When I think about the massive changes that are occurring all around us and how it seems like there’s no end in sight, I am beginning to realize something.

First, I am seeing that as a culture we haven’t learned how to deal with difficult things, to wrestle with what makes us uncomfortable, or to face challenges that require more than just short bursts of energy. We like quick fixes.  We love shortcuts.

Second, I see that forgetting painful things and glossing over tragedies are ways of avoiding the necessities of grief and mourning.  We double down on entertainment as an escape rather than learning how to embrace the pains that accompany loss while producing empathy and compassion.

Third, I see that our desire for quick fixes and our drive to escape any sign of discomfort keeps us from developing the capacity and resilience to deal with our present crises. Our shortsightedness and lack of vision are our undoing!

The nonsense we have going on will not go away with a wish or whim.  The old wounds that have been exacerbated by new offenses, will not heal in a day.  The historic and systemic injustices that shape our nation’s identity will not be undone with a single election, a court ruling, a protest, or a boycott.

We are in a centuries-long battle for our souls, our sanity and our dignity , and we will not prevail with the simple stroke of a pen.  We are in an uphill battle that demands more than happy thoughts and sunny dispositions.  Our ancestors knew this.

‘I don’t feel no ways tired. I’ve come too far from where I started from. Nobody told me the road would be easy. And, I don’t believe He brought me this far to leave me…”

(Rev. James Cleveland)

The days ahead will require of us a new discipline rooted in the hope that sustained our foremothers and forefathers.  The days ahead will require of us the faithfulness of all the saints who’ve preceded us.  The days ahead of us will require the fortitude that only the Spirit can provide us.  

“If we cannot fly, then we will run. If we cannot run, we will walk, and if we cannot walk we will crawl. But by all means, we will keep on moving!”

(Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.)

We have some tough days ahead. And we will need every ounce of joyful discipline and hopeful endurance we can muster to keep leaning forward.  But we have a cloud of witnesses before us!

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 

Hebrews 12:1–2

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam