2020 Vision
I watched the moon set this morning.
I settled in my chair by a window in our sunroom and opened the blinds to the darkness. The full moon hung low just above the trees bordering the meadow to the west. It was golden, as if it were borrowing the rising sun’s warmth to enhance its ghostly complexion.
I stared as it drifted downward, brushing the treetops, then playing hide and seek in the branches. I felt a brief sadness as I saw the last of its light shrink to a pinprick before disappearing completely.
On the other side of our house the sun went to work, setting aside the pink garment it had worn for its daily entrance. Soon its rays reached every eave, every room, every fading flower, every red maple leaf, every puddle. The moon became a memory.
Yet tonight it will return, followed by the sun tomorrow morning. And so it goes, night and day, darkness and light, shadow and illumination.
The creation will continue.
2020 has turned my gaze inward. I have experienced moments when I saw myself clearly, as a flawed person who is also a wholly loved child of God. But at other times introspection has devolved into self-centeredness and self-pity, when I stopped just short of asking my Creator, “What have You done for me lately?”
Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.
Enter election season.
I have railed against the Other Guy while promoting My Guy, as if either can cure what ails us.
I do not think that being a good citizen and a Christ-follower are mutually exclusive. Indeed, I believe Christians are called to engage in the public square, to do what we can to make this a better world.
But in the heat of battle—amid debates and polls and online conversations—I can forget to keep my eyes on Jesus. To ask what He would have me say and do. And to obey when He commands me to be silent.
I am held in His hands, and His alone. Whatever happens on Election Day 2020, God is in charge. If My Guy wins, God will work things out according to His purposes. The same if Other Guy wins.
I wrote a blog on Election Day 2016 titled “It Is Well.” I referenced the story behind the hymn “It Is Well With My Soul” and concluded that I would be at peace whatever the election’s outcome, thanks to the sacrifice and presence of Jesus Christ.
More enduring than the shift between night and day or the transition between seasons is the love and power of Almighty God. He is the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.
He is always.
It is well.
Detail of The Resurrection Window at The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, Leawood, KS
