REFLECTION
I keep thinking about my post-election dream, vision, warning or revelation. It was three o’clock in the morning when I woke up to relieve my full bladder. I turned on my cellphone and I was shaken by the news that Donald Trump won the election. I leaned into my bathroom sink and prayed, “Lord have mercy! What does this mean?” I felt as if I received a blessed assurance that the answer was found in this passage Acts 9:11-20. Could it be that our next president “this man” is the chosen instrument and one whose scales will fall from his eyes? I thought about this passage for several days and I listened to the many voices throughout our nation. Then I parked and prayed this prayer at 1:11 p.m. for him and our nation as I rested in peace.
Let us Pray the Prayer of Saint Francis (revised)
Lord, make him an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let him sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that he may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
Imagine, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., said, “I can’t face it alone?” He was a dynamic leader, a pillar of strength and he is still an inspiration. But, he was like many of us who reach a breaking point. Some of us may fall down on our knees and look up. We might stretch out our hands like a beggar and surrender to the Almighty. At times we feel like we don’t have enough strength to calm our shivering heart. We struggle to confess our fears and acknowledge our limitations. Finally, we let go and let God. When we come to a point when we can say, “I can’t face it alone,” then, what seems impossible happens. We rise, turn the corner, and arrive on the doorstep of hope. We receive the gift of grace, unmerited favor from God. We join with Dr. King and others whose witness marks the beginning of renewed strength and healing. Maybe you know someone who says “I can’t face it alone.”