One Nation Under God...Election Day 2016

           I pledge allegiance to the flag
           of the United States of America.
           And to the Republic for which it stands,
           One nation, under God,
            indivisible, with liberty and justice
            for all.

I won't lie. My "worry gene" has been working overtime during this election season. As a student of human behavior, and a Communication Studies professor, I have often been stunned by the lack of true discourse and civility. The poor manners and communication mishaps have been rich fodder for my students to learn from. 

We have been looking for positive role models who debate real issues, and often just can't find them. 

Sad. Truly sad.

Yet even more perplexing has been the challenge of explaining all of this "poor behavior by adults," as one of my dear grandchildren pointed out. 

"Nana, why are they yelling at each other and using bad language?" 

"Why are people being so nasty?"

My absolute favorite?... 

        "If we acted like this we would be in time out!"

Yes, sweet baby, perhaps that is what we all need to be in.

Time out!

Time out to remember who we really are as a nation.
Time out to remember what we stand for.
Time out to remember that we are ALL Americans.
Time out to remember that we are ONE nation under God.

"You see," I said to my beloved grandson, "I do know that the President of the United States has a very, very important job. 
It's important to vote and be a good citizen."

"Yet, who is really in charge, sweetie, Who holds the whole world in His hands, is God almighty. The God that made heaven and earth."

That's why, when we say "One nation, under God,"
we are declaring that who is really in charge is our
Heavenly Father.

That's why, when we say "Indivisible," we mean that nothing can separate us or tear us apart as a nation. 

Not this election or any election.

That's why when we say "Liberty and Justice for all"
that we mean ALL Americans have the right to be free
and the right to have justice."

My sweet grands listened with eyes wide open since I was making an impassioned plea that when we put our hands over our hearts and say The Pledge of Allegiance, that we are doing something profound. We are doing something that has great meaning.

Their great Grandpa and their Boppa were veterans who put their lives on the line for those words.

They were all quiet and then one of them said with a thoughtful look on his face, "So Nana, we don't have to worry about this election?"

"No sweetie, I call all of them sweetie :), you don't have to worry about this election.

God has got this!

"Will He deal with all of the nasty comments and bad behavior?"

"Yes, sweetie, He will."

However, I went on to explain that we can learn as much from bad examples of what NOT to do as we sometimes learn from good examples of what TO DO.

"Will God put them in time out?"

"I can't say for sure, sweetie. I hope so. Sometimes God puts all of us in time out so we can learn from our mistakes."

"So we don't need to worry? God's in control?"

"Yes, sweetie, you don't need to worry."

And neither do we. No matter how this turns out tonight,
neither do we!

God Bless!
Love, Linda