Post Election Faith

"Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times." 

 - Martin Luther

This week is a very important one in our Country. Yes, I realize we will elect a new President this Tuesday...however, in my opinion, there is something so very much more 

important ahead.   

Wednesday.

Wednesday, the fabric of who we are, as individuals and as America, will be visible to each other and to the world. Who will you be if your candidate is not selected? Who will you be if your candidate is selected? Who will you be if either candidate fails to concede? What message will we share with each other and with the world? Hope? Destruction? The spirit of Democracy - or Democrazy?

My parents taught me that being a member of my family and carrying the family name meant something.  "Alexander," stood for integrity, honesty, a willingness to work hard, tenacity and a stubborn unwillingness to give up on what we perceive as correct. Within the name lived an understanding of faith - that things could get better - somehow. We didn't always know how, but "somehow" we knew that things always worked out.

Being an American stands for something too.  In fact, much of what I was taught about my family name could be applied to this shared and historic title.  

Integrity, which by definition means "wholeness," can only happen if we are willing to cross the partisan aisles, and our home streets, in order to join hands and work together.  

Honesty must include some sense of awareness that, in our fervor for supporting what we believe to be the truth, we may have hurt others we love. Wednesday may be a good day for an apology... not for what we have believed in, but for any unintentional pain we may have caused through our fear-inspired enthusiasm.  

Hard work lies ahead of us, no matter who our new President is.  So much has been revealed in this election.  Clearly, many of us are unhappy with the way things are in our UNITED STATES.  To remain united, we must reach out to one another and look for solutions.

We must be tenacious and unwilling to give up.  On each other. On ourselves. On our Country.

And above all else, Wednesday, we must step more deeply into FAITH than we ever have before.  It is our faith that allows us to know, beyond all that has occurred in this election season, that there is something far greater that lives within us and expresses through us.

How would you like to be treated if your candidate does not prevail? Treat others that way.  Be kind and compassionate. Commit to working, side-by-side, on the issues that face us all. 

We can ask no less of ourselves than we expect of our politicians. It is time to use all that we have learned, from all our sacred studies, to bring ourselves into alignment with the God/ Goddess/ Holy of our Hearts.  From there - wisdom will guide us, and grace will bless our lives.