SPRING FORTH NOW

And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

Luke 15:11-24

This morning I arose to yet another story concerning the police’s negative engagement with a young Black male in TN for a traffic violation that causes me to be both bewildered and righteously indignant and screaming “stop, not again.” The critical word is “again” which triggers my bewilderment as well as righteous indignation because when are we going to learn, when will we do a reality check and conclude we cannot continue to ignore the root cause, anti-Blackness. We cannot train our way out of anti-Blackness creating offices of “equity, diversity, and inclusion” that lack any real substance to defy the "white lies.” When will we come to ourselves and realize that we are a racist nation with systems and structures that have been shaped and formed on lies to directly and more often indirectly support mindsets and actions that result in the horrific outcomes we are experiencing over and over again. When will we challenge who we are at the core and come to ourselves in order to align life and our spaces to Readjust, Breathe: New Life; in which we transform hearts and mindsets, rooted in truth; willing repentance from the lies and wrongdoings to build a world of mutual respect. The lesson of the Prodigal Son is that he came to himself; an honest and candid reality check to determine who he was, opening up his potential to live in the fullness of life and life more abundantly!