Over on Instagram, I’ve been writing about what courage & grace look like as relates to racial reconciliation. It’s a new place of learning for me, and I’m trying to face it bravely.
I don’t want to be detached. I want it to let it impact me personally.
First, it’s personal for me as a woman of faith. 🖤 My heart hurts for situations of injustice and now that this one has really come to my attention, I want to lean in and to take it seriously. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ lay down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers” (1 John 3:16).
Second, it’s personal for my family, especially my two children with brown skin. 🖤 They’re not quite old enough to understand the nuances of our culture yet, but soon they will. And I want to do my own work of repenting and learning before that day. “If anyone . . . sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?” (1 John 3:17)
Third, it’s personal for my friends, my precious friends with black skin who have precious boys with black skin. 🖤 I want to better understand their world, learn to empathize, learn to see my white privilege, and learn their history. “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18).
Latasha Morrison @latashamorrison posted recently: “Understand before you lead out, do work on yourself internally first. The work of racial justice, racial equality and racial reconciliation is a lifestyle movement.” Let’s pray for our own hearts first. Let’s spend some time in Psalm 51 doing our own work of repentance. Perhaps it’s hard to see where we need to repent, but the Holy Spirit will guide us.
Let’s find our “sticking point” and push back against it.
My sticking point? I think it is fear. Deep down I don’t want to do this work because I’m afraid. Afraid of the historical and current tragedies I will learn about. Afraid to discover the world my own children are growing up in. Afraid I won’t be able to sleep at night because of what I’m reading. It’s much more comfortable to keep myself in the dark, just learn some basic information and move on.
But my Black brothers and sisters do not have this luxury. Their history and current reality are true and need to be known. So I will push back with love, because of love. “Perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). I refuse to let my sticking point keep me from doing the work.
What’s your “sticking point”? Let’s push back against it and do the the work together in love.