Feeling faceless in a facebook world?  You are not alone.  (but how would you know that if you are isolated?  I feel a new support group being born)  We all want to know that we matter; at least to someone, somewhere.  Connection.  We long for it, we live for it, we seek it out.  Without it we die.  In our culture, which emphasizes individuality over community, this search for connection and therefore mattering is made all the more difficult.  We are told to pursue ourselves, our own interests and goals, rather than pursuing relationships with others and being of service to them.  We measure our worth by money and fame. Both are transitory and ever changing.

Social media is now available to assist us in our quest for mattering and connection.  We tweet, we twitter, we text, we snapchat, we facetime, we facebook; hoping desperately that someone out there is paying attention, that someone out there is listening.  Hoping that we have been heard, that someone out there sees us, really sees us, understands us and cares about the way that we take.  It’s a noisy world out there, we think.  (and we are right)  Everyone is talking, who is there to listen?  Who is there to hear us?  Who is there to care?

But there is Someone.  Someone who sees us, who sees me, as He did Hagar.  Someone who knows our circumstances, who knows my circumstances, as He knew Job’s.  Someone who knows every hair on my head and cares for me as a shepard cares for His sheep.  Our Creator, the Living God, who stretched out the heavens and calls every star by name.  That’s Who!  and miracle of miracles, He knows my name and He knows your name.  In fact, it is engraved on the palms of His hands.

“He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.”   (Psalm 147:4)

“See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before Me.”  (Is. 49:16)

We DO matter to the One who created us, we are assured of this fact in His word. He cares for us and will never leave us nor forsake us.  (Deut. 31:16)  He watches over our coming and going, He will neither slumber nor sleep.  (Psalm 121)  Our Creator knows us and He hears us.  “Before a word is on my tongue You know it completely, O Lord.”  (Psalm 139:4)

We can find our significance in belonging to the One who created us, our Heavenly Father.  Who wouldn’t want to belong to the Living God?  A God who left His place in glory to become flesh and walk among us, sharing our pain, experiencing our suffering.  A God who gave His life to pay our sin debt and so reconcile us to Himself.  A God who loves us with an everlasting love and is faithful even when we are unfaithful.  A God who forgives sin and heals the sinner.  (Psalm 103:3)

I have turned my back on God, not the other way around.  God did not turn away from me, I rebelled, wanting my own way rather than following God’s way.  I trusted in myself, rather than my Creator.  “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way;”  (Isaiah 53:6)   Yet God pursues me still.  “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness.”  (Jeremiah 31:3)

In my search for significance, in my desire to be heard, I cry out to God who sees me and hears me.  When I seek my identity from this temporal world, I can’t be assured that I am truly seen or that I have even been heard.  I am not guaranteed a response.  How different it is with my Heavenly Father; He sees me, He hears me, He responds and cares for me out of His all sufficient grace and mercy.

“The righteous cry out and the Lord hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles.”  (Psalm 34:17)

“Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”  (Jeremiah 33:3)

“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him.”  (Psalm 103:11)

“Does He not see my ways and count my every step?”  (Job 31:4)

Take heart!  You are seen!  You are heard!  You are loved!  You are cared for!  You are answered!  by God, Creator of heaven and earth, who showed His love in Jesus, whom He sent here to be with us for a short time in order to make known His message of redemption for us for all time.

My tweets and twitters may go unheeded, falling on deaf ears, but never my prayers.  I have God’s word on that.  He’s collecting them, saving them along with all my tears.  My significance lies not in WHO I am but in WHOSE I am.  I can rest in that.  God saw Hagar alone in the desert all those centuries ago and He sees me alone in my desert today.

“She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her.  ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.’ ”  (Genesis 16:13)

Even Job, in all his troubles and trials, knew that God saw him, believed that God cared about his suffering, believed that God would not abandon him (all evidence to the contrary) and believed that God would reward him in the end.

“But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.”  (Job 23:10)

my search for significance ends when I rest in relationship with my Heavenly Father,  yours will too,

sincerely,                     Grace Day

 

 

the old game is rock, paper, scissors; the new game is picture, pen, sword.  In the new game picture takes pen (a picture is worth a thousand words), pen takes sword (the pen is mightier than the sword) and the sword takes picture (just as scissors cut paper, sword slashes picture).

Actually though, words would win in any scenario, if they are God’s words. “Take   . . .  the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”  (Eph. 6:17)

“For the word of God is living and active.  Sharper than any double-edged  sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”  (Hebrews 4:12)

“All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”  (2 Tim. 3:16-17)

Soooo,  “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”  (Colossians 4:6)

Because our words matter, they make a difference for better or for worse in the lives of those to whom we direct them.

sincerely,      Grace Day

 

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear, does it make a sound?  Isn’t that the proverbial question?  More to the point, if a tree falls and no one is there to document its’ fall, does it really fall and does it make a sound?  My answer is a resounding yes to both questions!  It most certainly falls and it most definitely makes a sound, whether there are those present to witness and to document the event or not.

I had opportunity to put this theory to the test in my own life recently, when I unexpectedly had to get a new refrigerator.  Shortly after the delivery guys left, my new refrigerator began making a loud, jarring noise which would last about half an hour, then go silent for awhile, then repeat the cycle.  Although it was keeping the food appropriately cold or frozen, I knew something was wrong.  This was not normal operating procedure for this appliance.  It should not sound like an airplane taking off each time the motor ran.

But living alone, there was no one to verify my concerns.  When I called the store, they said it was probably the ice maker and that this particular brand tended to run louder than others.  I invited them to send anyone they chose to my house to listen for themselves.  They declined but did agree to swap out my refrigerator for a less noisy brand.  In the ensuing week, I often wished for someone else to hear the refrigerator when it was doing its’ thing, but that did not happen.  “just wait a little longer,”  I would say to anyone who had happened to stop by, “I’m sure any minute now the refrigerator will start up again.  But my new refrigerator was cunning and never revealed her malfunction to anyone but me.

How I wanted someone else to share my pain, so to speak.  Someone to validate my experience.  I wanted someone to share the falling of the tree with me.  This was not to be.  However, when the same two guys arrived to swap out my refrigerator a week later, I was both validated and vindicated.  Taken by surprise, my new fridge was caught in the act, so to speak.  Upon entering my home, they both essentially said, “Whoa, what’s going on here?  this is NOT normal operating procedure for this brand (or for any brand!)   I was relieved.  I was no longer the crazy customer.  It was not my imagination.  It was real and these two guys shared my reality.

Do we often feel this in our walk with God?  That no one shares our reality.  We want our experiences validated.  We want to know that others share our experiences, the ups and the downs, the successes and the failures, our progress and our setbacks, our joys and our sorrows.  God understands this about us.  He tells us “it is the Spirit Himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”  (Romans 8:16)  Hebrews 12:1 encourages us with these words, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

We are not alone.  We are surrounded by witnesses who are cheering us on.  When Jesus left this earth He did not leave us as orphans but sent His Holy Spirit to live IN us.  Christ in us, the hope of glory.  (Col. 1:27)  We have God as our witness 24/7, He will never leave us nor forsake us.  (Deut. 31:6)  He lives in us through the person of His Holy Spirit and apparently we are also surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.  We are not alone when the tree falls.  We do have a witness to share our reality.

You are not invisible.  So rejoice all you feeling faceless in a facebook world.  Take heart all you overlooked in a You-Tube culture.  Your Heavenly Father sees you, knows you and loves you.  Hagar said of Him, “You are the God who sees me.”  (Genesis 16:13)  Job said of Him, “But He knows the way that I  take.”  (Job 23:10)  Psalm 121:8  tells me, “the Lord will watch over my coming and going both now and forevermore.”

Not one person who has ever lived, nor any person living now, nor any person yet to be on this earth will ever be invisible to our Creator/ Sustainer.  “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”  (Matthew 10:29-30)   Now that’s visibility!

We have an identity in Christ as God’s children; we are seen, we are visible, our names are engraved on the palms of His hands.  He hears our prayers.  We live in a world of lost, invisible people.  The Bible calls them “the least of these.”  We might call them marginalized or disenfranchised but invisibility is the result either way.  We must make it our mission to make the invisible among us visible.  How?  It can start with a smile, a nod, a kind word, a helpful act, a touch of the hand, a listening ear, a meeting of the eyes.  In each case, in that instant, the invisible join the ranks of the visible, if only for a moment.  No picturing, no posting, but the moments are real and the resulting ripples are real as well.

I picture it like a game of freeze tag in that when the invisible individuals are acknowledged, they become visible, unfrozen and free in turn to acknowledge and unfreeze others around them, until the process is complete and everyone is unfrozen and free.  Of course the process will not reach completion here on earth but the good news is, there is NO invisibility in Heaven!   “. . .  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”  (1Cor. 13:12)

How wonderful!  Some translations say, “as I am completely understood or I am fully understood.”  Don’t we all long for that?  Heaven, where we are fully known and being fully known (no mask or pretense needed) we are fully accepted and fully understood.  Now that’s my definition of home!

“even now I go to prepare a place for you,  . . .  that where I am you may be also.”  (John 14:2-3)

sincerely,          Grace Day

While it may be true that no man is an island, I think we are all icebergs.  What do we have in common with icebergs you ask?  Only ten percent of who we are is visible to others, ninety percent of who we are is hidden beneath the surface, just as ninety percent of an iceberg lies beneath the surface of the water. We may bump into each other as we are tossed about by life’s waves, undercurrents, winds and storms, but we won’t really know and appreciate one another until we take the time to look beneath the surface. We must look beyond what we see to what is unseen, but just as important.  (actually more important if truth be told)  Icebergs are so much more than what first meets the eye and so are people.  People, like icebergs, are not always as they first appear to be.

It takes both time, intention and extra effort to look beneath the surface.  We can view the ten percent of the iceberg from the safety of the water’s surface, but to see the ninety percent that is hidden from our sight, we have to dive in, we have to get wet, we have to take a risk, we have to leave our comfortable place and enter into the uncomfortable, uncertain depths below the surface.  This is hard to do, but the results are worth it and are ultimately rewarding.  In looking more deeply, beneath and beyond the exterior surface of a person, we gain knowledge that we lacked before. This new knowledge leads us to understanding and this understanding makes empathy possible.  Empathy makes possible compassion for another person and compassion allows for mercy followed by grace. Everyone has a story.  If we only knew what lies beneath, or for people, more accurately, what lies inside their hearts and what experiences make up their past, I feel certain this earth would be a more empathetic and therefore a more peaceful, place.

While we can look beneath the water’s surface to see the rest of the iceberg, it is a much more daunting task to look into a person’s heart and have the patience to learn their past.  Still the words which are displayed in the entry way of my home, remain for me the best reminder of what I would do well to remember every day of my life.

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”    Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.  The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.  Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’ ”  (1 Samuel 16:7)

Lord, help me to see others with my heart and not just my eyes.

sincerely,        Grace Day

There are so many kinds of tears.  There are tears of sadness, tears of joy, tears of physical pain, tears of our heart’s pain, tears of loss, tears of grief.  There are tears of repentance, of relief, of loneliness, of despair;  tears of hurt or of anger or of care.  That’s a lot of tears over a lifetime and I imagine any one of us would think that for God to be mindful of our tears, even to the point of collecting them and saving them, would be incomprehensible to us.

And yet,  Psalm 56:8 says, “You have seen me tossing and turning through the night.  You have collected all my tears and preserved them in Your bottle!  You have recorded every one in Your book.”  Now that’s a lot of tears and I would guess each of us would feel that our own tears over our lifetime would fill quite a few bottles and are way too numerous for anyone to keep track of.  And then there are everyone else’s tears being saved as well, the tears of those from every tribe, every nation, every tongue and every people from every age.

But we belong to an infinite God who cares for us with unlimited compassion.  So much so that He not only sees our tears, He saves them.  Good thing there’s no shortage of storage space in heaven.  I wonder what all our tears will look like when we see them again?  Pain transformed into something beautiful?  Beauty from ashes, from heartache?

Do they look different, all these tears?  collected over our earthly years.  do they each have a different hue?  does He collect the tears no one can view?  the One Who hears and saves our silent cries, holds even the tears not from our eyes.  our inside tears that no one shares, He sees and saves each one with care.

will they decorate heaven, these tears of ours?  shining brightly in crystal jars, pain turned to prisms of dazzling light, tears cried in the dark now shining bright.

no tears are unseen, no tear unknown, all in eternity find their home.

tears for myself, my tears for others, all in heaven with their own special color. tears I cried in prayer for you, yours for me will be there too.

tears for friends, tears for foes, tears for those I’ll never know, tears for those I have not met;  our tears are prayers without the words, but I know my God has heard.

tears of thanksgiving, tears of praise, let me cry these tears all of my days. knowing all the tears I’ve cried alone, one day all will see and share God’s glory shown, as all tears from all time adorn His  throne.

Prayer brings us to tears and tears are our prayers.  What a comfort to know that my tears and prayers do not go unnoticed, unheeded nor unheard.  Rather they are so cherished by my Heavenly Father that He preserves them for eternity.

” And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”  (Revelation 21:4)

until then,  sincerely,        Grace Day

God is both infinite and intimate

He is both distant, dwelling in unapproachable light and near, never leaving nor forsaking me

He both surrounds me (in Whom we live and move and have our being) and is in me (He that is in you is greater than  he that is in the world)

He is the God of all and the God of each one

He is the God of wrath and the God of mercy

He is both my judge and my advocate

He is the God of justice and the God of grace

He imposes my penalty and He pays my price

He is the God of the ages and the God of right now

He is the shepherd and He is the Sacrificial Lamb

He is Sovereign and He allows me free will to choose

His voice is both booming thunder and a whisper to my heart

He is the Creator of my temporary earthly body and the Creator of my eternal soul

He is the Alpha and He is the Omega

He is the First and He is the Last

He is the beginning and He is the end   (Rev. 22:13)

I will spend my life learning to love this incomparable, incomprehensible, indescribable, infinite Creator God,  and never come to the end of Him, nor know Him fully, because He is infinite and eternal.  I can think of no greater adventure than this.

sincerely,      Grace Day

Forgive me, dear readers, but I left my love letter story unfinished.  The letter has been written, the letter has been delivered, the letter has been received; but responses are not all in as of yet. This is because the drama is still being played out each and every day on the battlefield of millions of human hearts simultaneously. A letter such as this reaches out to each one of its’ recipients, receiving a reaction and requiring a response from each one personally.  A response that could restore a broken relationship.  Isn’t that what a love letter is all about?  Revealing undying love. Restoring lost love. The author anxiously awaits the answer of his beloved, to whom he has poured out his heart in written word.

God has revealed Himself to us through the pages of His love letter, the Bible.  He awaits our response with infinite patience.  “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness.  He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”  (2 Peter 3:9)  What promise is it that He is not slow about keeping?  His promise to return for us, that’s what.  That’s how His letter ends, letting us know what we have to look forward to.  “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am.”  (John 14:3)

Jesus tells us He is coming back to make all things right.  We can only imagine what that will be like.  “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him”  (1Cor. 2:9)  But He does give us a preview of what we can expect.  “Now the dwelling of God is with men,  . . .  He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  (Rev. 21:3-4)  In His letter, God tells us that we are His bride and He will return to rescue us from sin and death.

“There will be no more night.  They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light.  And they will reign for ever and ever.  . . .  Behold, I am coming soon!”  (Rev. 22:5,7)

My Creator, my Heavenly Father, has declared His love for me and promised to return.  He awaits my response.  Declarations of love usually do require a response.  Love letters are not meant to go unread and unanswered.  This living love letter is life to all who read its’ words.  “so is My word that goes out from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”  (Isaiah 55:11)

Who could resist responding to such a revelation of love as is revealed throughout the ages and pages of the Bible?  God says to us, “I have loved you with an everlasting love;”  (Jer. 31:3)  That’s more than enough for me.  I have received the ultimate love letter of all time.  May I not delay in responding wholeheartedly.

sincerely,            Grace Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s an age old theme, a common theme.  The letter is lost in the mail, never to be received by its intended recipient.  Because the loved one doesn’t get the letter, the relationship is, like the letter that bore its declaration, lost forever, never to be realized.  Sounds like a hallmark movie plot, doesn’t it?  Except then the letter would be found in time to rescue the relationship and restore it, resulting in a happy ending for all concerned.  (after all, the “hallmark” of a Hallmark movie IS the happy ending that we all count on, now isn’t it?)  In the movie, “The Notebook”, she doesn’t initially receive his letters, written faithfully over a year’s time, which means she doesn’t know he still cares and their relationship ends at that time. Fate eventually brings them together again and the letters are revealed and restored to their intended recipient, with a happy ending being the eventual happy result.

But what about real life?  How many lost letters and lost loves are living lonely out there every day right now?  Of course now maybe we have to include lost emails or lost texts as well in that question.  Does anyone actually write real letters anymore?  Or is the proverbial love letter a thing of the past?

Well, there’s one love letter from the past that has endured into the present without getting lost, without losing its’ power and without losing its’ relevance. This love letter is still finding its’ way into the hands and hearts of its’ intended recipients and changing their lives forever.  This love letter took some forty authors about 1,500 years to write, resulting in sixty-six books telling the story of an ever lasting love which plays out over time and space, as the lover pursues His beloved over time, from generation to generation, to the very ends of the earth. The drama of this loving pursuit is still being played out today as this greatest love letter of all time continues to be delivered to and read by its’ intended recipients.

How wonderful it is that this love letter has never been lost nor misplaced but continues to withstand the test of time.  In fact, we are assured that “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”  (Is. 40:8)  Yes, the Bible is God’s love letter to each and everyone of us.  It is His love letter to me. It isn’t lost, I don’t have to wonder if He loves me.  I can read His letter to me for myself.  In it I read, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”  (Jer. 31:3)  I read,  “See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands;”  (Is. 49:16)  I read,  “the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.”  (Deut. 31:6)  “He (the Lord your God) will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”  (Zeph. 3:17)

In this love letter I read the implausible story of a God who loves His people, created in His image, and so He pursues them across time and space.  He provides perfection in a garden, is rejected, saves through a flood, makes a promise, is rejected, He frees from slavery, provides in the desert, brings them into their promised land, is rejected again, delivers them from the captivity of their enemies (again) and the cycle of rejection and deliverance continues even today.  God   pursues me still to this day.  He has not given up on me.  I read in His love letter to me, “for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”  (Lam. 3:22-23)

His love letter continues, the story unfolds with unbelievable twists and turns.  A baby is born, they try to kill Him.  He escapes to a foreign land.  Then, miracle of miracles, the baby in the manger grows up to become the Christ on the cross.  I read, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” And Jesus does just that, He dies in my place to make me right with God, showing me how much God loves me.  It’s more than words, it’s the ultimate act of love.

This love letter has power, power to change life, power to give life.  “For the word of God is living and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”  (Hebrews 4:12)   God’s finger filled the stone tablets with His words while His Spirit filled the authors who penned the parchment pages full of His words for all who would read and receive the gift He offered.  The gift of His Son, the gift of His love, the gift of eternal life with Him.

This is one love letter that didn’t get lost. This is a love letter for all people, for all time.  This is a love letter about the greatest love story of all time.  This is a love letter that is here to stay.  “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.”  (Luke 21:33)

When I am lost, when I am lonely, when I long to know lasting love;  I read and re-read and read again my love letter from my Creator and am assured that He is indeed singing over me with joy and compassion and His ever-lasting love.

sincerely,        Grace Day

 

 

I intended to pay,  I tried to pay,  multiple times in fact.  Each time technology told me “transaction cancelled”.  What to do?   My friend was waiting, we weren’t going to be all that long.  I was parked literally across the street from the Starbucks, I could watch  my car from the window, right?  Ignoring my embarrassment,  (after all he was a stranger, didn’t know me), I stopped a guy walking his dog who passed by me on the street and asked for help.  He didn’t know how to work the thing either.  No one else was around at the moment and the clock was ticking.

So I proceeded to do the unthinkable.  I left my car at an expired parking meter and went across the street to meet my friend.  Remember the good old days when parking meters took nickels, dimes and quarters?  I thought that was working pretty well but I guess somebody didn’t and wanted to fix it.  I mean it is an inconvenience to always have to have change on hand and a credit card is easier to carry around than a bunch of change, so change is what happened.  Change to these newfangled, high tech parking meters, that require training before use. Coins are out, cards are in.

Sure enough, I got a ticket.  My $1.50 parking fee was now going to cost me $20.00. And there’s more.  Guess how the fine has to be paid?   On line or in person at a building downtown.  Technology wouldn’t let me pay at the curb, I’m guessing she’s not going to let me pay online either.  Now here’s where the irony increases dramatically.  In order to pay at the downtown location I will have to park my car at, you guessed it, a meter identical to the one that refused my payment at the site of my original interaction.  So while inside paying this fine, I run the risk of incurring now a second fine.  And if I don’t get down there within the allotted number of days, my original fine of $20.00 doubles to $40.00!  Soon, I am going to need a second job just to support my parking habit.  I see no end in sight. Whatever happened to paying by mail or by phone?  Both options have proved successful in the past.

“Then He (Jesus) said to them, ‘Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ ”   (Matthew 22:21)

Well, Caesar is cleaning up big time on all these parking meter transactions.  Free training should be provided, perhaps a “how to” video presentation.  And what about meter malfunction?  Maybe I wasn’t doing it wrong?  (or maybe I should just wear my glasses?)  Still, I think someone should look into a possible conspiracy theory related to paid parking spaces and unreliable meters.  Toll roads are going to be taking over soon, someone has to keep Caesar in check.  But for now, I’m off to go ‘render unto Caesar’ his due, though not with a cheerful heart, I confess. Wish me luck, that this time the parking meter will accept my card, because it will no longer take my coins.

sincerely,                Grace Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actions speak louder than words.  At least they are supposed to, according to this well known maxim.  But the silent action of a solitary football player has sparked a war of words.  A war that continues to escalate in intensity and impact.  A war that continues to expand outward from football into other arenas of our daily lives, if you will.  The ripple effect is in effect and the end is not in sight.

Irony fills every aspect of this controversy, brought about by one player’s initial action of taking a knee during the National Anthem.  Traditionally and historically, kneeling is seen as a sign of utmost respect and humility, both cross culturally and across religious lines as well.   But the objection being raised to this action of taking a knee is that it is disrespectful to our flag, our veterans and our country.  And indeed, it was intended as a protest of current social and racial injustices occurring in our country.

Point of view seems to be vital to understanding the many perspectives involved in the national dialogue that is the ripple resulting from this initial casting of the stone upon the water, if you will.  The surface may have appeared calm at the time, but turbulence swirling just beneath the surface is again being revealed for all to behold.  And what we behold we are forced to face.  And when we have the courage to face what has been revealed, we can find a way to forget our fears and forge ahead toward something new and full of promise.

Let’s start with the booing taking place at these NFL games during the national anthem.  NOT COOL.  Remember,  actions speak louder than words.  (or noises)  So, stand up tall, remove your hat (if need be),  put your hand over your heart and give your honor and respect to your country and to those who have fought for your freedom in this way.  These actions are a personal, powerful, peaceful statement of your position and doing this speaks far louder than your booing ever could.

Likewise, the taking of a knee, is a personal, powerful, peaceful statement of  one’s position. It speaks with eloquence and purpose.  In comparison, booing is weak. Booing is lame.  So enough with the booing already.  Sit, stand or kneel,  what we are witnessing as we see and comment on these players’ protests, is American freedom in action.  These players are free to express their views without fear of being beheaded, without fear of being imprisoned, without fear of losing their jobs and without fear of being silenced.

This is the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and where it continues to lead us today. There is power in non-violent, peaceful protest.  Let freedom ring, the freedom to take a knee.  Let freedom ring, the freedom to stand with hand over heart.  Let us define ourselves, each one, not by what we are against, but by what we are for.  In supporting our brothers’ right to free speech, we support our own right to that same free speech.  With all that free speaking going on, my hope is that some of us are also exercising our right to free listening.  And I pray we are listening well. Our shared futures depend upon it. We each want to feel we have been heard.

Maybe that’s why this particular dialogue is playing out before us in the NFL. These players have a platform and personal power that you and I probably don’t have.  (unless some of you, dear readers, are rich, famous celibs, in which case I beg your forgiveness for not giving you your due)  Nonetheless, some feel the call to use their platform for causes greater than themselves.  Ultimately, we will find ourselves indebted to them for trying to make our world a better place, a more just place for all of us.

This simple, non-violent act of taking a knee has opened dialogue and debate, long overdue and forces us once again to evaluate how we treat each other in this country.  You know what I would like to see?  I would like to see the players on a team with locked arms (as some have been doing) but ALL on the team with locked arms, those standing and those kneeling, preferably alternating those who have chosen to stand with those who have chosen to kneel.  The purpose?  To show support and respect for each teammate’s choice and position.  This would be powerful beyond any words.  I would like to see Rishard Matthews come out of the tunnel, join his teammates in support and be supported in return.

Freedom only works if each of us allow others the very freedoms we desire for ourselves.  These players have earned their platform through hard work and dedication.  If they choose to use their platform in a peaceful, non-threatening, non harmful way to affect change, that has to be respected.  What cannot be respected or tolerated are threats to take away their jobs simply because they exercised their right to free speech.  Taking a knee harms no one and does not interfere with their job performance.  Let freedom ring.

We can each draw inspiration from this drama playing out before us in the daily papers and the daily news.  We have platforms too.  They may be small but we can do whatever is within our power to do at work, at home, in our churches and in our neighborhoods to bring about the justice and liberty for all that our pledge of allegiance promises.  Keeping in mind that our “inalienable rights” derive from our Creator God and not from any government, we should be diligent to ensure that our government protects those rights while not infringing upon them in any way.

The irony of the action/symbol of taking a knee as a position of protest and power is not lost on me, nor I suspect does it elude anyone else who has experienced and therefore knows the power of prayer.  It is often from a position of bended knees that we bend God’s ear in petition for ourselves and for others.  It is when we feel powerless in the face of great obstacles that we seek what we need in prayer. There is a power in prayer beyond our human understanding.  What Kaepernick began as a call for justice and equality, we could all take as a call to prayer. Prayer for our nation, prayer for each other,  a prayer for peace here and around the world.  The posture of strength is on our knees.  Let us each one take a knee.  Let freedom ring!

The ultimate irony in all this is that there will come a day when we all, each and everyone of us will take a knee, two to be exact.  Not in protest, but in awe and humility and submission and confession and joy and wonder we will all do this.  This will coincide with the words resounding,  “free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, free at last!”

“that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  (Philippians 2:10-11)

sincerely,           Grace Day