Overcast, With More Rain Expected: A Response to Civil Unrest

Well… daylight came today. Yet, the memory of the darkness around this nation feels heavy and overwhelming. Even as I began writing this, I lay in my bed a little numb, sorrowful and disheartened; but still hearing that still small voice remind me…”You have to be what you want others to become….Get up. “

On this past Sunday, my husband’s message was entitled, “Stand Your Ground with the Lord.” We’ve heard that term “stand your ground.” But it usually means, stand your ground against someone. An enemy. That may have its place at times. But everyday and in every circumstance, we must compel ourselves to first…STAND OUR GROUND FOR GOD. Remembering that in everything, we have to turn to God and seek Him for comfort, His guidance, and His love. It never fails. Though our systems fail. Our tolerances fail. Our hopes fail. Still…God’s love never fails.

I remember one morning my husband was expressing his frustration with what seemed like opposition against him at work. And as his wife, I try very hard to encourage him and let him know I appreciate who he is as a man, a protector, and a provider. (Now, don’t let me play great. I had to learn how to do this. But my life and my marriage became all the better once I did.) But I try to make sure that the words I speak to my husband build him up and enlighten him…not just criticize him and tear him down. But, in the moment, what I was led to say was “Baby, be encouraged and know that people are not your enemy. The Enemy is your enemy and he’s after all of us.” And we stopped and began to pray about the situation, as well as for the very people perceived to be the opposition.

And can I tell you, my husband’s day went much better.

But it can’t be a one time thing. We can’t get comfortable. We can’t get lazy. We can’t get complacent. We have to recognize the need to pray daily.

I heard someone saying, or I read somewhere, that with the current state of our nation, we are lacking great organizers like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I don’t necessarily think that we lack them. I think we have many mini Dr. King’s. The difference is, Dr. King’s efforts at the time were concentrated in the South. Minneapolis is a long way from Selma, Alabama. Our conflicts are so widespread…in communities that are somewhat different. Yet, the common fabric remains the skin color of the people.

On today’s dawning, I continue still to mourn with the family of George Floyd. On Saturday, someone on the radio said,

Regardless of what was presumed Mr. Floyd had done, it should have been tried in a court of law and not as he lay on the concrete.

As a mother, today, I wait in anguish. Proud of my recent college graduate for always having a mind of his own, but prayerful that he’ll return home; as he attends a protest that is expected to face opposition. When he was a senior in high school, one of the superlatives he received was Most Likely to Become a Social Activist. I had no idea what that really meant then. I just thought it meant he had an opinion. But my man-child has more than an opinion. He also has a stand and a statement.

You see, opinions rest in our minds. Stands and statements are our outward conveyance of those opinions. When a person’s opinions and stands are the same, it shows integrity. When they are different…others should be careful.

And just to give some a picture of what having a black son feels like, and how it extends for generations. While I wait in anguish for my 21 year old son to return home, my young cousin cries for her young one year old son. Trying to imagine, what type of chance or future he might have. What type of society he will live in? Will he face the same discrimination that his great-grandfather, or even his great-great-grandfather experienced? God forbid.

Today, the world has an overcast of darkness over it. It’s gonna take more than just one cloud moving to brighten this canvas up again. A strong mighty wind and the SON shining through from the highest point has to be the answer. Can we all Stand Our Ground for God to emerge victorious, so that those being oppressed can finally breathe?

Our nation has been asthmatic for generations. I don’t think it’s coincidental the parallel to our nation’s condition and the symptoms of the coronavirus. They both will take your breath away. We all have to be ESSENTIAL WORKERS if something is gonna change. Liberty and justice can’t survive social distancing. We all have to get to work.

Unfortunately, wearing masks won’t stop the contagion of injustice.

When will this bad weather let up?