Sunday Musings – April 12, 2020
Miracles
For Christians this is the day set aside to celebrate many believe is the literal fact of a resurrected Jesus. For other Christians Easter is a reminder that every day we have yet another opportunity to claim the miracles of the best of who we are. For Jewish people the miracle is being led out of Egypt by Moses following the miracle of being passed over when the plagues visited Egypt. For still others it is a new normal day since Covid-19 has taken over. As sad and frightening as the pandemic can be, history tells us that eventually life does return to normal and we humans go on living as if we are in control of our destiny. .
This morning I talked on the phone with a young man who is celebrating his 39th birthday and the second anniversary of his release from the tyranny of active addiction to drugs, dangerous relationships and the belief that he had to run away from himself. He had been living in a public housing unit which was often visited by bedbugs and where fear ruled the hallways. He parked his car at the home of his mother so that it was less likely one of his addicted sexual partners would slash his tires. He was working at a job he hated and which paid him barely enough to live although, truth be told, no salary would be been enough to support his addiction and all the expenses associated with that disease. Today he is living in a house, will soon return to a job for which he is well compensated and is in the process of claiming a healthy relationship with self and others. He has truly been led out/is being led out of his personal land of tyranny. Today this loving man which was hidden by the addiction has risen from the depths of the hell and along with all the ancestors he carries within every cell in is body is focused on his own recovery and helping others.
There are many tombs with seemingly rocks too large to move blocking the entrance. There are many lands where poverty, violence and other dangers keep people imprisoned. Slavery, sexism, discrimination, and other forms of deadly oppression imprison much of the population. Here in the United States, not only addiction to alcohol and other drugs, but addiction to power and a grossly unequal distribution of essential resources keep people trapped and waiting for a miracle.
All too often we look at the rock and decide there is no hope for resurrection. All too often we buy the lies of the oppressors and silently wait to be released by them who himself or herself are trapped in their own addiction to power and the illusion that they are immune from the pandemics. All too often we wait for someone else to assume the cloak of Mosses or to discover the cure for the latest virus. All too often we wait for the pain of addiction to leave before reclaiming our lives. All too often we order the rock for the tomb as we suffocate in the misery of anger and resentments. All too often we hide in the tomb while the rock of fear paralyzes us.
We have the miracles within us. We have the voice to cry out and demand justice. We have the power to vote out the oppressor. We have the power, for today, to social distance and to support those who will find a vaccine or an effective treatment. We have the power to roll away the rock from the tomb – to be our brothers and sisters keepers. We have the power to tear down the wall and find a way to be whole people, whole nations and a whole connected universe.
Today we will claim the miracles which are awaiting the courage to say, “We shall overcome. Together we shall overcome.”
Written April 12 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
Miracles
For Christians this is the day set aside to celebrate many believe is the literal fact of a resurrected Jesus. For other Christians Easter is a reminder that every day we have yet another opportunity to claim the miracles of the best of who we are. For Jewish people the miracle is being led out of Egypt by Moses following the miracle of being passed over when the plagues visited Egypt. For still others it is a new normal day since Covid-19 has taken over. As sad and frightening as the pandemic can be, history tells us that eventually life does return to normal and we humans go on living as if we are in control of our destiny. .
This morning I talked on the phone with a young man who is celebrating his 39th birthday and the second anniversary of his release from the tyranny of active addiction to drugs, dangerous relationships and the belief that he had to run away from himself. He had been living in a public housing unit which was often visited by bedbugs and where fear ruled the hallways. He parked his car at the home of his mother so that it was less likely one of his addicted sexual partners would slash his tires. He was working at a job he hated and which paid him barely enough to live although, truth be told, no salary would be been enough to support his addiction and all the expenses associated with that disease. Today he is living in a house, will soon return to a job for which he is well compensated and is in the process of claiming a healthy relationship with self and others. He has truly been led out/is being led out of his personal land of tyranny. Today this loving man which was hidden by the addiction has risen from the depths of the hell and along with all the ancestors he carries within every cell in is body is focused on his own recovery and helping others.
There are many tombs with seemingly rocks too large to move blocking the entrance. There are many lands where poverty, violence and other dangers keep people imprisoned. Slavery, sexism, discrimination, and other forms of deadly oppression imprison much of the population. Here in the United States, not only addiction to alcohol and other drugs, but addiction to power and a grossly unequal distribution of essential resources keep people trapped and waiting for a miracle.
All too often we look at the rock and decide there is no hope for resurrection. All too often we buy the lies of the oppressors and silently wait to be released by them who himself or herself are trapped in their own addiction to power and the illusion that they are immune from the pandemics. All too often we wait for someone else to assume the cloak of Mosses or to discover the cure for the latest virus. All too often we wait for the pain of addiction to leave before reclaiming our lives. All too often we order the rock for the tomb as we suffocate in the misery of anger and resentments. All too often we hide in the tomb while the rock of fear paralyzes us.
We have the miracles within us. We have the voice to cry out and demand justice. We have the power to vote out the oppressor. We have the power, for today, to social distance and to support those who will find a vaccine or an effective treatment. We have the power to roll away the rock from the tomb – to be our brothers and sisters keepers. We have the power to tear down the wall and find a way to be whole people, whole nations and a whole connected universe.
Today we will claim the miracles which are awaiting the courage to say, “We shall overcome. Together we shall overcome.”
Written April 12 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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