We’re all Tired

I have voted in every presidential election for the past forty-six years, but I have never been as involved, as concerned, or as exhausted as I am this year. I have written about the importance of this election, not only for this generation but for all generations to come. I have prayed numerous times each day, and I have fasted until I feel drained. Frankly, I am ready for this to be over.

Monday night after the final debate I felt an enormous sense of relief. I wanted to shout, “It’s over!” and forget about the election until I go to vote on November 6. I suspect that a huge number of Americans feel as I do and are ready to put their feet up and relax a little. However, whenever I am tempted to slow down, I remind myself that now is not the time to quit.

I am reminded of a story I heard many years ago about a young woman who wanted to swim the English Channel. She prepared herself in every possible way. She practiced until she was in optimum physical condition. She ate a restricted diet which was designed to prepare her for the ordeal. And when the day came for her to attempt the swim, she covered her body in heavy grease to protect her against the cold water.

Since the shortest distance across the English Channel is 21 miles, she had carefully mapped the route to make certain that she followed it exactly. A boat followed alongside her as she swam so that if she encountered trouble her trainer could rescue her. In addition, he furnished her with liquids to keep her hydrated. At first, everything went well, but after many hours of enduring the hardships of such a swim, even though she had completed twenty miles of the twenty-one mile course, the woman called to her trainer, “I am exhausted. I can’t finish.”

“Yes, you can,” he called back. “You can make it. Don’t stop now!”

“No,” the young woman persisted. “I can’t. If I go on, I’ll drown.”  And against the advice of her trainer, she turned around and swam back to the point where she had started!

We have only thirteen days to go before we cross the finish line. If we stop now, we will, in effect, be turning around and swimming back to our starting point. We are tired, but this is not the time to slow down. We have worked far too hard to stop short of our goal.

As we come into this final stretch, I want to encourage you to continue to do everything you can to make certain that we take our country back, and I want to remind everyone of what Paul says: So take a new grip with your tired hands, stand firm on your shaky legs, and mark out a straight, smooth path for your feet so that those who follow you, though weak and lame, will not fall and hurt themselves, but become strong. (Hebrews 12:12)

Joyce Swann is a nationally-known author and speaker. Her own story of teaching her ten children from the first grade through master’s degrees before their seventeenth birthdays is retold in her book, Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother. Her newest novel, The Chosen, is available on Kindle and  in paperback. For more information visit her website at http://www.frontier2000.net/ or like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/frontier2000mediagroup