Emperor Palpatine has announced open elections for a new Emperor — and he’s nominated Darth Vader. You get to nominate one challenger.
✨”The Seeing Eye”✨
You may deceive yourself, deceive the crowd,
But never can you veil your heart from God.
Who loves the Lord, the Lord alone knows well—
The fear of wisdom is where life begins.
God’s very word is wisdom’s living spring;
Knowledge may puff the proud, but love alone
Is built by wisdom’s gentle, patient hand.
Fools scorn her ways—their souls grow dry and thin;
The righteous seek her—His reward they win.
Fool or wise—the choice is yours to make.
—
Today’s prompt presents a darkly familiar riddle: Emperor Palpatine announces open elections, nominates Darth Vader as his successor, and invites challengers. Whom would you name?
My first answer? Palpatine himself—as an expedient. I would know the election was a trap to flush out dissidents. Vote for the devil I know, save my skin, bide my time, strike when the moment ripens.
But here is where expediency deceives: survival under a terror system is not victory—it is complicity by delay. If Vader ascends, he rules not as himself, but as Palpatine’s shadow. The terror continues. The systems of fear remain intact. My “saved skin” would mean nothing more than breathing in a galaxy still enslaved. Wisdom does not ask, “How do I survive?” It asks, “What survives through me?”
Worldly wisdom judges by outward appearance—titles, strength, charm, poll numbers. But Scripture cuts deeper: “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). David was chosen not because he was the tallest or most battle-hardened among his brothers, but because he was after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14)—a man whose inward posture matched God’s outward purpose (Acts 13:22).
So when I nominate—whether for leadership among God’s people or in any earthly election—I look for that same mark: not the polished résumé, but the proven character. Not the loudest voice, but the faithful heart. A leader who serves before they rule. Who pleases God before they please the crowd.
In the fictional universe, Vader was Palpatine’s mirror—authoritarian, fear-driven, broken. Had he been elected, he would have been a puppet, not a sovereign.
If the election were genuine—not a scheme—my nomination would be Princess Leia. Not because of her royal lineage or her senatorial credentials, though both are formidable. I would nominate her because her heart was tested and found faithful: she endured torture without betraying her cause, she risked everything for the helpless, she never consolidated power for herself, and she spent her life uniting the very factions that despised one another. That is the Davidic heart—not perfection, but posture. Not strength alone, but strength bent towards justice and mercy.
Worldly wisdom sees the throne and calculates the odds. Godly wisdom sees the heart—and chooses what endures.
May this poem be a small star in the galaxy—not to dazzle, but to guide your eyes, and mine, towards what truly lasts.
en yan hua fang 