Friday, March 18, 2011

Willing to Take a Stand

At a revival service this week, the musicians sang "In God We Still Trust". A patriotic song by Diamond Rio. At the end of the song, one of the singers began reciting The Pledge of Allegiance. I anxiously looked around for a flag, but it wasn't in the sanctuary that night. I knew I should stand, felt compelled to stand, but I continued to sit. So did everyone else. Until one older lady slowly stood to her feet with her head up and her back straight, all by herself. All around her others began to stand until by the end of the song everyone was on their feet.

I was ashamed. Ashamed that though I thought I should stand, I didn't. Ashamed that I cared what other people might think or say about me if I stood up. Ashamed that I wasn't willing to take a stand, by myself.

I was also heartened. Heartened that this one woman made a difference. Heartened that her actions spurred a room full of people to do what they felt they should.

My thoughts are not about patriotism or standing for the pledge. They're about me. They're about who I don't want to be. More importantly, they're about who I do want to be and what I want to accomplish. I don't want to sit in my seat waiting for someone else to make a way. I don't want to wait for someone else to blaze my trail. I want to be brave even when I'm afraid. I want to lead others to walk in the footsteps of Jesus.

3 comments:

Connecting to the soul said...

Amen Sister. With Jesus as our example we can!

Amy said...

Deanna,
I'm so touched by your comment telling me about your visit to Mrs. Lillian. What a gift to both of you! Thank you for sharing.

Blessings,
Amy

Amy said...

Deanna,

Thank you for your post. I had a very similar thing happen at a concert recently, but I didn't make the jump to apply it to the rest of my life. I needed to read your words today!

Amy