For the past several months I’ve been a candidate for city council. The race came to completion yesterday, on Nov 4th. More on that in a little bit.
Throughout the time of the race I made a decision to keep my personal priorities straight. Elections, like jobs or hobbies can tend to fill up the gaps of unscheduled time slots. Everything “seems” important and therefore moves up and fills in the gaps!
I’ve learned over the years to NOT let that be the case, if there’s anyway to prevent it.
So, I looked at the campaign and made the decision that whatever Susan and I had planned BEFORE we decided to run for office, we’d keep as a priority. We set aside time; some call these types of days by the term “sabbath”. It’s a time when you rest. When BEING together is more important than DOING things. Yes, things get done, but they’re not the “Time Thieves” that urgent demands are.
As an encouragement to you, allow me to show you how we rested during this VERY active political election period of time. (It’s kind of fun to retell it; and maybe impact YOUR life.)
Yellowstone
In early August, Susan and I announced my candidacy for City Council. We had friends join us at City Hall for the turning-in of campaign papers!
Our friends, John and Ellen Price (who travel with us every year on adventures) flew in for the ceremony and THEN the four of us jumped in our car and took off for Yellowstone National Park! We enjoyed time together as we soaked up the beauty of Yellowstone. The political race could wait till we returned.
My election management team of Colin Mansfield and Barrett Tetlow kept the race on track in our time of restful absence. They both understood our travel plans and agreed with us.
Upon our return from this time of rest, we were energized and jumped into the details of the race, planning THIS event and organizing THAT precinct walk - we pressed on for the high calling of American citizenship’s duty of preparing to vote in three months on November 4th.
Alaska
Much earlier in the year, as a couple, we’d decided that we wanted to visit Alaska on an “Oldies Rock n’Roll Cruise” put on by a recent friend, Sean Harmon! We signed on for early autumn, never thinking that we’d be in a non-partisan race! So, we kept to the plan - the ship would set sail in mid-September. Our dear friends Kevin and Alison Hearon were our travel mates as we cruised “North to Alaska”.
The vistas were beautiful, the size of the cities showed themselves to be quite quaint and nothing like I thought they’d be. It was a wonderful time of rest and appreciation of God’s creation.
And after it was over we returned home to a newly-frantic pace of campaigning as the election date closed in on us.
Political mailings and speaking opportunities increased. Social media posts became the order of the day regarding an issue or a controversy. The speed of light increased…
By the time October hit, our pace was quite busy - just as ALL of us face in the Fall, preparing for the holidays. The leaves began to turn colors. The crazy warm-then-cold days of harvest started happening.
A Funeral, a Wedding and a World Series
Our dear, long-time friend, Henri Raynaud, unexpectedly passed away and we traveled to S. Cal for his service. Along with another close friend, I was honored to prepare for and present his eulogy. Henri was a true friend of my heart. The memorial service was a time of deep reflection and some sabbath rest.
As we came home, the campaign duties were waiting for us and the pace increased once again.
Now, allow me to bring it home to you and your life. The pace of life, death, to-do lists and responsibilities seem ALWAYS to be accelerating, if we allow them to be. The key is we don’t HAVE to be caught in that undertow of frenetic activities. We must CHOOSE to rest.
For us, watching the pedantic flow in October of the World Series brings down the pace of life to a slower speed. Being Dodger fans made it even more special as the LA team played the Blue Jays… and won!
We jumped back in to politics, but with a different perspective, thinking of Henri, his wife, Pam, their daughters and grandchildren.
Then, our niece, Dannie Mansfield, was given away in marriage by my brother, Ken, not her groom, Mark on the very weekend before the election. Yes, there was travel to the other side of our state. And yes, the wonderful chaos of almost all weddings ensued BUT I was able to quietly campaign in the car by sending texts to voters and answering phone calls. Our campaign team back home walked precincts and finished knocking on what ended up being 75% of all the doors in the city!!
When the bride and groom departed, we returned home and finished off the election duties with a strong “phone bank”, run out of our home, visited by volunteers, including the former mayor of Boise, who made voter calls from our kitchen table!
Susan and Colin were the cornerstones of both the activity of DOING and the deeper awareness of BEING. They were a GREAT campaign team and I am very proud of them.
The key to it all was the ability to just BE.
So, what are your take-aways?
May I suggest the following:
- Plan your schedule for calendared rest. Schedule your sabbath rest times - even weekly. Yes, vacation well, yet don’t just transfer your busy-ness to a different locale.
- Allow for interruptions. Life and death happen. Be responsive yet don’t be reactive. Realize that everything is a choice - and IF you hold the priorities of people OVER places/things, your life will discover the “secret o’life” that James Taylor sang about.
- Be bold. Take a look at things you’ve always wanted to do. For us, cruising Alaska with friends was one of them! Yellowstone with our other friends was another. Running for office has always been a goal.
Then, plan it and do it. Hey, if I can plan trips and respond to interruptions DURING A POLITICAL RACE (!) we can all implement a little Nike philosophy and Just Do It.
Be encouraged. I was. I still am.
More later,
Den
P.S. The City Council election was close. I received ~15% of the vote but with six candidates it wasn’t enough to allow me to capture one of the two seats that were up for grabs. What a terrific opportunity it was to run for local office in America. Thanks for your prayers!