Election Ruminations

We have a new President. He promised change.
His promises aren't new at all.
Take from the rich and give to the poor.
The more evenly distributed the wealth is, the more people are able to participate in the government and the better the economy. (Can you prove that?)
Health care for everyone.
Make everyone like us. (Never going to happen unless we give in to them. Then they'll hate us even more.)
Change is good. (Is it always?)
Change what? (National pride?)
I never thought anything or anyone could make Hillary and Bill look good. (I was wrong.)

To quote P.J. O'Rourke: "If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free!"

Our prayers may have been answered and we don't even know it. What better way for God to become important in the lives of people than for the people to go through rough times? I hope it doesn't work that way, of course. A friend wrote a morning-after rumination about his disappointment. He gave me permission to use it here, and I thank him.

Last evening, when I came to the realization that many of the things I have always believed were not so important to the majority of this country's voters, I felt devastation and despair. What's to become of us now?

Didn't do much thinking about God, until this early morning, when I picked up Emmet Fox's book, "The Sermon on the Mount."

The first Beatitude: Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. What was Jesus saying?

To be poor in spirit means to have emptied yourself of all desire to exercise personal self-will, and, what is just as important, to have renounced all preconceived opinions in the whole-hearted search for God. It means to set aside your present habits of thought, your present views and prejudices, your present way of life if necessary; to jettison, in fact, anything and everything that can stand in the way of your finding God.

What I've been doing lately hasn't brought much comfort, so think I will try the Beatitudes. May not help, sure won't hurt, plus, God and I might become buddies again.
Blessings,
Spook

Maybe, after we experience some of the changes coming upon us, God will find a whole nation of buddies. Listen to the song below and sing it to God.

http://worriersanonymous.org/Share/OnlyYou.htm

Journey

From the time we're born until we die, we are on a journey. I wonder if God is on this journey with everyone or just those who want Him to be. I'd like to believe it's the former rather than the latter because there have been times in my life when I felt I was journeying alone. Besides, if He isn't with those who don't know Him, how will they ever find out who He is?

In 1960, when JFK was elected President, I thought the U.S. would surely fall. (I gave up working in politics that year, but have always voted. What little I could do didn't seem to matter in the whole scheme of things.) The same feeling appears to abound with this election--the fear that our nation may not survive as we have known it.

Many years ago I made two lists. On one list were the negative things in my life. On the other--the positives. For every negative I gave a positive. The outcome of this endeavor brought peace to my soul. Life has many negatives, but when we look for them, there are as many positives.

What does this have to do with the election? Who knows God's plans? What I want is for hearts to be turned to Him. I want people to know His favor, to know His love. My prayer has been that whatever happens will turn the hearts of people to God. I believe God is on this journey with America and with the people of this world whether they know it or not.

If I didn't believe this, I'm not sure I'd ever be able to rest again.

If God be for us, who can be against us?

Dancing in the Rain

Life isn't about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain!

With the falling economy, a new administration (depending on who wins) that may signal the end of the United States as we know it (does that sound like a doomsday prediction?), my emotions and my ulcer are feeling the anxiety. Emails are surfacing all over the Net asking people to pray. I hope we've already been doing that. I believe we should pray all the time for our country regardless of who is elected.

I'd be surprised if most people really understand what this recession means. Having lived during the last depression and world war, if only as a young child, I remember those times well. Denis Leary, in his book "Why We Suck: A Feel Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid" says "This country--including you and most of the people related to you by birth or marriage or both--is populated by beings who have been so blessed for so long that they have become almost completely immune to any interests other than their own." I say "amen" to that and could cite example after example to prove it--but so can you.

When a people are self-absorbed, nothing outside of themselves matters. One of the candidates is appealing to the self-absorbed by promising them a better life. Better than we've had? A socialistic society can't give people a better life. All it gives to its people is less money, less freedom and more government control. A storm isn't coming. The storm is here and the best we can do to survive is dance in it.

I'm hoping for the best. In the meantime, I'm taking the King's hand, and I'm going to dance.