Meditation of the Divine Will by Abraham Lincoln

I'm unable to ignore the fact that it is a major election year. There's no escape from the opinions on facebook, the precursory ads for candidates on youtube, and of course the various news media. At some point I'm bound to jump into the fire pit and get passionate about who our next president should be. I'll butt heads with many and I think that is a wonderful thing in a democracy- so long as we remain intelligent and maintain respect, looking at the person behind the beliefs.

I was particularly affected by these words of Abraham Lincoln in my recent reading on his life. In the midst of a civil war that divided his nation because of distinctly different belief systems, he remained humble and in trust of the sovereign will of God. How it reminds me of the sovereign will of God in the political and moral climate of our own days.

Meditation of the Divine Will

(a note written by Abraham Lincoln and revealed after his death)

The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be wrong. God can not be for, and against, the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God's purpose is something different from the purpose of either party- and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect His purpose. I am almost ready to say this is probably true- that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet. By His mere quiet power, on the minds of the now contestants, He could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And having begun He could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds.

Our Song

I am so not a fan of the Delilah Show. It's nothing personal against Delilah. It's just all those songs she plays! The same "soft hits" collection that has been playing for years... and years... and years. While I once loved to tune in, I just can't fight the feeling anymore... the one that needs more than words to tell how I feel... that those songs just aren't the meaning and inspiration in my life. They've kind of lost that loving feeling, if you know what I mean.

They're cheezy.

So imagine my surprise when I was driving to the ER the other night and I find myself scanning the radio stations... and I actually stop on Elton John's "Your Song." And then I start singing it. Belting it out, really. And I just sat back and chilled in my car, thinking of how wonderful life is... while you're in the world.

(I must add, that on this particular night, the ER I was driving to was Super Walmart. It was one of those nights. I had put the children to bed by myself for 10 days in a row, they were full of energy and I was completely drained. I told my husband "I'm thinking of going to Walmart, what do you think?" in the kind of way that let him know this wasn't really an opinion question. It was me telling him I was going to Walmart. We don't have malls or cafes in this small town, but we do have Walmart with an adjacent Dunkin Donuts. A hot peppermint cocoa was just what the doctor ordered and I enjoyed it immensely as I roamed the store.)

Back to Elton John, "Your Song", and how wonderful life is...

It is Valentine's Day, after all. And it gets me thinking about "our song". And yes, it's really cheezy. If you've been together for longer than 10 years, chances are your song is one that is overplayed on Delilah's show. But you still love it. Cheezy as it is.

So Josh and I actually have *two* songs. The first is, well, the first. And as I play it in the background right now, yes, I still get all choked up. It's by an almost one-hit-wonder- group, Savage Garden, and it's "I Knew I Loved You Before I Met You". For the first bajillion times I heard it, I thought it was really silly. I didn't get it. But then I met this guy. I didn't know his name. So I guess I hadn't really met him. So I saw this guy. I didn't know his name. I saw him over and over and I just knew... he was the one. And I mean it when I say it, I LOVED this guy.

And then I met him. His name was Josh. And he was even more than I dreamed he'd be. And about 12 years ago he asked me to marry him.

So, okay, wipe away the happy tears, that's our love story in a tiny nutshell and here's our cheezy love song....



On our 10th anniversary, Josh made a photo slideshow for me using the song "God Gave Me You" which has since become a huge country hit for Blake Shelton. This is "Our Song #2". It's destined to be overplayed and annoying at some point in history, but it will probably send me to the Kleenex box every time I hear it.



So tell me, what's your song? I'd love to know.