There are moments in life when you know we cannot go back to the way we were. We are in such a season right now. Y’all – America is hurting. Most notably, those Americans that are people of color are hurting.
I’m not a person of color. I may not 100% understand the pain folks are going through, but I can acknowledge that there is a huge group of people who are hurting. And that makes me hurt.
But what can I do? That’s what my prayer is right now. God, what can I do? How can I make a difference?
I’m still learning this. I’m still working through what I can do. But here are some things I have decided to do:
1. Acknowledge the pain – it’s there and it matters.
2. Stop listening to respond & start listening to understand.
3. Understand that people of color have had too many experiences where they have been told they are less than…and that needs to change.
4. Love people & give them grace. You don’t have to agree with everything they say to love them. Love can move mountains.
5. Pray. Pray that God moves the hearts of those who hate & change that hate into love. Pray that those who hurt are healed. Pray that we see unity.
6. Make a commitment to learn about the experience of someone who doesn’t look like you. Seeing the world through someone else’s eyes will help each of us grow.
7. Understand & acknowledge that we were (and are) one race. Yes, there are differences. Yes, we don’t look alike. But we are all made in the image of God. That makes each of us special & important.
I’m still learning y’all. But I’m committed to continue to learn. Because things have to change.
“For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”
1 Corinthians 12:14-26 ESV
Boldly Radiant 