Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Phil 4:6-7



Friday, November 09, 2012

(11/9)...streaming

aka stewing over elections


Having predicted that the candidate who won the presidential election would win the election I am sort of surprised that I am still feeling so low. I suppose that says a lot for the hope that I had that I would be wrong. Intuitively I knew it wouldn't happen (he would lose), but still, I hoped.

In my last post, Sarah D. of Minnesota commented, "Maybe this is extreme, but it almost feels like someone (something) important in my life has died. There is a void, an emptiness ... I don't know."

That's exactly how I feel, and I think it's a bit of faith in our fellow Americans, and hope for this country that has died. At least for the time being.

I now, without a shadow of a doubt, realize that Conservative, faith-filled, God-fearing Americans are the minority. At least in the voting minority.

And what does that mean? It means the future is a lot less certain from my perspective, and possibly that I have been living under a rock for too long. I do so enjoy my own little corner of the world that I failed to notice that the world outside my little corner had turned into a technicolor nightmare. Yikes...I don't know those people. Who are they? I feel a bit like Rip van Winkle, waking up after being a sleep for 100 years to a strange new world.

What is one to do when one is unwilling to be a part of the madness?

I can't answer that question. I haven't a clue.

I know that I like my corner of the world and am unwilling to budge even the tiniest bit. Yesterday my oldest son said we should move to Iceland. Iceland? It's rather tiny there, isn't it? I said I'd rather travel through time. Take me back to a time in which I feel more at home.

Both of those options, however, are not real. Not for me. 

What I do know for certain, what is more clear, is that I can not be part of this world, and maybe that is a message God is trying to give us. This world is not the place for anyone with real faith in God.

My mother-in-law told me that when God answers your prayers with a real solid "No" then he has a better "Yes."

I am hopeful for that "Yes," though I am not sure it will come without some suffering. My daughter and I had a discussion yesterday about that "Yes" and whether or not God's plan for us might mean a little "discomfort" (it's a less severe word than "suffering"). She, being 10, does not understand why God would want us to be uncomfortable. I used that tired old adage "what does not kill us makes us stronger" and she said she doesn't want to suffer or die. Smart little chick. 

Maybe what God wants is for us to look inside, instead of to the world, and we still haven't learned that. I have told my husband countless times since Tuesday, "Circle the wagons, dear." Look inside your home, within your loved ones, within  your Church, within yourself, for the truth...not to the world. 

We have grown so soft. Our children, the generation that won this election, is especially so. They have every aspect of their lives just as they created, from their playlists, to their FB friends, to their Netflix queued films. When I was their age we listened to the radio and whatever song was on, we heard. We watched whatever was on the television, not our favorite dvr'd shows. We grew up to be a lot more tolerant of discomfort. They have a rude awakening ahead, one which would shock the pants off even Rip van Winkle. And maybe that is just what God had in mind. We all must learn to turn inward, to our creator, to be truly happy. 

CCC: 27 The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for:
The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator.


Just to be clear, I have not lost faith in God, nor hope for eternal happiness. Quite the contrary. I am quite certain that faith in God and hope for eternal happiness is the only sure thing.

For the past two days I have had a song running through my head,. I find myself humming it at quiet moments, and I can only believe that God the Holy Spirit put it there. I have never, to my recollection, sung this hymn at Mass. But it says everything my heart wants to believe.



O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.

Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.

Thy Word commands our flesh to dust,
“Return, ye sons of men”:
All nations rose from earth at first,
And turn to earth again.

A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.

The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
With all their lives and cares,
Are carried downwards by the flood,
And lost in foll’wing years.

Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the op’ning day.

Like flow’ry fields the nations stand
Pleased with the morning light;
The flow’rs beneath the mower’s hand
Lie with’ring ere ’tis night.

O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.


9 comments:

  1. This was absolutely beautiful, Barbara, and gave me the most hope I've had in days! Thank you!

    I loved what your MIL told you! I am holding tightly to that truth!

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  2. That was very nicely written, much better than my un-posted rant! I hope (boy, do I hate using that word sometimes, now!) that the coming Troubles will be the rebirth of the Church, and that the USCCB, which has begun to wake up, will start teaching and leading us, along with the priests who have been silent for far too long.

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  3. I might need some spiritual direction but I cannot see how this is God's "yes". This is the result of evil winning. black and white in my little corner of the world. God wants OUR YES to Him. The problem is too many souls said yes to satan. They are blind..or evil. or both.

    The beginning of our post is the same here in my home with my husband and I. There has been a shift in the force...sorta like when OBIWON felt the plant blow up and a million souls cried out. I feel like something died and my soul right now is not in peace.

    I am a emotional mess right now it is even hard to find the peace to pray.

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  4. Very well-written indeed! Thank you.

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  5. That was a beautiful post. We are all feeling that loss right now. Having Simeon's surgery yesterday made me kind of forget about the evil in the world for a day, now we are home and I am reminded of what happened Tuesday evening, seems like a nightmare...but it's real. Like I said on my blog the other day, the conservatives are the only ones reproducing more than the liberal's 1.5 children, so our next generation looks much brighter, there won't be any liberals left!! God has a plan, and maybe this was not His will, but He allows us to choose from right and wrong, somehow, somewhere, sometime (I think soon) we will all have to pay. God is just. That's OK, we were not made for this world but the next (that might be a quote, seems like I've heard that one before)

    Because so many voted for Obama, I do feel kind of, I don't know, betrayed, because when out in public, I am always wondering who the "others" are...

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  6. Barbara,
    You spoke for many of us (especially me). This election has definitely opened our eyes to the reality of satan's influence in our culture, and we must fight back with prayer, words and good works in the name of Jesus. Please continue to evangelize. You do it so well. It is your special God given gift. Do not keep it to yourself. Use it wisely and often.
    WAKE UP, leaders of the Catholic Church! You're sheep are in need of leadership and education!

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  7. I'm with you. I feel a great loss. I've never felt like this with any other elections. I've felt disappointment before, but not the nagging depression/grief/sorrow that I have with this one. I went to bed crying Tuesday night. I had a heart to heart talk with my husband that night. He is more like you in that he never really believed that the Pro-Life ticket would win. I had a guarded hope early on that turned into a real belief towards the end that the good guys would win. I was devastated, bewildered and confused. Not to mention feeling truly physically ill. I don't know my own country anymore. We're definitely not alone in our feelings either. Many of my friends on FB have described having the same reactions. My husband feels it, too. Though with him it's more like this nagging anxious feeling. It just doesn't feel right. Like we're trapped in a Twilight Zone episode or something. It doesn't really feel real I guess. The thought that was put upon my heart as I lay in bed crying was that *I*, personally, need to pray and sacrifice more. Really the emphasis should be put on the sacrificing, because we already pray quite a bit in our home (though one can always improve one's prayer life)….but sacrificing? Not so much. Fasting, almost never (not including liturgical fast days). My husband is better about this than I am. Honestly, I feel like such a slacker. I've never been good with denying myself anything. I think on the saints and how many, if not most, of them sacrificed and made penances for the sins of others or the world. I think it's time that I stepped it up a notch. My minimalistic approach to spiritual warfare (that's what it is, right? Good against evil?) is not cutting it. Maybe it's time to break out the sackcloth and hair-shirts. Anyway, at least it would make me feel like I still can do something to counter the evil in what otherwise seems like an out-of-my-control situation.

    Thank you for the thoughtful post, Barbara. God bless you.

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  8. Barbara, my 27 year old son sent me a text message the day after the election saying "We're doomed". I told him that we have to keep our faith and trust God. That same day my 35 yr. old son called talking about the election. He delivers water and when talking to some of his customers he told them, "As long as my President doesn't leave me, I'll be good, because my President is Jesus". Isn't that wonderful! This statement gave me chills and brought tears to my eyes. We have to keep the faith, never stop praying, trust, trust, and know that God will take care of His people.
    God Bless you and your family.

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  9. Rip Van Winkle. yes! I SO often feel that way. so. often. And come on - we aren't THAT old. But the world has done a 180 in so many areas even since we were in school. Since we married! It's hard to wrap your head around it sometimes.

    I am not very political and truth be told, I was voting for whom I considered less bad vs my ideal candidate. I wasn't sure God thought that was best. Sometimes it actually just muddies the water in practice. So the outcome was not a complete shock. But yes, where He wants to go with this then still remains to be seen.

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I appreciate your comments -- sometimes I feel like I'm talking to myself!