It’s Five Minute Friday on Saturday time. Although I tried — really — to carve out a couple of minutes for the weekly exercise yesterday, something got in the way. Important things, like taking a nap, cleaning out my car {it really needed it}, taking a nap, watching my granddaughter and her friend attempt to play a video game and bedtime.

But I used the solitude of the night to formulate where I would go with the strange prompt — MIDDLE. In fact, I woke up around 4:30 a.m. and drafted it in my mind. It was quite an exercise that required me going back to sleep. It’s that kind of a Saturday.

I’m ready now, though, to join my fellow FMF writers at Kate’s place (katemotaung.com/2017/01/12/five-minute-friday-middle)  and let the wanderings of my mind find their way onto the screen. I really hope you check out their work … or better yet, join in the fun.

The timer has been set to five minutes, so let’s GO …

For some strange reason, my thoughts on the prompt shifted to Stealers Wheel’s Stuck in the Middle with You. You know, clowns to left of me, jokers to the right, here am I stuck in the middle with you.

Perhaps it’s because I’m a middle of the roader. Sure, I have beliefs I would defend to the death … faith, family, friends, country. But for the most part, I’m pretty content meandering down the middle of the road.

It drive me crazy when the ultra left or ultra right dig in. They put on their blinders. They cover their ears. They automatically refuse to look at a problem without invoking the “I’m right, you’re wrong” stance.

You see it in politics. O have we!

You see it in denominations.

You see it in the pro-life, pro-choice camps.

You see it in everyday life.

I think Jesus was a middle of the roader as well. You see, it isn’t that He had ambivalent views, but rather was able to see the truth … STOP

… and nuggets of truth on all sides of an issue. He was as comfortable in the synagogue as the well with the Samaritan woman. He chastised the Pharisees and ate with the tax collector. He embraced the fringes of society. He sought the one lost sheep

When I hear an ultra left or radical right thinking individual spew their narrow-minded narratives, I cringe. Truly — on both sides — I feel like there are clowns to the left of me and jokers to the right.

What ever happened to dialogue? What ever happened to starting with what we agree upon rather than what separates us? What ever happened to an open mind? Whatever happened to civility?

I’m stuck in the middle … with You!

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair.