Tuesday, January 20, 2009

What Will You Be Doing?

What will you be doing today, this inauguration day of our new President? I have kept this blog free of my political thoughts in these past months (and I have some very strong ones!) but today I will not contain my joy as I see our new President and Vice-President be sworn into office.

I plan to be glued to the television, watching and listening. Holding hands with my husband....funny how so many times in recent weeks, as we have listened to the President or Vice-President elect speak (yes, I am very happy to have Joe Biden be our Vice-President - I really admire this man), we have found ourselves silently reaching for each others hand and expressing our hope (yes, there is that word again!) and anticipation for what may be possible in days to come. There will be discussions and shared emotions with my family throughout the day, I know. And a stirring in my heart of something...pride and patriotism and hope and expectation.

But most of all, through all the events of the day and beginning yet tonight, will be prayer. Prayer for safety and strength and guidance. Prayer and prayer and more prayer....

My Dear God, please keep him safe....keep him and his family safe. Hold him in the palm of Your hand. Let him seek Your face, let him feel our prayers for him. Thank You for the loving family he has, we pray for them, too, Father. And Lord, let us the people of this nation he now accepts leadership of, feel strongly and take seriously our own personal responsibility to lend our continued support of prayer to this good man...

So much is written about and many have read Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address, it is often quoted. But today I am thinking of words from his first speech, given in March, 1861. "Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty...We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

Happy First Day, Mr. President and Mr. Vice-President!

2 comments:

Joyce said...

What a challenging path lays before our new president. Yes; may the Lord protect and guide him as he fills this difficult position.

My8kidsmom said...

What a refreshing post! A great reminder of what God has called us to do, pray for our leaders, not complain about them!