Duckweed and turtles can change your life. At one of my favorite parks, there is a small pond nestled among towering trees and shrubs, with a discrete opening to a gentle slope for those who venture closer. Over time, the pond became completely covered with this unidentifiable green plant stuff. I had likened this green stuff to some form of “algae,” acknowledging my inner cluelessness. And on one of my recent strolls, I thought, “This area could really be... Read more
“Stay Woke” is so popular, you can buy a t-shirt and magically transform into the wokest of the woke. With this expanded understanding of how racism, and its intersecting oppressions shapes the social world, living woke has become critical to how you and I change the societal landscape. Amid the swell of growing consciousness, I perceive something has gone awry with a growing cadre of our “woke” citizens of Wokanda, not to be confused with Wakanda. If you are... Read more
It is May. It marks graduation season in the United States. And Saraah Brasch, a White student at Yale University, recently, called the police when she saw Lolade Siyonbola, a Black student asleep in the common area of their dorm. To Brasch, Siyonbola did not “belong” there. Now, I am thinking about soon to be high school graduates preparing to enter college. They will be students like Brasch and Siyonbola, individuals with purpose as gifts to the world. With... Read more
Love and light. It is not just a phrase used by your raw vegan, ginger and lemon shot drinking, and organic cotton yoga pants wearing friend. (I am not vegan, but these things described my meal and part of my attire when I began writing this post.) “Love and light” is used among many who are spiritual-religious or not. There is a shift that seems to be happening spiritually in the world. Many of us feel weary with the limits... Read more
I shall not ever get to be a biological mother. I have grieved over it. I have grieved the loss of the child I shall never get to have. As much as I do not like using the word “never,” I think it is the more accurate statement. Years ago, if you would have asked me about such a thing, I would have laughed, questioning if you had gone mad. Today, it is not a joke. It is real.... Read more
In Part One, I unmasked three ways kind and loving Christians unintentionally support a racist world in their adamant refusal to examine their hearts about race. In this last part, I explore two methods employed by good Christians to maintain racism and the call to become bad. How Good Christians Maintain Racism Good Christians use a variety of methods, often unknowingly, to maintain racism. Two common ones are silencing and good works. Silencing I have witnessed silencing attempts by good... Read more
If you have been in the United States for at least thirty minutes or exposed to any of our global media exports, you have received messages about race. Most likely, they were problematic. Instead of doing the Matrix moves of good works to prove how any of us are not racist, we need to just own that we have some stuff in there like Prego that we need to continue to undo from minutes to years of drinking in... Read more
In the Part I, I suggested that our purpose—God’s will for our lives is to live out gratitude. In the second part, I discussed the challenges of living our purpose with the proliferation of mass media and social media images. In this final part, I desire for you to understand gratitude as gifts-yes, more than one gift- in that the more that we live it, the more gratitude benefits us and the world around us. Here are three of the... Read more
In the Part I, I introduced this realization I had about our purpose—God’s will for our lives is to live out gratitude. In this second part, I explore challenges of living gratitude with the onslaught of mass and social media. Typically around November, we see more writings about gratitude because in the United States, Thanksgiving is a commonly celebrated holiday. Gratitude is more than a holiday. We were created to make thanksgiving a lifestyle, not a multiple day glut-fest. (Pass... Read more
Have you ever wondered, God what is my purpose? Whelp, the Bible says that in every thing, we are to give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning us. When I first read this passage in the Bible, I thought it was a bit snarky. Me like snarky. Here I had come deeply brooding to seek the wisdom of the ages for my life, and I found the answer was simply to praise God. What kind of... Read more
Race and Grace
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