Dear Warrior,
I have been this close to death and decay before. More times than I care to admit. Each time, the world would feel like the apocalypse. Little fires erupting everywhere. Panic clutching my chest. Resources disintegrating at my touch.
I would run north only to be met with smoke and sulfur. No drinking gourds, railroads or freedom. The doctors would run tests. The preacher would pray. The neighbor would smile and whisper “what a beautiful day.” Yet none of these, would change the coursing blood in my veins. The anger in my nostrils. The brittle fear in my bones. None of it would give me peace or mindfulness.
“Just wait,” they would say. “Have faith,” they would continue. Not understanding just how much the world as I knew it was ending. That my body’s proximity to danger and destruction made it difficult to ingest their words. This is when I learned the truth about faith & the apocalypse.
This faith is not meek, silent or calm. It is an aching roar. It is a woman giving birth to nations. It is angel-like soldiers at war. Systems breaking. People dying. Loneliness. Vulnerability and heartache. The purge and truth rising.
I believe that the faith of apocalyptic-like times is not built on the future. Rather it’s built on the past. Reflections of all the moments you survived. All the moments you chose life. You endured. You grew against all odds.
Such memories fortify the DNA. Activates synapses so the mind and body can function in agony.
The truth is, in this time of mayhem. Pandemic. Insecurity. Having hope for a future we can’t see is difficult. And often, impractical. Yet, we can stand ground on the taste of previous triumph. When ancestors shed blood. Fought hard. And organized. When we took a breath and step for mankind that led us into a new day.
That same spirit will bring us through. “For WE the RESILIENT have been here before” (Amplifier).
Dare to Remember,
Carolyne