Signs

  

 
 

   

{source}

      

{source}

If you live in Wichita, you were probably aware of the special election that happened this past week. Even if you're decidedly anti-political or apolitical, you couldn't help but notice all the YES and NO signs strewn about the city. The NO vote won, but this isn't about that.

This is about the sign that we placed in our front yard.

I've never placed a sign supporting any candidate or cause in my front yard. There are many that feel that we should make our opinions loud and proud, and stand by the repercussions. If you are firmly in that camp, I applaud you. I've just always felt that my opinions on politics are there for the asking, not necessarily the telling. I've never had a bumper sticker on my car, and probably never will. I'll speak up if need be, especially in conversation, but I don't go out of my way to bring up politics. The world is already divisive.

Here's my deal: when you live in a neighborhood where all other signs are the opposite of yours, you feel a bit...alone. That, and the fact that we've been trying to be a good witness with our lives and here we are proudly stating that we are in disagreement with the people on our street.

So why put out that yard sign? I felt relief today, knowing that the vote was over, knowing we could take down the sign. But I believed in it, right? Isn't that why I agreed to put it out there in the first place? So why was I so glad to be able to blend back in?

For me, that's what I realized it was about.  It was about these conflicting emotions  I had: between my need to educate on this particular issue and what I felt would be good or bad for this city we live in, and my desire to stay anonymous, to not rock the boat, to stay safe and quiet. That sign made me uncomfortable. I worried that its presence made the neighbors uncomfortable. The whole time that sign was in my yard, proclaiming what I was for and what I was against, I was wishing it wasn't there. I wanted my neighbors to all be on the same side.  But even if I hadn't put out that yard sign, my opinion would have been the same, just invisible.

And as I thought about all that, I realized it was about even more. That perhaps there was a correlation to this yard sign and my faith. Maybe I have a hard time "advertising" my faith because I don't want to alienate someone. I don't want anyone to be uncomfortable. But if I don't "advertise" my faith, and this is more than a bumper sticker or a t-shirt or a fish on my car, meaning go out of my way to insert it into conversations and to explain it, then I'll remain the same as I was. I'll be a yard empty of anything that looks exactly the same as the yard next door.