It’s decision day in America. Many of us believe this is one of the most consequential elections in our lifetime. So how do we deal with all the “what if’s” that assail us as we wait for those all-important election results?

We all know what they are: What if this one or that one wins? What if violence breaks out when a winner is announced? What if the winner leads our country to ruin?

Father Philip Scott, the former spiritual advisor of Women of Grace, taught us that “what if’s” come from the devil - who he referred to as “old red legs”. They are intended to stoke fear in our hearts, to make us worry about the future, and to keep our souls in a state of anxious churning so we can’t hear the subtle voice of God.

For the most part, it’s a very effective strategy. At least at first. But once we catch on to his schemes, and reach for the weapons at our disposal, it’s not all that difficult to send old red legs running for cover.

Weapon #1 – Grace By stoking anxious forethought in us and filling our heads with doom and gloom about the future, the devil prevents us from remaining in the present moment. This is a crucial part of his strategy because he knows that God, who is not subjected to the confines of time, is always in the present. And wherever God is, there is His grace. It’s there for the taking – in the moment – not in tomorrow or in yesterday. When we feel fearful and anxious, we need only cry out to the God who is present within us and ask Him for the grace to overcome our anxieties. Always remember the words of the great theologian, Fr. J. P. de Caussade, “He who upholds us today will uphold us tomorrow with His invisible hand.” He has gotten us through many a nasty political season, and He will do so again.

Weapon #2 – Faith As George Washington once said on the hallowed grounds of Valley Forge, “These are the times that try men’s souls.” These are the times when our faith sets us apart from those who have not yet embraced the Truth. We can see God’s hand in everything, and when we do that, whether we realize it or not, it takes the edge off the crisis. From somewhere deep inside comes a strength unknown during happier times, an inner empowerment that makes even the worst case scenario somehow bearable. We feel His Presence, if not with our senses, with our will. We are determined, in spite of it all, to repeat after Job, “The Lord hath given: the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

This is the realm of pure faith. It’s not felt. It’s chosen.

Weapon #3 – Trust As Fr. de Caussade repeatedly teaches, we must learn how to trust in this one simple truth, “All that happens in the world, with sin the one exception, comes straight from God and the decrees of His will. Although it is certain that God never desires sin or therefore, the slanders, persecutions and injustices of every kind of which the elect are victims, He does, however, desire its consequences.”

Old red legs does not want you to believe this! This is why Fr. de Caussade cautions: “Everything antagonistic to [God’s will] which the devil implants in your mind is an obvious illusion intended to rob you of God’s peace and to make you sad, restless and perturbed, always discontented with your present state, always longing for another.”

If we avoid this pitfall, he advises, we will spare ourselves numerous torments and reap great rewards from our worst tribulations. The only thing we need to do is convince ourselves of this great truth - "that God makes all things serve His glory and His creatures’ greatest good; and that it remains for them merely to turn everything to their advantage by a blind and utter submission that knows no exception and brooks no antagonistic reasoning, at least of a deliberate kind.”

In other words, we can trust Him.

And if we don’t do this perfectly, no worries, he says. “If at one moment we fall, we rise the next. The fall is a weakness; the rising again a virtue. “

Whether God chooses celebration or resignation for us this election, let us make sure that our first response to the outcome is the one most pleasing to His ear.

Fiat!

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