Greensboro Sit-In, Love, and Reaching Out

Greensboro Sit-in and Love and Reaching out of Ourselves

 “Love is stronger than fear. No matter how many walls fear may build around us, warning us to be afraid of the person standing next to us, urging us to withdraw into deeper and deeper bunkers of conformity, claiming our only strength is in power, love will subvert it, to remind us that beneath the uniforms we all look the same, feel the same, cry and laugh the same. Love calls us to find a way to listen, learn, and live. Every faith has its share of fanatics, but they are only as influential as we allow them to be. Love is our common ground. Love is the will of the many to overcome the fear of the few.”—Steven Charleston’s Facebook Page.

 February 2020 seems so long ago. It was a time of naivety, when most could not believe or imagine this pandemic was coming to our country. How bewildering that we would think we could keep an infection so contagious away from this land. Did we not realize that we are a global society?

  I also remember seeing a Google image that month reminding us that sixty-three years ago, on February 1, 1960, four African American students from a local college in Greensboro, North Carolina, began a nonviolent sit-in at “whites only” Woolworths Department Store’s lunch counter. Before long, students from local colleges joined them, including the university I soon attended. The sit-ins spread all over the country. Finally, in July, Woolworths allowed blacks to eat at their counter after suffering a substantial financial loss to all their stores when the students boycotted them. The Woolworths Store in Greensboro is now the International Civil Rights Center and Museum.

I write about this momentous civil rights movement because it started just before I went to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, considered one of the best public colleges for women. I vaguely remember reading about the sit-in in our local paper, but I was oblivious to the civil rights movement at the time. My only concern was going to college. Is this disturbance going to keep me from going to college? During that time, I never participated in any movement for the rights of others. The four thousand women at my college only rioted when the drink machines were removed from the dorms on campus, but I did not even participate in that.

I am embarrassed that today I had to look up the sit-in on Wikipedia. This morning, I wonder how aware I am today of the suffering and loss of fundamental rights for others, even in my state, much less the world. I think I am more aware, but this event in my life sixty years ago reminds me how easy it is to be so wrapped up in my world and not see, be aware, or do something about the loss of rights and suffering of others who are different: African Americans, Native Americans, Muslims, Hispanics, immigrants in our country and at our borders. So, I will keep this in my prayers today and pray for awareness to look outside my life and reach out to the suffering of others in my city, my country, and the world.

Even if we missed opportunities to serve the underserved before the previous pandemic, there is still time. Today, I realize the pandemic was much more severe in their lives than ours. Voices from the past call us to speak up, stand up, or even sit down for our brothers and sisters.

Merton and Prayer and Love

Merton and Prayer and Love

“If my prayer is centered in myself, if it seeks only an enrichment of my own self, my prayer itself will be my greatest potential distraction..”—Thomas Merton in Thoughts in Solitude.

Thomas Merton reminds us what our prayer life becomes when our prayers center on ourselves, our own desires, needs, and knowledge. Merton calls this kind of life a distraction that keeps us from the truth, a diversion, a disturbance of the mind, a hindrance.

We think we are doing everything right, but in essence, we are back where we started, with our world centered on ourselves rather than God.

We may think God is our co-pilot, but we are the pilot. This is because we have such good ideas.

God is there to ensure that our ideas and prayers are answered.

I think about all the prayers I prayed that went unanswered and learned would have been a disaster, the boyfriends who never gave me the time of day I would have sold my soul for. But, I also well remember the prayers that were answered that became harmful, the jobs I thought I had to have, and the co-workers I just knew would be perfect.

As friends in recovery say, “Our best thinking got us here.”

When we do not say to God, “Your will be done,” his answer to us may sometimes be, “Your will be done.”

Merton calls us to the prayer life of surrender, turning our prayers, our life, and our wills over to God, “thy will be done.”

This prayer life also calls for acceptance, forgiveness, gratitude, and most of all, love, knowing that we are loved and, in turn, offering that love to others.

Today, January 31st, is Merton’s birthday. He was born in 1915 in Prades, France, to an American mother and a father from New Zealand, both artists. His mother died when he was five, and his father died ten years later.

We honor Merton on his birthday by remembering and sharing one of the many things he taught us. I hope to do the same during this new year for so many others who shared their life with us.

Francis and Gandhi on living and dying

St. Francis: Hoeing, Gandhi: Dying

“Saint Francis, hoeing his garden, was asked what he would do if he knew the world would end tomorrow. ‘Continue hoeing my garden,’ said the saint.”—Suzanne Guthrie, Synthesis Today, Quote for June 15, 2018, attributed to St. Francis.

writing desk

I have often heard this phrase attributed to St. Francis and wondered what I would do if I knew I was about to die.

I have made writing every day a discipline for several years. But would I keep writing? Writing has become one of my best spiritual practices. As I look outside at trees, birds, and sky from the floor-to-ceiling window in my office, and my fingers hit the keyboard, I feel the peace that I hope is God’s presence.

My sacred space at home is in front of a large window at my desk in my office, which once was our daughter’s room when she was growing up. There, I write and am surrounded by family pictures, icons, and remembrances of days of joy. I would ask for prayers for the good pray-ers I know, especially the women in the Daughters of the King. I would also pray at other sacred spaces if I could visit them.

 I certainly would spend as much time as possible on my last days with my family. I might entice my grandchildren to watch a movie with me, and then secretly watch them. I would want to be with my husband as much as possible. I would like my family and friends to know how much I loved them through my actions and words. I would like to have a meal with my family and friends. I would look at old pictures to keep memories with me.

Of course, if everyone else knew the world was ending, seeing how our paths might cross would be interesting!

So, what does all this mean?

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever,” is attributed to Mahatma Gandhi.

I try to carry these quotes by Gandhi and St. Francis with me each day and share them with spiritual friends. The quotes are an excellent daily benchmark to know if we are doing the practices that bring us closer to God.
Gandhi’s quote is a paradox, an anchor metaphor for our life, a constant ambiguous paradox.

Each day, I try to spend more time meditating on quotes from authors like these, who help me realize my best connections to God, my true self, my neighbors, family, and friends.
Of course, often, the connections lead me to other places, and I pray to stay open to these new adventures.

Joanna https://www.joannaseibert.com/