A Mile In Your Shoes

The last four months I have felt as if I were living within a category 5 hurricane. Covid-19 struck and spread across our world locking people in their homes. Hundreds of thousands have died. George Floyd was murdered by a police officer, and we watched his agonizing death on television news. Outraged Americans joined together in protest, united. And then militant groups hijacked a heartfelt and significant movement. In the midst of looting, destruction, more murders and beatings, George Floyd's death was diminished.

I've posted my thoughts about all of this on my Facebook page but today I want to bring our focus back to one another. We are all related, one family - humankind. 

When I was young and sometimes made judgments about others my mother was always quick to correct me. She would say that I couldn't truly understand what was going on inside another person's heart. She would add, "You have not walked a mile in their shoes." How right she was. She knew and understood the pain of discrimination. She'd grown up poor and native in a place that saw her as less valuable than others. And even as an adult she could be brought to tears by the memories.

You may not know what it is like to live as a Native Alaskan. You may not know what it is like to be told that one day you will be blind. You  may not know how difficult it is to live as a fat person in a world that detests and judges fat people. (I have stories) And you may know the pain of losing a young and vibrant father when you are only twenty-three. We don't share all the same experiences, so how can we know?

I do not know what it is like to be Black in America. And there are thousands of other experiences I can't fully understand.

However, we all know what fear is like. We know pain. We know sorrow. We know rejection. And because we know we can empathize ... if we choose to. We can listen and have open minds. God tells us to love one another ... all others.

This storm we find ourselves in can destroy our world as we know it. But we don't have to let it. We can place our hurts and disappointments and our fears in God's hands. And most of all we can hand over our hate. The enemy loves hate, and he will use it to destroy us if we let him.

As the weeks have passed a song has been playing through my mind. It's one we all know. And I post it here to remind us of its simple but profound truth.

"Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world."

In these difficult days let's sing that song and pray that God will help us see one another through His eyes of love.

Grace and peace to you from God,

Bonnie