Originally published on July 4, 2019. Recently, I came across this quote from Brene Brown: “I think midlife is when the universe gently places her hands upon your shoulders, pulls you close, and whispers in your ear: I’m not screwing around. It’s time. All of this pretending and performing—these coping mechanisms that you’ve developed to […]
Freedom
Valor’s Unsettling Saints
Previously posted in March of 2020. What kind of women are women of valor? I think they are women who are courageous enough to use their God-given gifts, others-oriented, and are willing to buck the status quo to follow Jesus and bring forth goodness and justice. Right off of the bat, I think of St. […]
Here Lies Fear
Coming of age in any epoch means WEATHER. Doing it as a burgeoning evangelical in the late 1900s (as my kids love to remind me) was like sipping a tempest in a teacup. There was no smoking, no parties or swearing for this sold-out Jesus-freak. There were—instead—bad perms, sub-par Christian rock, and not-so-subtle-sweatshirts like this […]
Hollowed (Out) Halls of Justice
My daughter excels at catching insects with her bare hands. This skill set is on par with her fluency in “meme” and her ability keep up with Daveed Diggs’ light-speed verses in Hamilton. I am in awe of these aptitudes, and that she wields them despite sharing DNA with me. So, I wasn’t surprised when […]
Elemental
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: Ecclesiastes 3:1 (KJV) On this, my first empty-nested Mother’s Day, I am reminded of the goodness of the Lord. My babies are all grown-up-ish. This season of mothering has come to its end. God has a purpose for […]
Enduring Patience
Patience. We wait. We wait for deliverance. We wait for the moment we are saved from trials. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience And patience, experience; and experience, hope: Romans 5:3-4 KJV My father waited patiently for that moment of deliverance. He lay face down […]
Dr. Justina Ford Goes Higher
7,000 was the number of babies she brought into the world. 31 were the years she served the diverse community of east Denver—treating patients regardless of ethnicity, nationality, or ability to pay—offering resources and food for those who lacked them.1 She is reported to have said, “Folks make an appointment and whatever color they turn […]
A Poem Called Freedom
A Poem Called Freedom (Reflections on How To Stay Free While Black) Keeping my head to the sky I will close my eyes And listen for the sparrows’ whistle, the rivers roll, the trees whisper of their journey to freedom. As the wind wipes my tears and holds me near I will embrace […]
Phillis Wheatley’s Revolution
She had words, from a birth language, spoken by a birth family, who gave her a birth name. Thieves tore almost everything from her, endeavoring to replace the originals with cheap imitations—like the new name they chose for her, from the boat that abducted her (The Phillis) and the family that enslaved her (Wheatley). But […]
Grounded
Push me, if you dare, but my stability does not originate from within me. Rather, my roots reach deep, delivering stability, not easily shaken.
Dr. King’s Final Climb
Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his final speech from a Memphis pulpit on April 3, 1968. He was assassinated one day later. He knew, as Moses before him, that he would not taste deliverance before death. But like Moses on the mountaintop, he would proclaim its promise from afar. May we, too, look long and […]
Your First Idea is Trash
I heard this great thing about being creative: Your first idea is trash. It’s unoriginal. Your second idea is also trash. If you can get to the third idea, that’s where the magic happens. That’s the original idea. One idea, two ideas, three. As any creative person knows, getting to the third idea is hell. […]
You Being You Makes Me Need You
You consume me, so go ahead and ruin me. Remove me from old, decrepit ways of thinking that block Your Name from gaining, training, staining, changing, rearranging my systems of thought that You bought, brought up with You when You got up from that escapable, not stayable, Angel-traceable room of gloom known as the tomb […]
How We Remember Matters
When I was in my early 20s I had a few opportunities to go up in a small plane. Jets are fine, but have you been up in a small plane? I mean a real small plane that’s got you just feet above the cracked tarmac: A plane with windows you crank to open so […]
Untangled
My mom has a particular story about me that she likes to tell: As she was doing dishes in our kitchen, she looked out the window and saw me in the backyard trying to catch frogs and kiss them. While it’s rather cute to think of a porcelain-white toddler with black curls and thick baby […]
America Looted The Black Body: (RIP George Floyd)
America . . . Since our society’s conception You have looted the Black body. Take, rape, stripped us bare to our core, while you feast, prosper, stay safe, and ignore. All the blood you’ve shed, lives left dead, children unfed so that you live free in this claim of inheritance for liberty and justice for […]