We Do Not Lose Heart “We do not lose heart, though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.” – 2 Corinthians 4:16
Losing heart is easy. There is plenty of trouble everywhere. The renewal of our inner strength is not as hard as we imagine. We can continue to care even when we can’t cure. Often when we can’t cure, we stop caring. Instead, we can learn to love what we cannot fix. Sarah Grimke understood. She was a famous abolitionist. She was born to a prominent family in Charleston, SC. Her father was an attorney and judge. She and her younger sister Angelina moved North, and became Quakers. Both sisters became public speakers against slavery. At some point they began to also speak for women’s rights, which caused them to be shunned by other abolitionists.
Lucy Stone, the famous suffragette, understood. She had the chance for a small objective – women’s rights – but decided on a larger objective, supporting the 15th Amendment’s intention to give black men the right to vote. She suffered for this political expansiveness by being shunned by the other women leaders. They thought she was diluting their cause. She had the inner courage for external caring, not curing. Listen as well to Federico Garcia Lorca: “I will always be on the side of those who have nothing and who are not even allowed to enjoy the nothing they have in peace.” Either we are part of the problem or part of the solution. Doing nothing serves only to maintain the status quo. And thus we care, expansively, even when we cannot fix.
Adaptation of devotional by Donna Schaper, Still Speaking
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Carolyn