Monday Morning Musing: Give Her Credit

It's Election Day Eve and we are arguably as anxious a people as we've been in a while. I've been pondering how it is that we are more anxious than we were in 2016 (I was so naive that day!) or even 2020, and of course, it's because we are faced with the devil we know. I don't say this lightly. Remarkably, it also seems that the devil we know has become more extreme in promise and policy than ever before and more willing to say so.

So we carry every single thing that is at stake in our hearts. For those of us who have had to fight for equal rights, this is personal. For those of us who have daughters and granddaughters, this is personal. For those of us who love people who are queer, this is personal. Hell, for those of us who don't want to live in a dystopian world, this is personal.

When I woke up this morning to a blustery world, it felt exactly right. Maybe you know what I mean.

The conversations I've been having of late are not only about what happens if the bad guys win, again, but whether or not we have the energy to keep fighting. Many people have plans, some quite detailed, to move away. Others know that they will "stay and fight", which seems like a terrible, but necessary option.

When I was a Senior in college, my capstone project for my Communications degree was to design an advertising and public relations campaign with and for a local non-profit who was pushing the banks in our college town to abide by the relatively new laws giving women equal access to credit. This was in 1980, not 1950. Yes, women could not open a bank account or take out a loan without their husband or father or brother co-signing for them. Technically, the banks were supposed to allow bank accounts in the sixties, but they always put a series of roadblocks in their way. In 1974, just fifty years ago, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act passed, giving women equal financial rights to men. Of course, there were still all sorts of ways financial institutions could get around this and they did. Or at least they tried.

My project was simple. It was called "Give Her Credit" and of course, there was a double meaning. Yes, give women the same access to financial credit as men, as required now by law. And. Give her credit for how far she has come and how much she has accomplished and how much she is aspiring to. Give Her Credit.

My professor and advisor loved my work. She was a gruff, intimidating woman. When we sat down in her office to talk about my project, I was surprised that she also offered encouragement to me: to forge my own path, to trust my own talents and skills....in short, to give myself credit. I've never forgotten sitting in that small academic office, full of books and projects and listening to her encourage me to persist in a world that would try to hold me back every step of the way.

This is also part of what I work toward in my own vocation and in my personal life. To encourage other women to believe in themselves. To help young girls recognize and embrace the potential they hold. (See photo below).

So, dear ones, on this Election Eve, I am working hard to give credit to the women in our country. I know that some of the men are our allies. I know this. I am married to one and raised two of them. But for this day, I'm remembering how far we've come. My breath prayer is We Are Not Going Back. I'm praying through the strong female saints, including that professor, and maybe including you. I'm giving credit where it is due. To the women. Who have continued to put the future ahead of the fleeting comfort of the present. Who have continued to find a way for the playing field to level.

They never gave up. And neither will we.

In my sermon yesterday, I offered this word of hope. I told these people I serve to carry it with them, literally if they needed to. To write it on a note card or a scrap of paper or on their hearts. The love of God, in Christ, is bigger than our greatest fears.

If you are feeling afraid or uncertain today, know that as big as that fear seems, God's love for us is bigger. And it is that love that compels us, that moves us, that equips and empowers us, to work for the good of all people and all of Creation. That work will still exist on Wednesday (or whenever....) regardless of the outcome of this election. That work is our truest calling as Jesus followers. That work is our truest calling as global citizens.

Last week I made this offer and it stands today. Do not despair. And if you feel overwhelmed by it all, call someone. Call me. Or email. We are in this together and that is still how we'll move forward, regardless of what tomorrow brings.

Yesterday, this young girl approached me for a one on one conversation,

which I'd not had with her before. This felt important. She talked to me

about how she was trying to make the swim team, but was struggling.

Oh sure, she could tread water, she said, but to get anywhere in the water

was hard. I told her that every time she tried she was learning something new

about what it would take and about herself. And that, like anything, with persistence and practice she'd be moving in that water soon. And it felt like such a HOLY space.

(Also, my Beloved's ability to recognize these moments and capture them

is such a gift.)