Our mid-week posts are an opportunity for Tracey and me to share our own thoughts about whatever happens to be on our minds when it is our turn to write. Through these posts, we hope that you get to know the true us, real us. We do our best to share openly and honestly with you.
As I sat down to write today’s post, my thoughts swirled out of control and my words were scattered at best, incapable of expressing the current chaos in my mind and in my heart. I’m unable to accept that we live in a country that has disintegrated to a place where bombs are sent through our postal system, faithful people are ambushed during their time of worship, and children are gunned down at school. How did we get to this place?
As I sat pondering that question, I grew sad and angry and desperate and fearful. I could list all the reasons for those emotions, but you already know them. The thoughts that began to form in my mind and materialize as words on the screen as I typed were most certainly authentic, but they were not nice. They were not pretty They were not loving. They showed a side of me that doesn’t need to be shared.
So instead of my words today, I am sharing the words of Bishop LaTrelle Miller Easterling. I heard them read at a prayer vigil that I attended at a local Dallas synagogue on Sunday evening. These are powerful words. Read them. Digest them. Come back for seconds, and thirds, and fourths…Share them with everyone that you know.
*****
Before It Is Too Late
By Bishop LaTrelle Miller Easterling
I do not know exactly what lies ahead; how far we will have to travel on the road of unrest.
I cannot foretell the number of bombs that will have to explode or the lives that will have to be lost before…
Before we understand that we cannot kill each other into the future we think we have imagined.
You cannot hate enough to make yourself happy.
You cannot destroy enough to make yourself feel secure.
You cannot oppress enough to make yourself feel superior.
You cannot commit enough evil to make yourself feel holy.
I do not know exactly what lies ahead; how far we will have to travel on the road of unrest.
I cannot foretell how many rights will have to be taken away, or how much progress will have to be reversed before…
Before we understand that we cannot persecute each other into the future we think we have imagined.
We cannot neglect each other enough to feel worthy.
We cannot starve each other enough to feel full.
We cannot silence one another enough to feel heard.
We cannot fragment each other enough to feel whole.
I do not know exactly what lies ahead; how far we will to travel on the road of unrest.
I cannot foretell how many babies’ bodies will have to float on the sea of greed and vainglory before…
Before we understand that we cannot bully our way into the future we think we have imagined.
We cannot bury each other deep enough to feel alive.
We cannot rape each other enough to feel loved.
We cannot infect each other enough to feel well.
We cannot enslave one another enough to feel free.
Before it is too late may we understand that the call is coming from inside the house.
Before it is too late may we comprehend that the
Stench
Rot
Brokenness
Emptiness
Insecurity
Woundedness
Disease
is from within and not without.
Erasing you will not heal me.
May we understand before it is too late.
God, help us to understand before it is too late. Amen.
*****
Truth.
That’s all that needs to be said.
Hold those you love close to you in body, mind, and spirit. Never pass up an opportunity to say, “I love you.” The chance to do that can be taken away in the blink of an eye. In the instant that it takes to pull a trigger. In the second it takes to say Amen..
Thank you for this post Kris. I have printed the poem out for what I am sure will be many re-reads. I am unable to express myself as eloquently as you do but just wanted to let you know how deeply I feel those words. Thanks again, Anne
I’m glad the words spoke to you! I hope that they will reach the hearts and minds of many! Blessings to you!