For months now, I have not been able to write a blog post or a page for my next book.  I know part of it is a mental block, another part is me not tapping into my own creative energy, and another bigger part is laziness.

Today, I can speak.  Today, I am compelled to write.  Today, I have reason to celebrate.  Yesterday, on my TV screen, I saw so much beauty.  I saw love.  I saw hope.  Change being birthed.  Family.  Yesterday showcased the preamble to what months of campaigning will finally translate into for Americans.

Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast’ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

I have hope.  I have love for my fellow Americans.  I am embracing the potential that lies within me and everyone who walks the earth.

People said he couldn’t do it.  Many told him he shouldn’t do it, that he’s not ready to lead a nation.  But I believe that Obama was born, cultivated, educated for “such a time as this.”  He’s the one to lead us past this season in American history.  He will be the one to usher in this new season of hope, promise, and dreams deferred.

I won’t put all of my hope and trust in Obama.  After all he is only human.  My hope is still resting in God’s will.  I pray that Obama listens to God today and everyday.  I pray that he picks a staff that will have Americans’ best interests at heart and will truly take care of America first.  I pray that Obama and his family are protected from hurt, harm, and danger.

For the first time, I am compelled to pray for a government official and his family.  Last night, I watched Obama and his daughter hold hands and I got misty at that sight of father/daughter love, of Black love, of the weight that is on his shoulders for him as a husband, a father, a brother, a man, a Black man, and now, the 44th President of the United States of America.

I charge us all to be committed to America’s future, to not expect President Obama to save us in a matter of days, or to do everything we wish he would do.  Pray that he makes the right decisions.  Let your voices be heard by writing your elected officials, as in your mayor, governor, Congressmen, and Senators.  Be proactive.  Be a part of the change.

God bless Barack Hussein Obama II, Michelle Obama, Sasha Obama, Malia Obama, and the United States of America.