“ ‘Planting onions’ has come to signify for me the importance of remaining committed to those slow-growing, long-term investments in my family, my community, and the world, no matter what happens over the next four years. Right now it may seem like an afternoon of changing diapers and wiping noses has little to do with ‘the resistance,’ but raising decent, compassionate kids, and being faithful to the call to love them exactly as they are in exactly this moment, is the good work of the Kingdom, in any age. There have been times when I’ve wondered if all the hours I’m pouring into this next book, a book about the Bible, will be relevant when all anyone’s talking about these days is politics, but then I remember that this is the creative ground I’ve been called to cultivate, so I will trust my Maker with the yield.
“…Pastors, I know many of you are struggling with how to shepherd a politically diverse community through these tumultuous times, but please know those relationships you’re navigating one visit, one meal, and one awkward coffee hour at a time matter more than any political speech delivered by a celebrity.
“We are bound to get discouraged, certainly, but we won’t become useless until we abandon our onion patches, those little pieces of earth where we cultivate our greatest hopes and dreams for the world.”
