A Prayer for the Next President

Now that the party conventions are over, it won’t be long until we are making our way to the voting booths.

It has been a wild ride, to say the least. Scandals have been exposed, criminal charges have been dropped, and we are now left with two candidates – both of which are largely being tolerated like a dose of bad medicine.

I’m not going to pretend that I’m excited about going to the voting booth this year, because I’m not. I don’t like the idea of checking off a box beside someone’s name that I don’t feel like I can trust. But the more I’ve thought about the circumstances we now found ourselves in, the more I’ve tried to put it into context.

We may not have a perfect candidate, we may not have a perfect electoral system, and we may not have a perfect government - but we do have a political process that is anchored in freedom. And that is a blessing that is denied to many. In fact, it’s a blessing that’s denied to most.

Some countries in the world have none of the above. So, as badly as I may dislike the selection we’re left with, I’m trying to remember – it’s at least it’s a selection.

The President's Desk in the Oval Office (AP)

Besides, when has a presidential candidate ever been perfect?

This election cycle has created so much contempt for American politics that I’m afraid that we are becoming jaded to the point that we are forgetting just how imperfect things have been in the past. The oval office has been involved in scandal and imperfectness for as long as I can remember – and even longer than I can remember, according to the history books.

We’ve had presidents caught in political scandals so criminal that they resigned before they could be impeached, presidents who actually were impeached, and presidents with infidelity and promiscuity so fabled that books were written about it.

Instead of hoping and wishing for alternate candidates I think we would be better off praying for the candidates we actually do have. So praying I will do - and when I pray, here are a few of the things I will be praying for.

I pray that whoever is elected president will first and foremost respect the divine nature of their election as president. In a country that has been blessed with true freedom – they, out of all of US citizens, have been handed the responsibility.

It’s not a responsibility to take lightly or softly. It is one that must be accepted with the kind of confidence and conviction that only comes from God. There are obviously more dark days ahead but we need a leader with the kind of unbreakable optimism that won’t settle for the world as-is.

I also pray that the next president will seek unity over popularity. Not everyone is going to like the next president - I’ll admit I’m probably not going to like the next president - but satisfying the status quo shouldn’t be the goal. Difficult decisions will come, but they will become even more difficult if they are made purely for public support rather than what’s in the best interest for supporting the public.

Finally, I pray that next president will commit to standing up for the oppressed and the overlooked. If the next president does nothing else – I pray that he or she will value every human life. Regardless of the stage of life, nationality, ethnicity, or religion – every life is made in the image of God and therefore has supreme value.

The protection we provide for those who cannot protect themselves is one of the things that have always made our nation great so I pray that we never lose that – especially in the time we live in now.

We must deal with the sobering reality that next US president may not be our idea of presidential – but they will still be president.

We’ve never had a perfect president before, and we aren’t getting a perfect president now. Instead of producing apathy and anger – I pray that it produces activism and action. Be the change that you don’t see in our current presidential hopefuls. Be the integrity and the honesty that you feel is missing. Keep things in perspective and pray more than you complain. I’m going to try it myself.

Tyler is a husband, dad, serious coffee drinker and blogs regularly at tylerspeegle.com . Contact him at tylerspeegle@gmail.com

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