So live in Christ Jesus the Lord in the same way as you received him. Be rooted and built up in him, be established in faith, and overflow with thanksgiving just as you were taught. – Colossians 2:6

Back when the Tampa Tribune still existed, and my column was often featured on its editorial pages, I would write – and was invited to write – in response to pivotal moments in national life. Moments like this. Fact is, if you are happy with the results of the election or devastated, regardless, my thoughts are essentially the same.

Today I would have led with one of Rebekah’s oft-employed aphorisms, “It’s not what happens to you, it’s how you respond.” In other words, life happens; the most important thing is what happens next. Or, what do we chose to hold in our heart… to purpose… to do? How then shall we live?

America has clearly spoken and made a choice in terms of leadership, at least for the short term, going forward. But this is still America, and one of the values we hold sacred is our autonomy as individuals and the belief that each one of us has been endowed by (our) Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

And these are not just rights but also responsibilities.

So my question this morning is this: How do we intend to live? How do we intend to pursue happiness? How do we intend to love? How do we intend to continue our fundamental commitment to live like we mean it? Because God certainly meant something special when we – each one of us – were imagined, designed, created and gifted into this world. For such a time as this.

And I offer this question to Mr. Trump, too. For all the talk of faith and of freedom, do you intend to enter this privileged office as a person of grace as well as purpose? You can. You can chose to be a champion of – as Lincoln put it – “the better angels of our nature.”

So here we are. And, in the same way that every new day begins, this is morning in America. How then will we respond? The scriptures are clear: “So live in Christ Jesus the Lord in the same way as you received him. Be rooted and built up in him, be established in faith, and overflow with thanksgiving just as you were taught.”

Words to live by. I invite all of us to respond in grace, to continue to be light and love in this world and to so live in Christ… rooted and built up in him… overflowing with thanksgiving. – DEREK