The First Step Is To Consider

Today marks the start to a new week, a new day, a new opportunity. As a new week begins and the news stories begin to shift to the "next breaking" thing, we can be tempted to move on from the events of last week and the weekend. We can be tempted to stop the conversation, end the dialogue about the issues of race in America, but this can't happen . If we do that, we become reactionary and not pro-active. In order to truly make a difference, to really begin to see change, we have to move from reacting to tragedy to seeking out change and making sure that type of tragedy isn't commonplace. I want to continue the conversation. I can't explain what it's like to be black in America. I can only write from the perspective of a white mother raising two sons, one white, one black.
I'm going to ask a few things of you today and this week. They won't require you to do anything really other than reflect, think, consider, and maybe ask a few questions.

I'm asking you to consider the world you live in today. Not the big world, but the little world that is your community. Just take stock of it. Take a look around, maybe pause and reflect upon what it looks like and who it involves.
What is your job like? Are there people of color there? Who are your supervisors?
Who are your friends? When you go to church what does it look like? Are there people of color in your church? Are there people of color in leadership at your church? Have you ever had a person of color in a supervisor role over you?
Who is your child's ball, cheerleading, gymnastics coach? Who are your child's teachers? Are there people of color with whom your children interact? What does your world look like? That's all I'm asking you to consider this week.
Not because I want to point out that you're racist or a segregationist. Not at all, please trust my heart. I'm asking you this because I wonder if you do this, if you'll discover the same thing that I did about my own world...it's very vanilla and America is still really segregated, not legally, but socially, personally. I know that when I began to consider my own answers to these questions, I realized just how segregated we are. I don't think there is an easy fix necessarily; it will require time and constant effort, but for today, I just ask you to consider your own world. The first step of considering your own life will maybe help in realizing that we really do have a problem in America. We really aren't as integrated as we like to think we are. We really aren't as unified as we'd like to think we are. Maybe you'll be like me and you'll begin to ask "Why?" things are the way they are and perhaps this will lead to a desire to understand and hopefully to more conversations that lead to action.

Let us start this week considering...and praying for God to facilitate change in our hearts and lives.