It’s the Morning After, Fam. Now What?!
“After the election, America needs a President who can pastor and bring healing to our deeply divided nation,” said one Good Morning America pundit. Wishful thinking, Yes?!
Good news:
America already has pastors and leaders and people of faith who understand the arduous and delicate task of bridging gaps, repairing breaches, and creating safe spaces where people can heal. If ever there is a time of need, this is it! Rise up! We can’t afford to wait on a President. Let all of us (leaders and everyone else) roll up our collective sleeves to begin the ministry of healing and reconciliation since we’ve been called to restore relationships (2 COR 5:18). What does that look like on the morning after?
1) LISTEN
Listen and allow your circle to process their legitimate concerns about where our country is headed. Don’t attempt to school anyone on why you think they’re wrong. Listen. Connect on a human level, and acknowledge that we have all just lived through a stress-filled season that has caused many trauma, anxiety and emotional whiplash.
2) PROMOTE PEACE
Speak peace, comfort and assurance to all who are genuinely terrified and filled with dread from the election results. Fear and hate proved to be very strong motivators during our election season. Fear had a hay-day. But now, let perfect love drive out fear. Wherever we hear fear, let’s acknowledge the legitimate feeling and then make a concerted effort to demonstrate love and facilitate peace.
3) ENCOURAGE FORGIVENESS
Pray and intercede that we can all forgive the numerous offenses that we have experienced in this election cycle. Let’s pray that folks will repent of all harm they’ve caused so that reconciliation is truly possible. Let’s stand in the gap where we can and sow seeds toward the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control).
4) INSPIRE HOPE
We don’t know what the next few days, weeks, and months will hold, but we do know that we are not helpless or hopeless. We have faith that can move mountains. We have light that can burst through clouds.
Those of us who know God: let’s choose faith. Let’s choose to believe God is able to walk with us and sustain us through whatever we will face in the coming days. He kept our great-great-grandparents, great-grandparents, grandparents and parents through America’s most tumultuous times. He can keep us and our children too. Let’s place our faith in Him, not man.
SPECIAL NOTE:
Artists, we need your prophetic voices and creativity now more than ever. Produce brilliant works that reflect the best of who we are. Bring forth artistic truth that is healing to our nation and the nations. Seek the sound of heaven and blast it into the earth. We need you.
Take a deep breath, Family.
It’s the morning after. This will yield to day, then evening, then night, and guess what? Another morning. We are not shaken or deterred. We will keep moving forward.
Lots of love from the LaLa,
Dr. Naima Lett
The Hollywood Christian®
Author of coming release Confessions of a Hollywood Christian®
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