Let's hope it's not over

     The results are in from the general election in these United States, and President Barach Obama has won a second four year term.  The number of those voting was impressive, the length of the campaign unending, the quality of the advertising distasteful, and the amount spent on TV ads alone was sinful (especially since it did little to inform us of anything of substance).  But we are a democratic republic where the people express their will through the ballot box.   Now is the time to declare the campaigning and politicking to be over.  Now is the time to move forward and try to salvage a nation that has been on a downward spiral for many years, that has replaced her moral compass with a very secular and relative approach, that looks to the political one-up-man-ship rather than the common good.  The challenges facing this nation are tremendous, and the prospects of meeting those challenges with any measure of success are dismal, unless there is a change of attitude and of approach.

     I have heard commentators gloating over the President's victory.  I have heard it said that he received a mandate to continue with the leadership that he has shown these past four years.  What the President and politicians on both sides of the aisle need to remember is that there was no mandate.  One half of all voters voted for the other guy ... one half.  The President has been chosen to lead all of us, not only those who agree with his policies.  And the President cannot lead all of us without the cooperation and co-working of both chambers of Congress, with members from both parties laying aside politics and political gain for once and working for every man, woman and child in this land, working for the common good, no matter what the cost.  Our moral compass needs to be refound and dusted off, for without it we, like every great nation and civilization before us, will disintegrate.

     Speaking from my perspective as a shepherd of souls, until we realize and acknowledge that there is a higher power that we need to turn to, that there is only one savior, that our values need to rest in something more important than my wants or needs, the work is not over.  It is not enough to simple end every speech with "God bless you!  And God bless the United States of America".   Mentioning God is not the same as believing and trusting in him.  Let's hope that this election cycle IS over, but let's make sure that our work IS NOT over.