Post-election day blues?
I'd voted, talked up the candidate for senator to my friends, cheered him on as the race came down to the wire – and then felt totally crushed when he wasn't elected. I scoffed at the "alleged" abilities of his opponent who seemed wimpy and inarticulate by comparison with the experience and conviction of "my" candidate.
After I'd spent enough time feeling miserable, I really wanted to shake the feeling that my state faced six years of hopelessness, but I'd gotten myself so "down" that I couldn't seem to get "up" again. At that point, I knew it was time for prayer, and the answer I got with my prayers was direct and simple.
It's the last line of the Lord's Prayer: "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever." The word "thine" seemed to have special emphasis, as I realized that each of us really does live in God's kingdom and is under His care – no matter who happens to be in the Senate or any other political office.
A kingdom of Spirit with peace and harmony may seem far from the dust and fury of a political race or even the day-to-day challenges we face. But the beauty of this affirmation in the Lord's Prayer is that it expresses the spiritual goal toward which each of us can work in our own ways.
Each sincere utterance of the Lord's Prayer expresses a willingness to be under the government of divine Love, to yield a personal interpretation of events or a willful desire for a certain outcome to God's direction.
And because divine Love is all-intelligent, we can think of Love as being synonymous with divine Mind. Then if Mind's is the kingdom and the power, our prayer with this in thought affirms a loving government that is also intelligent. It's available to everyone, not just a particular group or one or two chosen nations.
Mary Baker Eddy brought this out in her interpretation of that line of the Lord's Prayer, when she wrote, "For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All" ("Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," p. 17).
God's infinite love was with me and my nation right at that moment. While that didn't mean God got willfully involved in who was elected to office, the power of divine Love was able to transform everyone, lifting them to a truer, more spiritual view of themselves and others.
Jesus made clear in his teachings that we are all the sons and daughters of divine Spirit, and so our natural inclinations are toward spirituality and goodness. Prayer that affirms this fact blesses not just elected officials but others who serve in government.
Such prayer also enables voters to make the transition from disappointment to peace.
I know this, because my prayer led me to accept the thought that God's goodness would prevail and lead all of us, just as it had guided the leaders of my nation in the past. Maybe we hadn't always heard the divine direction perfectly, but we certainly had been spared many dangers.
Speaking of dangers, within a short time after this candidate took office, a crisis broke out in an African nation where he had served in the Peace Corps. It wasn't a direct threat to my country, but I felt deep gratitude that this man would be in a position to help resolve the trouble – and he did.
In the course of his service in the Senate and for years afterward, he did much good for the country. His work also led to major changes for the better in the area where I live, so much so that it is pointed out by other urban officials as an example to emulate. There's even an arena named after him that has brought many wonderful programs to my area.
And nearly every time I drive by that arena, I think back to what I learned from that election and how grateful I am that he became "my" candidate.
Reprinted from spirituality.com.
