The Freedom of Light

“Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. Don’t participate in the things these people do. For once you were full of darkness, but now you have the light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.” Ephesians 5:6-9

It’s a special weekend. Juneteenth and Father’s Day, back to back. And it’s super special this go around because effective June 18, 2021 Juneteenth became a federally recognized holiday in the United States. Now that may not mean much to some of my readers but for me that HUGE! You see I didn’t grow up knowing about Juneteenth. I learned the summer after I turned 20 when I was in Aurora, Colorado at a Juneteenth festival. It meant everything to my proud, Black girl heart to see my people coming together to celebrate something good that had come from something so horrible. I’ve been recognizing and celebrating it ever since by bringing awareness to it. One of the key things about Juneteenth is deception. The reason for this holiday’s significance is that it marks June 19, 1865: the day the slaves in Galveston, TX were informed about being free… 2 years after the fact. Something I can tell you for certain: being lied to definitely puts stress on your confidence. Can you imagine finding out that for 2 years you hadn’t been living and walking in your true state of freedom? Can you imagine how Inadequate they must have felt not being able to be who they were truly called to be: free men and women? I can hardly imagine but I am thankful that the news finally came and those chains were broken. But what if I told you we’re still breaking those chains today?

Believe it or not there are many who don’t want to acknowledge the horrors of slavery or it’s impact on us today. They deny the existence of racism, systemic or otherwise, and they throw Black Lives Matter into a pit of darkness and accuse it of being too radical and dividing. My dear readers, THAT is another form of Stress on our (Black men, women, and children) Confidence. So my affirmations today, in honor of Juneteenth and the forefather’s we are celebrating just as much as we celebrate our own personal father figures, are for everyone who is feeling a sense of inadequacy based on lies.

Affirmation #1: The truth is bigger than their truth. No matter how much someone may try to excuse their lies or deceit by calling it “their truth” it does not negate the whole truth. Yes we all have our own way of interpreting things or seeing the world but at the end of the day the truth is the truth and no amount of justification is ever going to change that. Don’t make it your mission to make someone believe something they insist on denying, but absolutely live and walk in the truth. And don’t apologize for it.

Affirmation #2: Their truth does NOT define you! At the end of the day, no matter what another tries to feed you or convince you of, when you look in the mirror the face staring back at you belongs to you and that is who you answer to. Come out of the stress that their lies are trying to form around you and live as who you have defined yourself to be. Own that, love that and live that.

And finally, Affirmation #3: You are not darkness, you deserve your light. When you come out of that dark place that has tried to keep you down, you are now part of the light and you deserve to be there. Paul told the Ephesians how to deal with people not willing to let their light shine: “Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. Don’t participate in the things these people do. For once you were full of darkness, but now you have the light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.” (Ephesians 5:6-9) God knows the truth of every situation and has no mercy for those who try to deny it. So let Him handle those people who think they can define your true nature… they will get what is coming to them!

So, my brothers and sisters, family and friends, remember to walk in your light! The truth is the only thing that matters when it comes to defining yourself and you deserve to live and walk in love and light. So go forth with that and know that I love you and I’m always rooting for you! Keep conquering!