A Sentiment

God knew what He was doing when He sent a gentle breeze and brought a lovely butterfly to set my heart at ease. The happiness of your friendship and the gentleness of your words have touched my life in special ways and now I feel assured. Thank you for your loyalty and for reading everyday. I only hope you find things to make a happy day.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

January 20.2009 Inauguration Day

We know Barack Obama has chosen to say "So help me God" with his hand on the Lincoln Bible at his swearing in ceremony today. Now, to what passage will that Bible be open?
I've read that George Washington, who sent aides scrambling to borrow a Bible at the last minute, opened it to a randomly chosen spot, Genesis 49:13 (Jacob blesses his son Zebulon).
Obama might go with psalms or proverbs like several presidents. But maybe he'll follow two Presidents he often honors in speeches, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt.
In 1865, Lincoln opened the very same Bible we'll see today... to Matthew 7:1: "Judge not, that ye be not judged." He also turned on that day to Matthew 18:7:
Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come."
Lincoln drew on the cadences of the King James Bible and that passage in the KJV sounds like this:
Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!
Franklin Roosevelt steadfastly selected the same passage for all four inaugurals, I Corinthians 13. It's the chapter that rings with the meanings of love. The Library of Congress doesn't specify which verse in the chapter. Here's 13:13, however, which reads quite beautifully in any translation:
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. Maybe he'll pick this verse:
That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
What ever page he puts his hand on...it will make history. Everything in his journey to the White House will be put into letters, emails, newspapers, TV reports, radio shows,books.. and anywhere else people around the world are reading or listening to. He has a big job ahead of him, and I think he can make a big difference. So many more people are starting to "jump on the bandwagon" so to speak. I hope that we all give him a chance to do his job. He can't do this alone...we all have to give it our best to help him.
I chose this picture of him, because it shows what kind of a man he is. He genuinely cares for people. He will look out for our best interests...let's give him our best.
Balisha

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

A very beautiful post, Balisha. You're correct, we have to give our best to help him lead this country, as he said in his speech, we should earn greatness since it is not given. I really admire his humbling speech today, I am looking forward to the changes America dreams to achieve with his leadership and governance.

also, thanks a lot for visiting my site.

Balisha said...

Hi Betchai,
Wasn't his speech inspiring? We are taking a break for a few minutes...but have been watching all day.

OhioMom said...

Today was awesome! Still have the TV on :)