Sonnet 124
"If my dear love were but the child of the state,
It might for Fortune's bastard be unfather'd,
As subject to Time's love or to Time's hate,
Weeds among weeds, or flowers with flowers gather'd.
No, it was builded far from accident;
It suffers not in smiling pomp, nor falls
Under the blow of thralled discontent,
Whereto th' inviting time our fashion calls:
It fears not policy, that heretic,
Which works on leases of short-number'd hours,
But all alone stands hugely politic,
That it nor grows with heat, nor drowns with showers.
To this I witness call the fools of time,
Which die for goodness, who have lived for crime."
-William Shakespeare
When reading this sonnet, I first found the biting criticisms aimed at political systems to be very appropriate as the election is fast approaching. Policy, pomp, fashion, are all subject to Time's love and hate, changing as often as people's whims. In contrast, the lasting Love that is created by design, not by accident, is our eternal hope and good. So this November I'm trusting the Eternal Love to work through/in spite of whichever candidate He allows and I'm holding onto Proverbs 21:1 "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will." Some may say I'm not doing my civil duty or choosing apathy by not voting, but this time around I can't in good conscience support either candidate, and so not voting is my vote. And for those feeling caught up in the political melee, let Mr. William Shakespeare remind us that while budgets, candidates, and policy are not eternal, our love for our God and for one another IS.
