Scripture
Pray
Father-Mother God, I know that You are always here, always working, always molding, and always guiding. Even when I feel alone, I know that you are here.
Today I simply pray for righting of wrongs. I pray that You help us to make right the grievances that we have created against each other, and especially against those who don’t have the finances that provide greater options. I’m not asking You to correct the wrongs. I’m asking You to align us to correct our wrongs. Let us see and feel the error of our ways, and then see and take up the tools to fix these errors.
I humbly pray to You today as your loving servant, flawed except in Your eyes. Amen.
Reflection
Some people negatively fixate on the super wealthy as the creators of our worldly pains and issues. But the “crabs in a barrel” and the “move out of the hood” mind sets have also plagued our families and communities. How are any of these groups truly different?
We would rather hold on to our full dollar when we only need 75 cents, than spare a quarter to someone who needs 50 cents.
Our self-absorption, even at the bottom of the barrel, means that we will stand on the backs and heads of others to elevate ourselves, rather than creating a human ladder or pulley system that lifts all of us out of the barrel. We’re always fearful of being left behind by the first crab who exits, and we’re terrified to be the last crab at the bottom. So we viciously attack, climb over, and do whatever it takes to get out and never look back. We end up acting like the first crab we feared.
Socioeconomic and racial tensions (primarily caused by socioeconomic conditions) are boiling as we enter the summer season. The heat clouds our thinking as we exist in what feels and looks like stagnation. We want someone to blame, so we childishly point the finger at others. We need to accept the fact, the truth, God’s Truth–that we’re all to blame for what’s happening in the world today. The only innocents are the babies and children, and those individuals born with mental challenges that restrict their active involvement in their or our destruction.
The rich person in their greediness is no more guilty than the poor person in their greediness. Neither are sharing God’s gifts. The careless spending by the wealthy is equally appalling as the careless spending by the impoverished. Both are arrogantly wasting God’s blessings.
The wealthy person passing by not willing to help the homeless person asking for food, water, or shelter, is equally at fault with the poor person who doesn’t tell (or take) the homeless person to a source (that they have also used or heard of) that provides food, water, or shelter—or worse, they don’t stop to share a portion of their own.
The poor person blames the wealthy person for being far-removed, yet the poor person ignorantly feels content in not opening up and giving what God touches their heart to give–because the poor person hasn’t yet learned how to properly sow. Our unwillingness to give freely is equally sinful, no matter what your financial status declares.
Why complain that all you have is bread and water, but then choose to watch your bread go stale rather than sharing some of it with someone else in your same situation or worse off than you?
Why complain about one source of violence in your community, but not stand outraged by all types of violence in your community? If your neighbor is murdered by another neighbor, your outrage should be heard as much or even louder than your screams over the murder of a neighbor by an outsider (or the murder of and by outsiders).
Is the raping, beating, and theft of your neighbors not reason to stand for justice? Are people who look just like each other, hurting and killing each other, not a reason to stand up and say, “no more” and mean it? Why are we only outraged when the perpetrator doesn’t look like their victim?
We are all God’s children and we waste more of our precious time finding ways to remain divided (and creating a broader space), than we embrace ways to come together to reflect His Truth. When will we stop frolicking in wickedness and instead turn to the Light?
Questions of the Day
1. What do you think of today’s message?
2. What would you like to add to today’s prayer or reflection?
Feel free to share your answers, prayers, comments, and reflections in the comment section below. You can also send me an email at: breakingbreadwithnatasha@gmail.com
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Love always,
Natasha
Copyright 2013-2014. Natasha Foreman Bryant. Some Rights Reserved. All Prayers and Reflections are Copyright Protected by Natasha Foreman Bryant, unless otherwise noted. Prior posts from 2009-2013 are copyrighted under the name Natasha L. Foreman. breakingbreadwithnatasha.com
Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible,
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission.(www.Lockman.org)
Scripture taken from the Common English Bible®, CEB® Copyright © 2010, 2011 by Common English Bible.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. The “CEB” and “Common English Bible” trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Common English Bible. Use of either trademark requires the permission of Common English Bible.
Scripture quotations marked HCSB are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.
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