Soul
Restoration
“What
kills a soul? Exhaustion, secret keeping, image management.
What
brings a soul back from the dead? Honesty, connection, grace.”
Shauna
Niequist
Looking
around these days, it doesn’t take much to imagine that the zombie apocalypse has
already come. People look and feel worn out, hollow-eyed, and soul dead. The
accumulation of pandemic consequences is finally catching up with us—hospitals can’t
hire enough doctors and nurses to fill vacancies, classrooms are going
teacherless, children’s achievement scores have fallen significantly, housing
is out of reach for most people, and forget buying a car. The sticker price
even on used cars is outrageous. Most of us who are optimistic by nature are
looking forward and seeing more of the same. Even though unemployment is
incredibly low, we're not feeling positive. We’re exhausted—physically and
mentally, and every other way.
Some of
that is because we have tried so hard to maintain an image of ourselves as the
greatest and the smartest and the best. Americans have always worn rose colored
glasses; we’ve told ourselves so many lies that the truth is almost
non-existent. Even now, we are trying to keep our history under wraps by controlling
curricula, banning books, passing laws to control women and people of color. We
deny racial discrimination exists or ever has existed, but in the capital city
of Mississippi, which is 80% black and brown, there has been no safe drinking
water for a week. Just yesterday it was reported that the state government of
Mississippi spent a big chunk of its CARES Act money for a new sports
facility at Old Miss. In Birmingham, the water works board is so corrupt that
two executives are indited for fraud and the entire board is being sued for allotting
contracts on a pay-to-play basis. Their performance has created such chaos that
citizens are receiving bills for hundreds of dollars, or no bill at all and
then being charged for non-payment.
These
examples are small potatoes in the great scheme of things except for the people
who are suffering as a result. But they are emblematic of the problem we face
when we fight among ourselves over meaningless stuff instead of being realistic
about the situation we are in and pulling together to find solutions. We are
exhausted because this sort of problem is going on in every arena of life, and
not just one. While we’re busy fighting each other, America’s future workforce is
dropping further behind, our climate is continuing to heat up, and we have
daily violence in the streets. Let’s be honest. We’re in big trouble.
No wonder
we’re tired. We’re trying to roll a huge and heavy stone up a mountain of
denial. We think that if we’re waving flags and shouting USA, we’re living the
dream. But the zombies are us. The only way to restore reality is through
honesty, by humbly connecting with one another, and begging for God’s grace and
forgiveness. And, please, while you're on your knees, pray for leaders who have not yet sold their souls.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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