I dedicate this post to Rev. Joshua Dunham, our former Associate Pastor and Youth Leader. Joshua brought light and understanding to the words of Micah 6:8 in a sermon a few years ago. Since then, I have read it, studied it, and prayed on it. God bless you, Joshua!


These are cool June days.

First thing each morning, our black Bombay kitty, Ignatz aka Iggy, cries to go outside. He doesn’t like being indoors, but he complies with our nightly wishes to stay in. Depending on the weather, he may change his mind.

Today and for the lasts few days the morning air is cool, the sky gray. Occasionally, a beam of light slips between these tall trees, and then it’s gone.

Yes, it’s June. But this is the Pacific NW. The earth is damp from yesterday’s rain. Predictions hold the promise of more. The sunny days of last week were teasing us with summer days.

Our weather is a dreary backdrop to emotions and stresses riding high. News reports still feature the pandemic, plus protests, violence, and criminal activity for too many days now.

If the pandemic weren’t enough, someone believed he had the right to extinguish the life of another. That someone’s inhumanity brought outcries from those whose people have been oppressed and killed for centuries.

Many in our population, because of skin color, ethnicity, religion, gender choice, and more, experience systemic racism. Rights denied, equal treatment refused, injustices of all kinds imposed. Never has it changed.

Society has made inroads, the government has tried, and the people have begged and prayed. But we always seem to manage for a year or two and then cycle back to now.

I sit here this morning seeking guidance as I write out my emotions and thoughts. I need to do something. Yet, we’re continuing our daily lives in quarantine. What can I do?

That still small voice questions. “Child, you ask what can you do? Have you not learned from me?”

The whispers continue. “Look in my Word. Pick a Psalm, a verse, a prayer. Read it, pray on it, live it out. Be constant in doing so. You know I will hear you and honor your response to my World. You will find ways to help make a change.”

So be it, I think. And then it comes to me.

Micah 6:8 (NIV), justice, mercy, humility

 

Featured image attribution: bertvthul from Pixabay