in each new day, i commit to
be loving to the people i encounter.
at times it is not easy, to be encouraging.
to feel encouraged.

it feels like hate is winning.
when we see this administration meet a ragtag group
of immigrants at our borders with guns.
or defy the constitution.
when the hatred murders people praying in a house of worship
or sends bombs to anyone who dares criticize the leader,
it feels like hate is wining.
and i don’t know what i can do.
but i remember 9/11
i could not rebuild the towers or catch the fallen,
but i could make my own little corner of the world
better.
i could greet my neighbors and smile and nod at people who looked different.
who worshiped in a way different than me.
i could hold the hand of a child.
i could stand up for human rights:
the right to worship
to grow
to seek asylum and shelter
to not be bullied.
it feels like the social norms of the presidency are thrown away
and hate is winning.
i still cannot believe it.
two years ago, i woke,
insecure, frightened, sickened by the results of that last election.
i promised my daughters i would not stop fighting for justice
i still think of Martin Luther King
and Dorothy Day
and Eleanor Roosevelt
and Sojourner Truth
and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
and I will not stop fighting their battles
and there are more who walk among us:
the leaders of BLM, the ACLU, the Parkland youth,
my own Rutgers Church, and Shannon Watts and Moms Demand Action,
and yes, HRC and Maxine Waters,
and John Lewis.
and just this weekend when I heard Andy Hamilton of NYU speak to alumni,
I swear I cried, it was not something extraordinary that he said,
but it was the affirmation of a global education,
and a commitment to people in all their beautiful stories, histories, futures,
to hear a leader I admired, embrace and not condemn.
there are many school headmasters and college presidents
taking up the slack of leadership.

we must not stop fighting for international sister and brotherhood and siblinghood,

We are part of the same human family.
We are greater than hate.
Everyday, I seek to make a small dent in the world of hate,
to turn the world off the axis of hate and on to the axis of love.
sometimes I want to give in and spew hatred too —
hatred for the haters — for those who take away rights or render people invisible–
but my humanity will not let me. and as a follower of Jesus and the Red Letter Bible,
I am compelled to stand up for the poor
the peacemakers
the marginalized
the people of many faiths and no faith.
all i can do is
do justice
love mercy
and walk humbly with God.
it is all and it is enough.

choose love.

This was my morning prayer.