What will you do after Election Day, and the day after that?

... All our next days matter, no matter what. What we do in the days and weeks ahead matters most.

I voted yesterday.

At one of our local libraries, I stood in line for about ten minutes, and watched how most everyone smiled, or tried to.

We waited, civil and thoughtful, and maybe a bit uneasy, silently acknowledging that we may or may not be supporting the same candidates, we may or may not be concerned about the same issues, we may or may not celebrate or grieve the results.

And we also acknowledged by our presence and our action that we are neighbors and we are citizens, and we believe that this matters.

The thing is, it will matter even more after Election Day. Acknowledging and honoring our shared citizenship, our shared community, our shared life - that matters, no matter who wins.

How we react and respond and respect one another after the election matters most.

How we celebrate or grieve matters. How we resist blaming and demonizing matters.

How we choose compassion and kindness and goodness matters.

Because every person matters.

I voted yesterday, knowing my vote is only one of 162 million anticipated votes.

It would be easy to assume that my one vote or my one voice doesn’t matter. But it does, and so does yours.

As I waited, I wondered what it was like for the election workers, and I thanked each one at each stage of the process. I hope they know that their time and energy matters.

It’s a privilege – and for some – an act of prayer. It matters.

I was in high school when Richard Nixon resigned and I remember the deep sense of privilege and duty when, two years later, I cast my vote. It was my first opportunity to be part of our extraordinary and imperfect process, to add my one voice to a chorus of hope for a better America.

I’ve voted in every presidential election since, sometimes anxious, sometimes eager, sometimes ambivalent.

But I’ve never felt as emotional as I felt yesterday, just after noon, exiting the St. Helena Public Library. The tears flowed, and I sat in the car in the parking lot, blowing my nose and wondering what the next days and weeks would bring.

All of our “next days” are our opportunity, and our mandate, to be the people our family and our neighbors and our community need us to be. All of our next days are our power for good. No matter what.

“….I seek the enlargement of my heart at this moment, that there may be room enough for Peace.”

In 1953, while serving as the Dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University, Howard Thurman published this piece in anticipation of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision:

“I seek the enlargement of my heart that there may be room for Peace. Already there is room enough for chaos. There is in every day’s experience much that makes for confusion and bewilderment….

But the need of my heart is for room for Peace: Peace of mind that inspires singleness of purpose; Peace of heart that quiets all fears and uproots all panic; Peace of spirit that filters through all confusions and robs them of their power.

These I see NOW. I know that here in this quietness my life can be infused with Peace. Therefore, before God, I seek the enlargement of my heart at this moment, that there may be room enough for Peace.”

— Howard Thurman, Meditations of the Heart, 1953

Thurman understood the essential interdependence of all of creation. He recognized and honored the beauty and importance of diversity, he saw the sacredness and the vulnerability of life. His teachings remind us that true community is not just about shared space but shared values, compassion, and understanding.

Thurman took the words of Jesus seriously:

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

~ Matthew 5:43-48

“Perfect love”, Scripture says, “casts out fear.”

What if we pray for the people with whom we disagree? Or if you’re not the praying type, what if we seek their well-being as if it were our own?

After all, none of us are really okay until all of us are okay.

And, most of the time, for most of us, the biggest impact is in our smallest circles of connection. For most of us, the little acts of kindness affect others in the deepest ways. For most of us, making the world a better, safer, more beautiful place begins with our daily and sometimes mundane decisions to be the people we know we’re called to be. It’s that simple. It may not be easy, but it’s pretty simple.

What could it look like, what will it look like, when we choose to love our neighbors, no matter what?

What could it look like when we want their well-being, no matter what?

What will it look like, next week and next month and next year, to choose kindness and goodness and compassion and peace - no matter what?

Yesterday’s experience at the voting booth reminded me that while my vote matters, my behavior is the real game changer. And so is yours.