I was just thinking…

The evening started with friends and we enjoyed one another’s company with an air of guarded optimism mixed with wary skepticism filling the room. We have done this for many years on the evening of presidential elections with this group of friends (though some were missing this year). We fancy ourselves armchair political pundits to varying degrees, so we prognosticate and discuss the statistics as if the FOXNews cameras will be arriving shortly to get out take on the situation. It’s a great diversion from the stress of sitting on pins and needles.

The party broke up around 10:30 PM (it was a weeknight…), leaning more toward optimism than skepticism, though the optimism was still very guarded. My husband and I continued to watch until around 1:30 AM and finally gave up the vigil. No clear winner at that point, but our bodies said knowing could wait as sleep beckoned loudly. Admittedly, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I woke up this morning. Regardless of who won, I wondered what the morning light bring upon our nation. Would I awake to news of contested results and riots?

As my alarm brushed away the cobwebs, I saw that the sun had come up as usual. I reached for my phone to see if there was news, and there was, but not of riots or recounts. The ideology with which I align myself appears to be victorious, though the election is not yet formally certified. The streets, so far as I have heard, are peaceful. I understand a little better what Francis Scott Key must have been experiencing when he penned the words that became our national anthem. He wondered, upon the dawn’s early light after a night of warfare, if the flag still stood. And it did.

And as I ruminated over the events of last night in the early morning light, my thoughts turned to Scripture: “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him,’” (Lamentations 3:21-24). I went to bed with uncertainty on my mind, but found the earth still turning when I awoke. The world would still be turning if the election went the other way. No matter what comes of the schemes of man, God’s mercies are new every morning and He is still faithful. God alone is my portion and in Him alone I place my hope because He alone is proven trustworthy!