Gray and Great Days

All right. This is the post I have been promising for the past couple of weeks. I kept waiting for the "right" moment to do it. It's not going to happen! As I write, I am surrounded by chaos. This computer desk has papers all over it, some of my jewelry (I hate typing with bracelets on), an open, now stale, bag of pretzels, the checkbook, receipts, and etcetera. To my left is the laundry, which my housekeeper steadfastly refuses to touch (joking - I am the housekeeper). I also have several tubs of clothing in here brought up from the fruit celler because I am trying on clothes for summertime on the boys, trying to see what I'll need to buy for them. Ben is loudly playing his speaker game two feet away from me. Delilah is sending her sappy (right now kind of loud) love songs out over the airwaves. The kitchen smells like supper. It's a mess, too. Paul and the other boys are sitting in the living room watching actors pretend to beat the living daylights out of each other while trying to convince their audience that is all the real thing - WWE Wrestling, the stupidest tv ever conjured up in any producer's mind. I know I am only moments away from having Sam run out here and start tugging and hanging on my arm or messing with the mouse and keyboard. He has a radar that instantly alerts him any time I sit down at the computer! So, I'm not going to have the perfect moment to write this.





I'm also not going to have a picture, as I like to for a lot of my posts, especially my more "essay" type ones. That's because I would need to use a picture of Barak Obama and I don't want his picture anywhere on my blog!





I don't like the man. I really, really, really do not like him. My husband calls him "O-bomination" which was only cute the first time he said it. Now it's annoying. But don't tell him I said that. He's just as frustrated, concerned, and scared for our country as I am. I worry, Paul gets angry. On a personal level, I don't like Barak Obama. I think he's a weasel and I do not believe he has our country's best interests at heart. Neither do I have confidence that he understands the dire threat that radical Islam presents to the United States and I believe we are less safe because of that. He intends to ruin just about everything our forefathers put in place - our rights, our freedoms, and especially the people. Can one person really have that great of power? I don't know. Look at Hitler...No, I am not equating him with Adolph Hitler - two totally different people. I don't consider Obama to be pure evil as Hitler was. But I do find it interesting and not a little bit scary to see how people flock to Obama's promise of "hope", when that was how Hitler enticed the Germans into following him. I know I'm going to get into trouble for even putting the two of them in the same paragraph. I do NOT consider Obama to be a modern day Hitler, except maybe in regards to the innocent babies that will continue to be slaughtered under his term of leadership. So no angry comments, please!





Unfortunately, Obama is the embodiment of everything socialistic, humanistic, and liberal in our country, the three pronged disease that has slowly, but yet quickly, begun to consume America. This disease will eventually kill us and it is going to happen sooner than any of us can imagine. Make no mistake - all our lives will be radically changed by this administration, in one way or the other - and this change will not be for the good. But, Barak Obama did not get himself appointed to office. He's a product of our modern day culture. Many Americans also agree with everything he stands for. And that's what is truly frightening.





So to say I have been upset since the election would be a fair assessment. The first few days afterwards I was truly stunned. I honestly believed that, in the end, Americans would see through the empty promises and bright smile. But enough didn't. I haven't really been depressed, though, and life has pretty much gone on as it did before Nov. 4th. But change is in the air and I do find it frightening. Every day the news brings us reports of more businesses downsizing or even closing for good. I'm really pretty vague in the head as to what goes on with the stock market, but from what I hear, it doesn't sound like anything good is happening there. Every medical professional I talk to seems pretty certain that socialized medicine is just around the corner. Our parental rights are hanging in the balance as this UN bill on the rights of the child is under consideration. I'm a "color" person and the best way to describe this time period right now is by referring to it as Gray. It's not a dark, stormy gray color, but neither is it a pale, silvery gray. It's just gray - like gravel. And try as I might to lessen this, it does affect my mood at times.





Now, If I end here, I'm going to leave you all feeling down. You'll never visit my blog again. If you see me in person, you might be tempted to stay far, far away so my depression doesn't cover you, too! I write all this because I know I'm not alone. Your feelings on the new president may not be as negative as mine (or you may think he's the greatest thing since Pepsi, I don't know!) but I know that a lot of people have the same concerns I do. And if the new administration doesn't cause any concern for you, it's for sure the economy does. So what hope do we have?





Well, the truth is, as Christians, we have all the hope we need. The Bible is filled with passages and verses offering us comfort for troubled times. Just a couple of weeks ago our pastor drew our attention to some verses in Psalms. I'm not sure if he was actually in chapter 46, but my eyes fell on it anyway, and the words were like a balm to my troubled soul. Listen!

Verses 1-3

God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble.

Therefore, we will not fear,

even though the earth be removed,

And though the mountains be carried

into the midst of the sea;

though the waters roar and be troubled,

though the mountains shake with its swelling

Selah

Verses 10-11

The Lord of hosts is with us,

the God of Jacob is our refuge

And then I skimmed ahead a couple of chapters and I found this in chapter 49, verse 5:

Why should I fear in the days of evil,

when the iniquity at my heels surrounds me?

The Psalms are chock full of verses of comfort and hope like these I've written. I am planning to begin incorporating the reading of the Psalms into my devotions. I need it. I need it for the comfort during these "gray" days. I need the encouragement. I need to be reminded of how great and powerful our God is and how puny and little one American president - and I - truly are.

And there's something else I need to do, something I have not been able to do yet. A few weeks ago my sister in law, Kirsti, and I got out (we both live in all male households and regularly escape for "girl" time!) and we got to talking about current events. Kirsti really encouraged me to begin praying for President Obama. I didn't want to hear that because it's a whole lot easier just to be mad at and disgusted with him. But she's right. Prayer is so powerful and if we aren't pounding Heaven's gates with prayers about and for this man, there's no telling what may happen. But that shouldn't be my only reason to pray, as a safeguard against really terrible things he might decide to do. I need to pray for wisdom for him and even safety. The praying will benefit me, as well. I think that in doing so, I may lose some of my bitterness against this man. Will it change my opinion of him? No. I'm never going to like him and I will continue to hate all he stands for and the awful legislation he continues to enact. But praying for him is going to change me and that's always a good thing.

One final thought to leave you with: I ran across this quote by Sir Winston Churchill just this week. It was a different time, a different people, and a different war. But we can still gain wisdom from things of the past. Sir Winston said, "Do not let us speak of darker days. Let us speak, rather, of sterner days. These days are not dark days, these are great days." Perhaps the greatness we will see will not necessarily be the changes that occur in our country, but rather, the greatness will be the change in our spirits as we become fully dependent on the One who truly is great.