Laboring in vain? May it not be so

By: American Decency Staff

 

"Pay attention to what you hear:  with the measure you use, it will be measured to you …”  Mark 4:24

I came across this verse this morning while teaching my third grade grandson measurements in a math lesson. 

I used the following application.  If you got five out of 10 wrong on a math test and your math teacher said “Great job, Danny!”  And that was regularly your teacher’s standard of what was a great job, you and most of us would accommodate to that as a “GREAT JOB”.   Low standards yield low life performance.

Leadership.  For anyone of us who have been leaders (and that would include most of us including being a parent), we sometimes (often?) see that how we lead does have a strong impact on those who follow us.  Weak leadership doesn’t typically build up those who follow us.    

As a younger person, I gave little to no thought regarding who was elected President of the United States.  In recent years, however, I have grieved over the truly poor voter turnout exhibited by American citizens and the leadership we have elected. 

I have grieved over a President who said “I didn’t have sex with that woman (referring to then White House intern Monica Lewinsky) to George H. Bush’s statement “Read my lips.  NO NEW TAXES”  (and then months later, he proceeded to raise taxes); to George W. Bush’s ill-advised, foolhardy words before a watching world just a few short weeks after 9-11 stating “Islam is a religion of peace”; to Barack Obama’s lie in selling his disastrous Obamacare  “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.”

Leadership matters. 

It hasn’t been just the White House or the Justice Department, or the FBI, or the IRS, or the media that has evidenced corruption.  

Weak leadership, corrupt leadership impacts all of us. It works its way down to every level. 

What kind of leadership will we have in the White House?  I can surmise but I don’t know.  This much I do know.  That question also needs to be pointed at you and me:  Will you/will I have weak or corrupt leadership in your house; in my house?  Or will we set the standard high?

I am concerned about leadership at the highest levels – very concerned.  We have done what we can (those of us who have voted, etc.)  Now we must commit to pray for Mr. Trump and all those in authority.  Pray that the standard they set will be high. 

As a looked for verbiage for the sign in front of our building on this day after such a historic election, I felt led to the following:

“Except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it.”  (Psalm 127:1)

Join me in praying that those in this new presidential administration will recognize that.

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