Protesting or Praying

I find it interesting that people judge my position on topics as being lukewarm or basically closed down because I do not make a lot of noise when I see terrible things happening in the world. A high school friend I have is very radical in her thinking. She told me, "We need to stop trying to make the reality of hatred and racism and bullying seem like it is someone else's issue."  I believe she was trying to get me all excited and enraged so that I would run to the next sit in. Instead I just started thinking. These things, whether we are guilty or not, belong to us all. We are all affected in some way by another persons bad decisions or careless mistakes. Their bigotry and hatred will eventually leak into our lives.

The scary part is we end up defending or being offended by situations that we are not personally connected to. How many conversations have you had with friends and family about police brutality? Howe many times have you had to talk to your kids about how wrong bullying is? Your kids are not bullies. However, the prevalence of bullying and the fact that our kids could one day be bullied,...lead to the discussion. How much do you know about prejudice? Aside from the friend you have that is black or the neighbors you have that are white or the mailman that is Korean. You love them. So why are you constantly having to be caught up in conversations about the racism issue in America,? These tend to be very uncomfortable conversations for those of us that are Not prejudice or homophobic or extremely religious. We just want to live our lives with no drama and no confusion.

It would be amazing! If we did not have to address these issues, It would be a miracle if these issues just simply did not exist. But the TRUTH...... the TRUTH......is we live in a world at a time where PEACE, LOVE and JOY are available to everyone but not afforded to everyone. It is kind of like anyone can have a 2016 BMW, but how many can afford to own it?

I do not often feel the need to boycott. That does not mean that I am not upset by a great deal of the things I see on the news every night. I believe in prayer. And I pray constantly for God to step in and change so much. I believe many of us do that. We see prayer as the only option for us. We could protest and boycott and rally but we just do not believe it will change things.

This is where the lines get blurred. People see us as being unaffected or uninterested because we are not in the trenches so to speak. But REMEMBER behind every good man is a fantastic woman. Behind every good protest is a group of people praying. We pray for change and we pray for the safety of those who are protesting. You are no more important to a cause than I am just because you feel like you get your hands dirty. If we start at the same exact place digging a 10 foot trench and I have a shovel and you use your hands, there is a possibility that I will get done faster and cleaner than you. Then again maybe we will finish at the same time. Whatever the end is, we both worked jud just as passionately as the other.

Do not create a bubble within a bubble. Do not assume because someone is not carrying a sign, holding a bull horn, sleeping on the stairs of the courthouse or boycotting a business means they are not standing for something.

Some of us do our best work and our most diligent fighting sitting down, How well can we achieve POWER TO THE PEOPLE without PRAYER FOR THE PEOPLE?

Blessings