Persistence "firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition." Persistence is her name. She stands when it would be more convenient to sit. She sits when others wish she would move. She moves when action is demanded. She speaks because her voice shall not be silenced nor stolen yet again. Persistence is her name. She has birthed nations. She has ended wars. She has toppled empires. She has nursed change. Persistence is her name. Mercy is found in the milk of her breast. Empathy is seen in the tears on her cheek. Justice is felt in the sweat of her brow. Righteousness is coursing in the blood in her veins. Persistence is her name. Difficulty will not stop her. Obstacles will not stand. Opposition will not cause delay. Trouble will not linger. Persistence is her name. Nevertheless, she persisted; for Persistence IS her name. — bshivers
Land acknowledgement: I live on the ancestral lands of the Kickapoo and the Miami. They were forcibly removed from their ancestral lands. This Thanksgiving, I have found myself thinking about what it means for thanksgiving to be an active exercise instead of something akin to a passive counting of blessings. What if my thanksgiving were not just a self serving activity? What if my giving thanks actually led me to something more than keeping a tally of the ways in which I have been #blessed throughout the year? What if it was more than a naming of the results of my privilege and advantage? What if it was more than a list of the same old things that I know I should be thankful for but often take for granted because I can? What would happen if my thanksgiving actually spurred me to action? What would that look like? Perhaps an active thanksgiving would result in a process of discovery of who/what is on my list, of who/what isn't on my list, of who/what is ignored, of who/what I hav
When the history is inconvenient, painful, and difficult to name and acknowledge lean in, listen close, and sit with it for a while. There is so much to learn. Over the last week, my family and I had the opportunity to visit some beautiful outdoor locations in and around Virginia Beach, Virginia. For our Covid vacation, we stayed outside - no indoor eating, no museums, no aquariums, no historic building tours. And frankly, it was amazing. The scenery, the ocean, the flowers, the wildlife all took our breath away numerous times. It was wonderful to bask in their beauty. However, there were also a number of moments at historic sites along the way that gave us pause. Jennifer, Allison, and I have done some verbal processing together and sat in silence as we thought about what we experienced. Personally, I will continue to sit with what I learned and try my hardest to take the necessary time to process it all. But I confess that there has been and continues to be a heaviness in my spirit
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