Another Breath Prayer
This is a challenging time. There are a lot of things happening in the United States that can make a person question the democratic process and second guess the values you thought were shared as common to our society. Civility and common courtesy seem to be at an all-time low, people are dehumanizing one another, and we are not listening to each other. People seem unwilling to see the world from anyone else’s point of view, and we’re painting one another as caricatures, unable to allow for nuance or middle ground.
This crosses over into matters of faith as well. There are many aspects that I once held as true that I just don’t see the same way. And there are leaders I was taught to trust who are making decisions that do not line up with the faith I thought we shared. It’s hard for me to see any validity in their position, so I understand how easy it is to write-off someone because of a position they hold. I have to work very hard to remain open and see past their positions to their humanity.
It’s a disorienting, disappointing thing to go through. It’s disorienting to feel yourself take yet another step away from the community you were raised in. I’m disappointed in others and disappointed in my response to them. I doubt I’m the only one who feels this way, but it’s hard to talk about.
It’s difficult not to feel discouraged. Praying about this feels like a burden right now. I’ve been listening to this song by Beyoncé and it’s been filling some musical spiritual need I didn’t know I had. I think it made it a little easier to keep having faith in the possibilities. Maybe you will feel it do that for you too.
Keep trying to find those moments of lightness, those glimmers of what could be.
Keep pushing back on those assumptions of how things have to be because they’ve always been that way.
Be that agent of change.
And if we don’t connect again before the beginning of November, be sure to get out there and vote.
