Our country is seething with rage about race, immigration and police.
Where is the rainbow to lead us out of the valley?
Maybe the rainbow is a leader who will . . .
- be strong yet gentle
- be wise yet sensitive
- be powerful yet humble
- be inspiring yet realistic
Where is this leader?
Rage seeks change by force
In his great work, Masks of Love and Life, Hanns Sachs illustrates the rage trap in America.
He talks about two brothers.
One of them hated open doors.
He’d jump up and shut anything standing open.
The other brother said, “one of these days I’m going to lock you in a room with all the other doors open.”
Why did he say this?
Because his brother only wanted to see closed doors.
Violent protestors are slamming doors shut with their riots.
They use violence to argue . . .
- defund the police
- black lives matter
When the crazies pound stores and police with hate and anger, all that does is anger the law-abiding citizens.
Is this the way to change systemic racism? Just pound some systemic hate?
Maybe we pound closed doors because we are stuck by anger.
People are afraid when they are threatened.
That’s normal whether or not the threat is real or perceived.
Fear happens to all of us.
- Fear of change
- Fear of strangers
- Fear of moving on
Even the fear of moving through an open door.
Once you’re scarred, your mind is closed, “It’s just this room! And these four walls! And this is all there is! Don’t move out there beyond these viewpoints! Don’t get contaminated out there! Close it off! Blow it up!”
Jesus Christ showed a way through an open door.
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
That easy yoke is God coming to us. Reaching out to us. Wanting to connect with us and fill what’s missing.
If we open the door.
Love seeks change by forgiveness
You see, I was a happy kid.
But, I was terrified and angered when my mother spun out of control with daily fits of rage.
This is hard for me to share.
It wasn’t until I was 23 that I learned the secret of forgiving someone who hurt you.
Simply ask, “What horror ever happened to them?”
Mother never told me. Dad didn’t either.
But the door opened on a long car ride from San Antonio to Waco.
I was determined to reach out to mother no matter what.
For three hours I unleashed all the pain and feelings.
When our trip ended, mother was speechless, but we hugged and cried.
That was the moment I forgave her.
I loved mom and enjoyed her for the rest of her life even though she continued to rage because I was able to acknowledge her pain.
Forgiveness takes the first step
Can you imagine the U.S. if everyone acknowledged each other’s pain?
If different sides dropped their rage to open the door which shows that everyone needs to forgive and be forgiven?
Only God knows the fullest extent of our pain.
And He comes knocking on our door to heal all of the sorrow.
So lets open the door and reach out to each other in peace.
And go march.
Steve, you provide a valuable insight, the pathway out of “cancel culture.” Forgiveness! While I can rationalize this approach (“cancel culture”), we need leaders who recognize that problems are solved not only by manipulation (power/the economic machine), but also with a spiritual/philosophical/human element as well. Adlai Stephenson observed “that the moral measure of a nation is not found in its GDP, but in how it treats its least advantaged citizens”.
Well stated Jeff. I note the last word of your comment, “citizens.”
Wow Steve! This is great! It’s freeing to forgive others and also know that we need to be forgiven. But so many people don’t realize this. Relationships, families and friendships fall apart all the time because of our selfish pride and our feeble attempt at self preservation and unwillingness to be vulnerable. I hope that your readers will see the wisdom in your words. I am glad you were able to forgive and love your mom, even though she didn’t ask you to.
We all need the simple truth of forgiveness often, don’t we? Sometimes either willfully or unintentionally we withhold forgiveness because it represents the one part of the situation we think we can control. Or we’ll refuse to forgive as a kind of payback to our offender. But in truth, unforgiveness gives more misery to us than to anyone else. Significant depression can be a result. With good reason, the Bible commands us: “Don’t let the sun go down on your anger.” The wounds we suffered at the hands of others hurt us deeply, but God can heal those wounds through forgiveness and time. Thanks for your comment Rita!
Thank you for this thought Janice. It takes humility to listen and acknowledge. We need that at all levels of leadership.