Growing Season
It’s growing season which means that every day I see new leaves on my plants. Over a month ago, a lot of people committed to their own growing season. “Listening & learning.” Most have already changed the subject.
Breonna Taylor’s murderers are walking free. I spend a strange amount of time thinking about how an ice cream company has made stronger statements than most churches and elected officials (God bless Ben and Jerry’s). Elijah McClain’s murder was so inhumane it’s nearly too much to hold.
I need a picture of hope. So I’m looking at my plants & wrapping myself in biblical stories I love. I’m washing my head and heart in the life of Rizpah. When one people group demanded death and hung their dead bodies in the streets, Rizpah demanded dignity. She wailed for days, refusing to be comforted until people saw the dignity of life that was once in their bones. Rizpah—a woman who refused to adjust to a culture of death.
I’m thinking of Shiphrah & Puah and their civil disobedience that led to life for a people group. I’m read the prophets who called the people of God back to their calling to be the people of God’s justice. I remember the daughters of Jerusalem who wept for four days annually to remember a woman’s unjust death due to a culture of death.
For many, to continue a conversation about racial justice right now feels “too much.” But God calls it good. I’m asking God to make me maladjusted to death like Rizpah. And, like my plants, God is growing and shaping me DAILY. This is not a one-time or sometimes work.