Praying for the elections to be over!

I'm praying the elections will be over soon. I actually enjoy voting. I enjoy our system of government, I enjoy going to the polling place and having coffee with the folks there. It's fun.

But, I'm sick of the politicians - of all stripes. I'm completely fed up with the annoying robocalls (6/day on average from a variety of politicians). I'm tired of my mailbox being filled with postcards - sometimes 3 or 4 per candidate. What, they have so much money they don't mind sending 3 postcards to my house - the same ones? Are they hoping that by throwing away the first two I'll suddenly decide to read the stupid thing? Grr.

Now, I'm hearing of election fraud (election fraud!) already. Dems in some states are saying the Republicans rigged the voting machines in favor of the Dems so the Reps can then accuse the Dems of election fraud! I got an email from a friend of mine accusing the Republicans of somehow making recordings of their opponent's voice and setting up repeating robocalls to annoy people and drive them to the Republicans! Give me a freaking break here!

I guess the thing that concerns me the most is that there is so little trust among people. This fear and mistrust is seen pretty much everywhere apparently. My democrat friend sees Republicans doing it. I see Democrats doing it. And what does it do - it creates tension between people who otherwise would gladly disagree about some subjects but still be friends, still be supportive and caring of one another. I don't care who you think is to blame...let's stop blaming and do something about it.

What do we do? First, we take back the territory most attacked by this fear and mistrust - our own minds. If you're out there believing that hordes of Democrats are waging a secret war to destroy our republican democracy - snap out of it! It just ain't so! Maybe your mind is doing cartwheels coming up with conspiracy theories about Republicans using "annoy tactics" to manipulate people - stop - think - and think again.

Second, let the vitriol go. There is so much hatred and anger out there - and why? Because a variety of people love to stir up emotions. It sells books, it sells airtime. Hate sells. Democrats hate George Bush. Republicans hate Bill Clinton. Oh and there is a lot more hate than that out there.

Third, if your bum senator/congressman/president isn't doing what you want them to do, just vote against them. Don't hate them. Don't swear at them. Just vote against them. I see so many initiatives being launched these days that have no purpose - if people would just vote! If you don't like how your representatives are spending tax money - vote 'em out!

Finally, I'd love to see new campaign laws enacted - laws made up by common sense people. That would be those of us who live outside of Washington DC. How about this - no campaigning until October 15th. And the campaigning must be objective - if you're an incumbent you have to show people how you voted and why. That's all. If you're running against the incumbent, you have to state clearly your positions on a list of agreed upon subjects. What is your vision? What would you do differently - don't just tell me you'd be better - tell me WHY you'd be better. And if you're not, be forewarned that you WILL be voted out when you're up for re-election! And no one can spend more than say...$100,000. Is that asking too much? If you can't get across to me what you believe in $100,000 or less you're wasting my time and my money. Besides, when people and/or organizations are spending millions of dollars on candidates - we're fooling ourselves to think they care one wit about us.

I know, you probably think this is all too simplistic. Maybe it is. But how hard is it to fill out a voter card? We're making it all way too difficult.

Doing some thinking about prayer. Here is a quote from E. M. Bounds, "...prayer is simply faith, claiming its natural yet marvelous prerogatives - faith taking possession of its illimitable inheritance."

Bounds goes on to quote this scripture and then says, "Here is described a faith which realizes, which appropriates, which takes (emphasis his). Such faith is a consciousness of the divine, an experienced communion, a realized certainty."

Prayer and faith are intimately connected. Without faith, where is prayer? To whom or what do you pray without faith? And without prayer...what happens to our faith? I know the answer to that one. Prayerlessness leads to faithlessness. When I struggled with God in the past, it seemed that all I prayed for not only did I not receive, but often the very opposite of my prayers happened. So I stopped "praying." I started talking to God, I stopped making time to pray and just talked when I had something to talk about.

Now, some might say that is prayer, and I suppose it is. But I found that it didn't increase my faith much. In fact, I think my faith lessened. Maybe that had to do with the rage I felt towards God as well. Whatever, I know my faith was not increased by ceasing to pray.

So, I'm attempting to rebuild my prayer life. It won't be like it used to be - I was a bit too legalistic and really have no desire to go back there. But, I do intend to make time to actually pray and not just talk. It may still look a bit like talking to God, but there is a difference. In prayer, one expects something. When I just talked to God, I didn't expect anything - in fact, I kind of hoped nothing happened, because I felt it probably wouldn't be good. But, I intend to pray expecting answers - yes, no, maybe - something.

I do have a motive here - I hope that my faith level rises. This is what I have noticed in thinking and reading about prayer - one needs to have faith when one prays. This actually causes me some fear. I can feel tension in my gut thinking about this. Can I trust God to not do what happened to me before? Can I trust God to not pull the rug out from under me again?

I hope so.