And peace returned …

I woke up very early this morning … as in, before the sun … because I needed the restroom. When I looked at my watch on the way back to bed it said 5:21a.m. – definitely still dark outside. Unfortunately, sleep did not return. My brain started on a track that kept me from falling back to sleep – a track that I felt was leading nowhere but I couldn’t find my way off of. That track eventually led me to current events.
Are you like me? Proud to be an American, and yet easily frustrated by one of the biggest events on our American calendar: the Presidential Election. I’ve been voting every four years in the first week of November for literally decades. And each time it rolls around I seem to feel less and less enchanted by it. Don’t get me wrong – I love the fact that unlike many, many other countries, we are given the privilege of choosing our leaders. But the more judgmental and viciously critical our populace becomes, the less I want to get engaged in the process. And you might agree with me when I say, this year is the worst one in my memory. So that’s the track my mind had slipped onto long about 6:45 – I’d been praying intermittently through the 90 minutes or so before then but still had not experienced any peace or tranquility.
At some point I finally just said in my thoughts, “Lord, please help me. I need to be able to let this go … to rest in you … to be reassured of your presence in all this insanity.”
I don’t think it was immediate, but not too much later, the lyrics to a hymn came floating through my consciousness. A hymn I learned as a teenager, and probably hadn’t sung in at least 40 years. The words that came to me are actually from the fourth verse of that hymn. Here’s what I was silently singing – I’m hoping it will bring you peace as it did for me.
“Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the nations! Son of God and Son of Man! Glory and honor, praise, adoration, now and forevermore be thine.”
Did you catch that second part about the nations? I have to say that two things happened with me. 1) A lightbulb that had dimmed was suddenly shining brighter. 2) I was reminded that no matter what happens in any of our elections, the one who has always been in charge, is in charge now, and will always be in charge! And his name isn’t President anything – His name is Lord Jesus.
If you want to know what the rest of the lyrics are, you can google Fairest Lord Jesus. It’s found in the United Methodist Hymnal of 1989. I’m thinking I want to find a good recording of it and download it to my phone … you know, for those moments between now and next January when I feel like I need to scream!