A Reflection on MLK: Changes of Heart

A week ago Monday was the school holiday that honored MLK's birthday.  I decided to make the 10 minute drive from our house to the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum with my daughter.  I was surprised at how much she knew about this day and this man when I told her of our road trip.  She quickly ran to her backpack and proudly returned with a neatly handwritten note she had copied from a book at school on the previous day.    

January 20, 1986, was an important day.  It was the very first Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  Martin Luther King, Jr. believed everyone should be free to work at any job or attend any school.  Everyone should be able to do the same thing.  At one time many laws in our country were unfair to African Americans! 

With great enthusiasm, we dressed and headed for downtown Birmingham. 

On our way into the Museum, we walked past the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.  It reminded me of the story my friend told me about her older sister dying in the basement of that church.  Four little girls, just about my daughter's age, innocently going to the bathroom.  A bombing that would forever mark the history of this city.  "Who would do such a thing?"  I was thinking this while Kate announced it.  Hate is a powerful emotion.  Fear is even more dangerous. 

While we have come a long way since Civil Rights, hate and fear are alive and well.  Most notably within the Christian faith, we let the things that make us different turn into anger.  The world certainly shows us enough hatred already.  Why would we not do as Jesus says and simply love each other.  I am pretty sure God isn't going to line us up by church denomination when we get to heaven.  Who among  us knows for sure that our church is getting it right 100% of the time?  The perfect message.  The perfect people.  The perfect church.  Where does love fit into the hierarchy of religion.  Change your heart, change your enemy and change your world.

As we exited the museum, Kate looked at me with pause.  "Am I white?", she asked as she pinched her arm.  "Yes", I said knowing it was a leading question.  She pulled me closer and whispered, "Is it bad that I'm white?"

Civil Rights is definitely part of our history.  But it doesn't have to be part of our here and now.  God made each and everyone of us different and special and beautiful.  Be at peace, see Christ in the eyes of your fellow man, and be the person you were meant to be.  The more I pray for change the more I begin seeing the reflection of Christ in faces all around me.  People can sense genuine kindness and respond with only the grace that God can provide.  We are all God's children.  Even those who do not believe.  Get in that faith place, change your heart and let God work miracles in your life. 

Ron Hall writes in 'same kind of different as me', "I cannot see into a persons heart to see his spiritual condition.  All I can do is tell the jagged tale of my own spiritual journey and declare that my life has been the better for having followed Christ."

"Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the staircase."  --Martin Luther King Jr.

LizzieB        

Deeply Searching

In December, I attended a two-day women's worship conference at my Mother's invitation.  I had been to Deeper Still twice before and thought this might be overkill.  Same speakers, same music, same message.  But the Bible is a big book and my life seemed to be taking unexpected turns everyday.  Off we went with my sister and Mom's best friend in tow.

Kay Arthur spoke first.  Older and wiser of the three and radical to some.  Certainly plain speaking and certain of her beliefs.  She said something I hope I never forget, "Jesus is not something you can add to your life like salt and pepper.  Jesus is your life!"  I dialed in on her definition of 'repent', and it is especially fitting for how I find myself looking for change in this new year.  She simply said to repent is to turn around, change your mind, seek God.  Up to now repent for me was tied to failure and remorse.  How wonderful to think that at that very moment all I had to do was turn around.  Imagine Jesus laying his hand on your shoulder as if to say, "I've always been here.  Where have you been my friend?  Follow me."

What is it about the human race...women especially.  We really do make things so complicated.  In my quest to follow John 15:17 and simply love each other, I am beginning to realize that I have to be comfortable with loving myself first.  Only then can I truly thank God for the simple fact that I woke up today.  Only then can I be vulnerable and come into that "faith place" where miracles can happen. 

The reality of this message was delivered by Priscilla Shirer.  Married and Mother to three young boys, she spoke of the realities of trying to find that "faith place" in our busy lives.  I can relate.  How do I step into that place and stay there?  I'm in one minute and wondering how I got so far away the next.  I'm tired of starting over.  I want to stay in that "faith place"...but how?  It goes back to using this day, this gift God has given me.  Not what's past or future, but what is at my disposal today.  On those busiest of days, it may not seem like much.  But, Priscilla shared, "if I trust that God has his hand on it, it can become so much more than I ever thought it could be."  I've tried this in the last week, and I can honestly say that its working in my life.  And because of this effort, I can see it changing the lives of the people I treasure as well.  It is becoming evident that God is waiting on me to get into position so miracles can happen.

Beth Moore capped off the event by asking us to repeat this sentence, "There are treasures out there."  Interestingly it sounded more like 14,000 women asking the question...Are there treasures out there?  She said it again and we repeated, "There ARE treasures out there!".  We made this exchange several times until we all said it with belief. 

Indeed there are treasures out there, and we will miss them if we look past the hardship and the pain.  If we are looking for the next easy streak, we will miss the treasure.  This stuff defines us.  It's who we are.  Battle wounds...signs of courage.  I loved the way, Beth, described that we can live with pain a lot better than we can live with purposelessness.  Go find your treasures.  Lay claim to them!  I treasure this journey I am on.  I treasure that my heart is awakened.  I treasure my husband and my daughter even though being a wife and a mother is not always easy.  I don't want to look past the tough times.  I want to embrace them and use it to come out on the other side with purpose.  I will paraphrase her closing because she tied it all together so well.  "When you feel like you've lost the treasure, look for Jesus.  In Him, in Christ are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  Jesus has the other puzzle pieces, you only need a few.  The whole portrait will come together and it will all make sense--your whole life. In Christ we live happily ever after, but right now we walk in faith."

Amen.

Pictured here:  Alice and Mom.  A testimony to treasured friendship.  A real gift for me and my sister to witness. 

Looking for a Change

Yesterday was a glorious day.  I found myself at the newly opened Changed Lives Christian Center.  A shelter for men living on the street who are looking for a hand up.  Men who are looking to take personal responsibility for their lives and weave themselves back into society.  I was fortunate enough to hear the stories from some of the residents.  One had arrived by way of prison.  Another was struggling with finances and depression.  Each full of hope and faith and trust that better days are ahead.  Happy they woke up and absolutely certain that it was a gift from God.  They had Christ in their eyes, and I drove away knowing I had just visited a house of God. 

We're asked to take care of the least among us, and each time I am in the presence of the so-called "least of us" I end up on the receiving end.  Perhaps I'm the one in need and God has put them in my life.  I found myself reading Matthew 25, Jesus telling about the Final Judgement.  With highlighter in hand I came to verse 40, "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."  Today, the lines are blurred as to who actually is the least among us.  I think the natural inclination is that the poor and helpless are the needy.  I am beginning to think that its the other way around.

Lizze B

  

A Prayer

When the songs of the angels is stilled
    When the star in the sky is gone
        When the kings and the princes are home
            When shepherds are back with their flocks
The work of Christmas begins:
    to find the lost...to heal the broken...to feed the hungry...to release the prisoner...
        to rebuild the nations...to bring peace among peoples...
            to make music in the heart.  Amen

By Howard Thurman

Releasing the Hate

I woke up this morning trying to identify something in my life that has real controversy attached to it.  How might I start this day differently and change myself and my enemy for the better?  Immediately my mind went to football. 

"I've decided not to pull against Auburn", I declared to my dear friend (Auburn grad) in a text this morning.  That may seem like small potatoes to some, but in this state loyalty to your school is everything.  You are either Auburn or Alabama and there is no in between.  Some were raised to be hater's (that's me!) and a handful of others actually marry between schools.  An oddity in my family for sure.  No such mixed marriages allowed at our house, and it's known around these parts as a "house divided".  "I knew the grinch's heart could grow...what changed you?", she wrote back from her house divided.  "I am making some changes. That's all I can say right now.  This is only day two," I typed.   

When I really give it some careful thought, we wouldn't be dealing with this anyway if it weren't for Cam Newton.  How in the world did Auburn manage to follow up our dream national championship/heisman trophy year with their own bid for the national championship and a heisman trophy winner.  Blah.  Anyway, here we are and its heavy on my heart on this day.  I can only give the credit to God because he brought me to a place in John 15 that opened my heart last night.

I am not Bible literate which is a problem for most Episcopalians.  I bought a bible for my husband several Christmas' ago so we have one in the house.  I'm always so envious of people who have ear marks and notes in the margin.  I just haven't managed to get there yet.  Last night, I followed a passage I read in 'same kind of different is me'..."Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."  I googled it and traced it back to John 15:13.  I read the entire chapter and used a highlighter (so now we notations in our bible).  The chapter is about Jesus teaching his disciples about the vine and the branches.  The verse became more pertinent when I added 15:12 which read "My command is this:  Love each other as I have loved you."  And then in verse 17 he says it again, "This is my command:  Love each other."  There is not a footnote that says unless he is an Auburn fan.  Jesus means to love all people and that's what I am on a journey to do. 

In verse 11 he tells us why, and its such good news..."I have told you this so my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete."  Amen! ROLL TIDE and war eagle.

Happy Day,

LizzieB

Pictured:  Cousins divided.  Iron Bowl 2010, Tuscaloosa.

          

Getting Started

I have never blogged before nor read a blog someone else has written.  For reasons unknown, I feel compelled to memorialize my thoughts in 2011.  Perhaps its accountability I am looking for.  To who?  I have no idea.  I don't have any followers. 

We are a handful of days into 2011 and no matter where you turn people are talking about goals not met and a desire to set new ones.  I was not quick this year to think about it although I knew for some reason 2011 was going to be different.  I feel different, and the messages I am hearing are different too.

I finished the book 'same kind of different as me' yesterday.  It's a book that has been sitting next to my bed for months.  God has a way of putting things in your hands exactly when you need them, and this book was no exception.  I picked it up the night before my family would be leaving for our annual New Year's trip to the beach.  The timing just felt right.

Finishing this book gave me the same feeling I had when reading Og Mandino's, 'The Greatest Miracle in the World', some fifteen years ago when it literally fell off the shelf in the public library.  Both stories are true.  Both stories represent the lives of two men.  Both stories represent the "lesser" man (one a rag picker and one a sharecropper) leading the richer man to a more fulfilling life with Christ.  I am not rich or poor...or a man.  However, I am struck by the power of God speaking through one individual to another identified not by the color of his skin, the balance in his bank account, or what church he happens to belong to.  God loves all people whether they know him or not.  All people.  And he asks us to love each other in the very same way.

I turned on the radio this morning and Glenn Beck's show was beginning.  More messages.  He was talking about a book that he has been working on for the last two years.  It's out today and called 'The Seven".  He shares his journey of the last fifteen years from suicidal alcholic to his success today.  He said, "Yes you can be at peace with yourself and be the person you were meant to be.  Change your enemy and change your world."  He talked about changing yourself today and watching your family and your country follow.  I was lucky enough to hear grown men call in to report that they had turned on their radio at the precise time as me.  They were being saved from themselves at that very minute.  It was powerful.  More than powerful.  It was a miracle.

I truly believe we experience miracles everyday in our lives.  In 'same kind of different as me' a homeless man explains why he is so happy.  "He woke up! And that's reason enough to be happy."  Life is a miracle and we should all be thankful that we woke up this morning.  God gives us this day as a gift.  I plan to thank God each day for waking up my heart to do something different with myself in 2011.  I have no expectations as to where this journey will lead me.  I am just along for the ride.

Happy New Year and God's Peace.

LizzieB