Proverbs 11:14 For lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers.

These days many fools are keeping their own counsel.

Instead of using social media to connect with more people they turn it into a virtual echo chamber. They only listen to those who agree completely with their point of view. The more they repeat their views, the louder they get. The more outlandish their arguments grow, the more entrenched they become. They do not turn on the news to see what is happening. They only want to find more evidence for what they already think is happening.

The problem is that when we love our opinion more than we love our brothers and sisters, we have become idolaters. Our best efforts will not succeed because we are breaking God’s commandments by loving some THING more than God’s CHILD.

Every now and then we decide to make a good faith effort to be more inclusive. We go to sensitivity training. We try not to use offensive words. We try to accept people who think differently.

But that’s not enough.

Imagine a marriage where the partners decided to just try to accept each other. “Well I don’t agree with her, but I am trying to learn to tolerate her.”

That’s not unity. That’s a cease-fire.

We don’t need to learn to tolerate each other. We need to learn to value each other. Embrace each other. Honor each other. Love each other.

This is why many Native traditions hold sacred councils around a fire. The central fire is symbolic of the Creator in our midst. But who has the correct view of that fire? No one can see the fire from all sides at once. No one can see the entire fire without the help of other views. As we piece together ALL views of the Creative Fire, we begin to see what we could never see on our own.

We begin to see the entire counsel of God.

Are you ready to do more than tolerate different views? Are you ready to seek them out, celebrate them, and learn from them? Are you ready to honor your brothers and sisters by loving them more than your own opinions?

If so, then you are not far from the Kingdom of God.

O Creator, fill us with your sacred fire. Forgive us when we fall in love with our own small views. Give us power to love others as you love us.