Once, I stood amid a crowd of people fighting for a cause—a broad, urgent need that was the main root of a whole network of thought and opinion, all growing inspiration for the same hope in change.
Yet, a tiny voice inside me urged, take care to not stray past north. And my north, my faith, doesn’t fit perfectly in the reactions of thought and opinion that grows from that fierce, passionate calling.
I could see some entanglements with weeds that could choke out the light. The bitterness, for one, coursing through the outcries of others, shook my internal compass
And a tiny voice said:
“Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.”
Those guttural reactions were not for me, although I confess, I am not innocent from such behavior.
But in that moment, I knew, God is everywhere, and I was certain that He could handle the weeds. And I didn’t betray my calling by mirroring the unbecoming reactions, and I continued on in solidarity because I knew what was right and important.
As I look back on my participation that day, I realize that the deeper cause calling me was the greatest commandment of all—to love God and love others.
Christ’s example demands me to put people first, beyond principalities and social leanings. In spite of these flawed constructs and the naysayers.
And my faith is my guide in every encounter, and it tells me that love is above all of it.
So…
If I have the faith to move mountains and do not love, I am nothing. If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.”
And if I walk away from fighting for the least of us because of misconceptions, loose tongues, and human judgment, then I just can’t bear to think of the bitterness that will grow inside me.
angie dicken 