Give grace, give grace, give grace.
I have to breathe this in and out, out and in, this morning.
I didn't post on Martin Luther King Jr. Day yesterday.
Partially because there were so many out there doing it so much more beautifully and well than I could ever hope to.
The other reason was because Michael was home, and we were enjoying a day as a family, trying new whole-food recipes.
I went to sleep filled with good thoughts about racial harmony.
I woke up and was fairly immediately confronted with (barely) passive aggressive racism in written form.
It angered me, but even more than that, it saddened me. I was reading this morning in the Bible about how things that come out of a person's mouth (fingers) actually come from the heart. (Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.)
I suddenly felt sad for this person to have such a filthy heart.
I pitied them.
Then I started to feel twinges of pride in my heart.
And I thought it would be wise to take a moment to examine my own heart.
What filthy overflow does my mouth speak---if not racism?
It speaks perfectionism. It speaks a lack of grace when others are wrong. It speaks judgement. It speaks words to please man and not God.
I started this morning angry and saddened by racism spoken from the heart of an acquaintance.
I continue this morning aware of the filth in my own heart, but in the knowledge that my Savior has forgiven me.
Lord, continue your refining work on me!
I have to breathe this in and out, out and in, this morning.
I didn't post on Martin Luther King Jr. Day yesterday.
Partially because there were so many out there doing it so much more beautifully and well than I could ever hope to.
The other reason was because Michael was home, and we were enjoying a day as a family, trying new whole-food recipes.
I went to sleep filled with good thoughts about racial harmony.
I woke up and was fairly immediately confronted with (barely) passive aggressive racism in written form.
It angered me, but even more than that, it saddened me. I was reading this morning in the Bible about how things that come out of a person's mouth (fingers) actually come from the heart. (Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.)
I suddenly felt sad for this person to have such a filthy heart.
I pitied them.
Then I started to feel twinges of pride in my heart.
And I thought it would be wise to take a moment to examine my own heart.
What filthy overflow does my mouth speak---if not racism?
It speaks perfectionism. It speaks a lack of grace when others are wrong. It speaks judgement. It speaks words to please man and not God.
I started this morning angry and saddened by racism spoken from the heart of an acquaintance.
I continue this morning aware of the filth in my own heart, but in the knowledge that my Savior has forgiven me.
Lord, continue your refining work on me!
This is spot on. When one sin is being killed, another is moving in behind it to take its place (uh, usually pride!) We need to retain a sense that racism is wrong without being proud of however far we have come in confronting it ourselves.
ReplyDeleteIt's a neverending struggle for me, that one. Thanks for this post.
ditto that.
ReplyDelete