Good morning…
“Hi, Sue,” she wrote. “It’s been a trying morning, so reading this gave me hope. Check out this profound paragraph below — ‘My ancestors did not survive the Trail of Tears because…’ I am embracing the thoughts of inclusivity instead of exclusivity today.”
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Excerpt from Steven Charleston’s Ladder to the Light: An Indigenous Elder’s Meditations on Hope and Courage, p. 62, 67-68
My ancestors did not survive the Trail of Tears because they were set apart from the rest of humanity. Their exodus was not a sign of their exclusivity, but rather their inclusivity. In their suffering, they embodied the finite and vulnerable condition of all humanity. They experienced what the whole tribe of the human beings has experienced at one time or another throughout history: the struggle of life, the pain of oppression, and the fear of the unknown. Their long walk was the walk of every person who has known what it means to be alone and afraid. But they walked with courage and dignity because they had the hope of the Spirit within them.
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I prayerfully deepen down into thoughts of my friend. “It’s been a trying morning, so reading this gave me hope.” We are all included in the whole tribe of the human beings. When it is our own turn to wake up into a trying morning (facing the struggle of life, the pain of oppression, the fear of the unknown, being vulnerable, alone, afraid), may God’s Spirit give us hope.
There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit! (Romans 5:4-5, MSG).
The hope of the Holy Spirit coaxes us forward, “There’s more to come.” Deeply connected to the whole of humanity, we walk our long walk with courage and dignity. May we live each day, morning through night, with alert expectancy for whatever God will do next.
…Sue…
