There's Work To Be Done

"There's work to be done," was my Grandmother Viola's mantra who passed around this time in 1995. This has been a week in my life that has both tested and affirmed my faith. In a crisis of faith, I call on her spirit to help me interpret God's plan for me. Her faith in God never waivered, through chronic pain, broken bones and even amputation. As my daughter fell asleep tonight, I held her as we shared a quilt that Grandmother made. I touched the stitches and called on her for strength and courage, of both she had a seemingly infinite supply.

An hour later, I watched Barack Obama give the speech of a lifetime. His words are a gift to all of us, but this passage at the end came to me as a gift from my Grandmother:

"We cannot walk alone," the preacher cried. "And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back."
America, we cannot turn back...... not with so much work to be done; not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for; not with an economy to fix, and cities to rebuild, and farms to save; not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone.
At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise, that American promise, and in the words of scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.

It was such a comfort and much needed reminder - I have to go forward. I can't turn back. I cannot change the past. I have not yet made the difference I set out to make.

There's work to be done.