“It’s been a long , long time coming but I know a change has come!
Is it just me or does today’s reading fit perfectly with last night’s events?! BARACK OBAMA is the President of the United States of America, a BLACK MAN and we are alive to see it and had the opportunity to make it happen. Like many of you, I am grateful, thankful, excited, overwhelmed, joyous to the point of hysteria, and yet am having trouble taking it all in. I feel like Mary—“the Mighty One has done great things for me; Holy is his name” (Lk. 1:49). My mind knows the fact, an overwhelming victory with record numbers of people having participated in the democratic process. But my heart, it’s about to burst from this news and even though we know this is an historic moment and event in the history of the WORLD, we have not even begun to grasp the significance of what has just happened. But this I know—Barack used what God gave him!
When you look at this race for the White House, Barack really used his SHAPE to serve. He didn’t allow people’s criticism about what he did not have to cause him to focus on his (perceived) lack. He worked with what God gave him in the form of his innate gifts, talents, passions, and experiences. One of the major criticisms to Obama early on was that he was a “community organizer” and therefore not ready to lead a nation. But Barack used what God gave him and took that community organization model and grass roots level campaigning and organized a nation poised and ready for change. The things they said would count him out are the gifts he used to get in. And the results have been profound.
It really makes me wonder what God could do in our lives and in the world through us if we did the same? What if we said, “Yes, we can” and had the courage to use what God gave us rather than focus on what we don’t? What if we realized for real that God has already equipped us with whatever we need to serve? What if today, we thought, acted, and lived like that was true?
I am going to make my list today of my gifts, talents, and passions and then use them. Because that’s what God have me.
2 comments:
I too am in awe and still grasping what has happened. But in the same breath I must say that this must be yet another one of those examples of all things working together for good. Let's face it, if we weren't experiencing this turmoil, (Bush being a horrendous president, a global economic crisis, global warming, etc) or some might refer to it as a perfect storm, this would not be Barack's time now. God made it possible.
I think that you are right and at the same time Obama's use of his gifts put him in prime position to walk through the door that God opened.
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