serves no constructive purpose when we unkindly discuss a differing view. Instead we can search for the deeper lessons and seek constructive approaches for dialogue. Doing so helps diffuse the political differences that so often separate us, truly the work of the evil one.

What we are seeing play out on the world stage is just a bigger drama of the training ground for problem solving that is the substance of our daily lives. As babies we are placed in nuclear families, to learn as we grow how to get along with others, and hopefully grow those skills as our world expands to where our lives take us. The problem solving paradigms, the tone of verbal interchanges, the nature of the issues and types of personalities of those involved we saw last week in the Oval Office are the same processes, depth of issues, and personalities that occur in our families, and communities too. They only differ by degree. In either case, striving for fair and moral resolutions and peace is the ultimate endgame.

Sometimes in a family or community setting we are given opportunities to speak into a situation, whether one involving us or one we are asked to mediate. These situations provide blessed opportunities to exhibit kind treatment of each person involved, to voice our thoughts to the individuals about their approaches, to encourage kind words, fair treatment, compassion. We become better able to hone our justice seeking and peacemaking abilities when we approach these chances to grow with intention.

When it comes to state and federal governmental matters we can only watch, pray, and be reminded of the need to set aside our disappointments (when not otherwise getting involved to effectuate change). We are often impacted by those larger decisions yet cannot speak into them which only adds to the frustration when what happens seems so wrong from our personal perspectives. We have to remember that for others what happened did not seem wrong. That is the hard part, to try to put ourselves in the other person’s shoes, especially when we have no ability to change the underlying situation.

That is when we can really make a difference. We can learn to listen to the words we are about to say with the ears to hear how they will be heard by a person of the opposite opinion. We can decide whether our passion to persuade, or air our frustration, is more important than shalom bayit, peace in the home, in those situations where what we are about to say would not change the situation nor the opinion of the other person anyway. It’s not giving up on change. It’s being a realist in certain situations, those in which we are powerless.

In those situations we cannot change, those in which we are not in power or able to join forces to effectuate or influence the decision, we must pray, and pray, and pray, and pray. In the case at hand concerning a just peace in Ukraine, with God guiding the hearts of all world leaders, and prayer from all, we can remain hopeful that another chapter is yet to be written that will move this situation closer to a fair, peaceful resolution. May it be.

Pray, pray, pray, and . . . pray.

Shabbat shalom.

Diane