Room with a View

An Election Day Meditation

 

Autumn in Minnesota continues to be absolutely gorgeous.

This picture was taken a few days ago. It’s a shot of my bedroom from the kids’ playground out back, where I was taking a break from going down the slide with my 3-year-old. (Note: as a creaky 50-year-old, I needed to take lots of breaks!) Looking up at my leaf-latticed window, I thought, how pretty and peaceful my life can be.  I thought, how grateful I am for my home and my family.  I thought, how glad I am that this election season is almost DONE.

And it is. Come tomorrow, life will return to being “normal.”

(Ha! Who am I kidding? It will be new and weird.)

Honestly though, I’ve come to expect that every day is new and weird…and wonderful, beautiful, and filled with faith, hope & love. Where would this nation be without faith, hope and love? Now is the time to lean heavily on faith; now is the time to look to the heavens with hope; and now is the time to treat one another with love.

I do hope that whichever presidential candidate wins, we as a nation can be at peace with it. I pray that our hearts will heal and that, above all, the “reform” that’s been promised on both sides of the campaign might begin…with us.

It is always so heartening to hear the words that Our Lord spoke to His disciples: “I leave you peace, my peace I give you.” I can do this, Lord, with Your help.

Please help.

Please help me to be hopeful and to trust in You.

Look, friends, we have got to cling to something and if it’s not guns than it should be religion. This is what’s getting me through today—specifically, the knowledge that we already know the end of the story and tomorrow’s new president will not change it.

My focus, then, is on our God. It’s on the state of my soul…and it’s on my family.

From these things, all goodness flows.

May the best man (or woman?)  (I hope not!) win.  Enjoy watching the returns tonight and above all, please please please place all your hopes in Him.

 

This post was originally posted on November 5, 2008. This is an edited version.