Better, kinder, more peaceful

issues, Jesus, love, war 4 comments

window-1594067_1280Happy New Year, my lovelies. My first words of 2017 were going to be whining about professional sports.

I changed my mind.

Last night, Tim and I went to our traditional New Year’s Eve dinner and a movie. Dinner was deLISH. The movie was “meh.” But the Coming Attractions cut me off at the knees.

Stories about a dad whose daughter was stolen and killed. About men tortured for their faith.

And then we came home to watch Mavis Staples receive one of the Kennedy Center Honors.

Good golly,  Miss Molly.

Not just the stories of what she and her musical family contributed to the cause of equal rights. But the images of dedicated people of all colors who worked tirelessly to create an equitable society. And the faces of men, women, and children who loved, laughed, worked, played, and lived just like me.

Except they couldn’t live like me at all. And, it wasn’t – and isn’t – OK.

The words of the civil rights leaders hang in my mind. The song lyrics make me think deeply about the world. The movie images are unshakeable.

  • Why do the privileged – through no effort of their own – believe that color or riches or birthright is a ticket to superiority?
  • What makes the body and life of a child so meaningless as to be disposable?
  • What is it about differing faiths that scares people so much?

I know the answer to these questions. I’m not naïve or uninformed. I’m not blind to the truth. I know how to fix it. I do.

The only solution? Love.

Until we all decide to love like Jesus, the world will not change.

Love is patient and kind,
Love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.
Love does not insist on its own way.
It is not irritable or resentful.
Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13: 4-7

 

I can’t shake the images, the stories, the hatefulness. And I am broken by what I haven’t done to make the world better, kinder, more peaceful.

So. 2017, I’m going to do better. I’m going to try harder.

I promise.

What about you?

 

What can I do to make the world better, kinder, more peaceful? Click to Tweet.

 

4 comments

  1. I plunged into the movie Amistad last night. I was wanting a movie and the timing was right. I had avoided that movie up until then – and was quickly reminded why. However, I am a huge Anthony Hopkins fan and knew he played the part of John Quincy Adams. My curiosity got the better of me, I girded my heart and watched. Yes, many of those terrible scenes rolled through my head during the night as I expected…but so did many of the words of JQA in his speech to the Supreme Court on behalf of those Amistad captives in 1841. Words (and arguments) still relevant today.
    An old retired past president asked to step up and be a voice for those whose remaining 36 souls which came off the La Amistad slave ship. And that he did! Not only did JQA step up, but before he did that…..he listened. And not only did he listen to Cinque tell his story (through an interpreter) but he didn’t interrupt him. JQA looked into his eyes and listened with his heart. Wow. How often do I do that!?
    After the verdict of ‘these are not slaves, but free men and women’, Cinque asked JQA what words he used to convince the court. When JQA replied: why, I used yours……I lost it. And I’m losing it again as I write this. It marked me.
    My friend Nancy…..I admire you for stepping up and being a voice. A voice of love, the voice of Jesus. It marks me and inspires me.

    Laurie

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