Good morning…
We wrapped up in blankets and sat in the cool autumn air beneath our back porch. Leftover stress lingered from the night before; we both had witnessed the ugly verbal street fight called a presidential debate. The leaf blowers from our neighbor’s lawn guys were screaming loudly, relentlessly. It was symbolically perfect for the moment at hand. Noise. Noise. Noise.
Quietly she said, “I’m having a hard time hearing God.”
I wonder if many of us are having a tough time hearing God through the incessant man-made racket.
Then she asked honestly, “What are you going to do about this election? I’m so upset about it all. With such weak candidates, who will you vote for?”
After taking a deep breath, I exhaled these words, “I am going to give my vote to the person who I sense is most Christ-like. I want to follow a leader who most closely exhibits the characteristics of Christ. My vote will go to the person who seems to create, consult, and collaborate with the strongest team of experts to guide our country through this tumultuous time.”
She crinkled up her cute nose and said, “Well, who might that be? I have not seen much of Christ in either of our current candidates.”
That’s when I told her, I had been processing the same question as I wrote our blog post yesterday, Pain. Fear. Anxiety. Then through the process of writing our post, God cleared a pathway forward for me from now until November 3rd. I need to take in all the negativity, the backstabbing banter from both sides, the tenacious tit-for-tat, quietly take it all into myself. I need not argue. I need not insult. I need not force my own opinion. I do not want to pass on the same destructive energy coming toward us from all sides. Instead I want to follow Jesus’ example as he hung on the cross taking away the sins of the world, including the wild ones running rampant right now. Without ignoring the war of words, I seek not to fuel the pain. I place all my hopes in God, the righteous Judge (1 Peter 2:21-25, GNT).
Holding the tremendous tensions in unceasing prayer, I am trusting God to transform my mixed emotions into something helpful, something productive, something much better. Just like you, I have one presidential vote to cast. I will choose the candidate God inspires me to choose. I hope you will do the same. Casting our single votes with God, we will piece together this puzzling puzzle. My deep prayer is that we each soul search the question, “Who will you vote for?” by listening attentively for the inner voice of Love.
“You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life…” (Deuteronomy 30:20a, NLT).
From the beginning of time until Election Day 2020 and beyond, this is the key to our life: loving, obeying, and committing ourselves firmly to our Lord.
…Sue…
P.S. Thank you Sally Mitchell for another gorgeous painting wrapped in the blanket of God’s presence, a painting capturing the light dawning through the trees in the thick forest of our world.
