I actually wrote this back in 2007 when Les Brown came to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to talk about a crisis that unfortunately, in 2022, has not changed. At the time, I listened to Les Brown speak before an audience at a church in West Philadelphia. The event was to promote the idea that, “Black Life Has Value” as a call to action to the escalating murder rate in the city.
As usual, Brown spoke with clarity and purpose. One thing that struck me in particular was, when he made the statement, “You can’t pray this away.”
It just so happened that I agreed with him.
Like this horrific situation in the “City of Brotherly Love, ” there are certain situations that cannot be prayed away. There are times when action must accompany the petition of prayer. This leads me to also make mention that it appears that sometimes, some of “our” people seem to have been lulled to sleep due to the dogma of “religion”.
There are plenty of examples to illustrate this point. When we hear some folks say, “The Lord is going to save us,” or “The Lord is going to bring me a mate,” or “The Lord is going to bring me a job,” or “God will fix this.”
Unless a person does the work, it takes to make himself or herself a viable catch and loves self-first, no one will come-a-knockin’. Unless a person gets up off of his or her hiney and starts networking or sends at least 50 resumes when looking for a job, it’s not going to happen (unless of course there is some legitimate barrier to becoming employed). And “God” can’t fix what we elect to get ourselves into, especially when we’ve been warned by intuition or other means, not to do it.
I’m not insensitive to the fact that this is hard. Especially if and when we’ve been knocked down at every turn when making a valiant effort to make a change. It takes courage to get up and keep it moving forward without asking yourself periodically, “Why the hell is this happening to me?”
For those who believe in Divine Intervention, yes, there is some aspect of assistance that exists when the sacred act of prayer is invoked, however, sometimes prayer is not enough. Regardless of what faith we practice, it is our responsibility, due to what we have been born with, to get up and do our part; even if that part requires us to simply have the courage to believe in our convictions and not give up hope.
“Don’t Just Pray About It, Be About It!”
Peace, After Liberation
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