“But the wisdom from above leads us to be pure, gentle, sensible, friendly, kind, helpful, genuine, and sincere. When peacemakers plant seeds of peace, they will harvest justice.”
– James 3:17-18
I started my day with that beautiful message from the Book of James, sent via text to me by my close friend Aley to encourage me in this hard week. Throughout the day I kept glancing back at the quote to remind me that some of the work that needs to be done most in life, some of the things that need to be said or changed, will have those who don’t want it done, won’t want to hear it said, and will refuse to see things change. My mom always told me that the devil tries to find ways to get to you when you are doing good work. It becomes harder in these moments to find the silver linings, especially when breakthroughs are pushed aside in your thought and it seems more like every silver lining has a cloud. But I keep going back to James’ inspired words. I have to trust that there is a promise, a harvest in store, for those who follow the path they set out on in life. If my vision of what I want for my students to achieve tries to blurred by those who would prevent me from being all the things that wisdom beyond my own calls me to be, then I will have to work even harder to block out the noise. Engagement and anger will not alleviate the situations, only the continued sowing of seeds of peace. I always told my students in Ghana that real peace means finding it within yourself first and letting it flow out, so that no matter what others try to stir up in your life, you have a fount to go back to—the kind that waters a harvest.
Odelia Younge 