Whether or not Barak Obama is the one you would have chosen, he IS our new President and it is our duty to pray for him as he takes on the monumental task of leadership of our nation. He will find it isn't as easy being the man in the Oval Office as it seemed on the campaign trail. I hope he will take good advice and use the best help he can find from both parties. I pray he will faithfully seek council and guidance from Almighty God , without Whose help he will but fail.
This is an historical occasion to see a black man in the highest office of the land. The past treatment of blacks, Native Americans and other minorities is a disgrace and shame on the history of America. I wish we could learn to judge a person by their character and not their color. WE ALL BLEED RED. America and the world still have a long way to go before people accept each other without name tags of background or position or outward physical or political differences. We all have basic challenges and faults and capabilities, but those are common to all humanity. America has made a giant step in the right direction and we should all be proud. We have elected a man as President whose skin is black. One day we will probably elect a man or woman with brown or yellow or red skin. Like the Christmas gift wrappings on the box, the real value is what is inside.
There will be many in the crowds and watching tv who can remember segregation and it's ugliness. I can. My first taste of the difference society places on color came as a little girl. I had gone to town with my mom and while she was shopping in the store, I went back to get a drink of water at the drinking fountain at the rear of the store. The familiar sign above it read WHITES ONLY. I had to tiptoe to reach the fountain and got my face splashed. After I got my drink, I stepped back and was wiping my face with my hands and there stood a little black girl just about my age. We just stood and looked at each other for what seemed a long time . . . maybe the closest either of us had ever been to a child of different race and color. Finally, I just awkwardly said, "Hi", and she said, "Hi" and I left her there. Later, I told my mom about it and asked why the other girl didn't go ahead and get a drink. She told me the little girl wasn't allowed to drink from the fountain or use the bathroom . . . it was the law. I didn't understand then. I still don't. Thank God there are no more signs like the one above the drinking fountain.
Thank God there is a Fountain where everyone is welcomed and invited to drink. As a little girl, that drink at the Dime Store fountain did not satisfy my thirst for very long. But when I was nine years old, I came to the One Who said, "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall NEVER thirst." (John 4:14) I looked up and the sign said "WHOSOEVER". So I drank, and have never been thirsty again. To all who are dry and thirsty in spirit and soul, the invitaion is still, "Come, drink freely of that Living Water, that is eternal life in Jesus."
Romans 8:28
Copyright by Ruth R. Martin -
1/20/2009 -- All rights reserved.
Read more about Ruth and enjoy her poetry at "The Preacher's Wife."
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