GRATITUDE JOURNAL for Sunday

I am thankful for:

Doctors, surgeons, nurses and all the ones that work to care for the sick.

Music, how it soothes the soul and opens our minds.

The arts…poets, composers, artists, authors for without these folks we would be dull.

History
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I love history and always have. It began as a child when I heard my great Aunts, the
Aunties talk about where we came from and all those folks we were related to and how.
First cousins, aunt and Uncles I understood but this business of cousins twice removed
Make me scratch my head! I loved to go to the Witness Tree in Donegal Township
Close to Mount Joy. I could close my eyes and see what happened there. I was awed
At the Capitol and White House. And cried the first time I saw the Lincoln Memorial.
When we went to Boston the “old North Church” and the poem “Paul Revere’s Ride
Became so alive to me. I love that poem! I have read more about history than most
People I guess and some evenings I spent just going to a site of a country and read
their history. I have read the Mennonite History from men long gone and from new authors
like Donald Kraybill and Louise Stoltzfus who wrote a book about Amish women.

I remember the struggle of the black Americans. We went to Hamilton Street in Harrisburg,
Pa. in the middle of the time of riots and hate. I saw hate in faces on the streets and I could
Not understand at all. I was brought up with the belief that none of us our better that another
And the color of our skin was not a factor. I saw my mom and dad visit many a person in
The projects of Harrisburg and often I stayed with a wonderful African American woman
That opened my eyes to Mahalia Jackson and Ethel Walters on her old record player.
She told me stories about slaves and the Underground Railroad that had been passed down
to her. I was young but I really heard her and took the feelings of her and her family to heart.
I knew that much change would have to come to our country for we all are created equal. My dad
Was a wonderful example of this to me…he brought many a young person from Harrisburg to
our home and farm. Elizabethtown at that time was void of African Americans (many stories
went around as to why and I still am not sure). Dad was asked questions but he stayed firm all
were welcome at our home.

I did a school paper on James Meridith, on the book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin, One on Harriet
Tubman, George Washington Carver, and memorized the poem “The Creation” by
James Weldon Johnson and read anything I could find about Lincoln. Little did I know
I would move to Florida and see for myself what segregation was all about. I cried
When a boy from the youth group told me a Black was not a human at all. Than a year
After that he had to come and tell me that in college after an African American saved his life,
That he saw what I said was true. They are indeed human.

I still have a want to read about recent African American’s. Martin Luther King is a man I
Really respect and living in Atlanta for several years I really became aware of what all he really
did for all people. I love to read Maya Angelou and listen to her. My favorite artist is Robert Butler,and
I learned so much from him on the race issue. He does not meet prejudice because he does not
Accept it. I had to really listen to him to learn that my prejudice against those who are prejudice
Is indeed prejudice in itself. Think about that. He helped me see I can never change a persons mind if I
Meet him in the frame of mind I had…no patience for those that form opinions on the color of skin.

I am excited about the election of the first African American. I have watched this election with great
Respect for our President Elect. I may not agree with him on some important issues but I respect him
as a man. I see history in the making. So this is about a change and not politics. I hurt when I see folks
not even giving him a chance or not teaching their children they are living in a America that the slaves and
many after him never thought would come. From the time many were not allowed in a certain college or sit
on a seat in the bus, or enter through a front door of a home of a white person, or vote,or not able eat in a dinning
room or use a restroom or drink from a fountain labeled “White”. This is about the change in many a heart tin the US.
It is about pastors opening the doors to all races, it is about folks in the South allowing a person
Of color walk into their front doors knowing the KKK may burn a cross in their yard. That took character and strong
belief that all of us are indeed created equal. I know people who took these chances and changed their
corner of the world. I respect these folks. I love these folks and am glad to call many of them my friends.

May I challenge many of you to put aside who you voted for and embrace the history that is being made. Some say our
President Elect is an Idol of sorts but I say to you all that many of us do not view him like that…we look into the pages
Of history in America and we say “Thank you God for answering our prayers. We see a positive step in the accepting of’
all people and we thank you for working in the hearts of all the people that had deep prejudice and helping them see you indeed made all of us equal.”

My prayer is that we see America keep on accepting all people not looking at the color of people’s skin but
Rejoicing that our Heaven Father made us all. So I will celebrate the history of this election and the 2009 Inauguration
of this President and what it means to our country and the world. But know I will always pray for Him as the Bible tells us to.
Nowhere does it tell us to pray only for whom we voted for but for the leaders of our land. I will pray for his
Safety for I know there are those out there that did not want to see this change and are full of hate. I will pray forThem too because with hate in our heart we cannot be joyful as the Lord directs us to be. I am filled with Joy!