Editors Note: For today's Devotionals Daily we wanted to feature an author who uses her poetry and visual arts talent to reach into people's hearts all over the world. Morgan Harper Nichols recently shared her artwork and the words below on her highly popular Instagram account (@morganharpernichols) and we thought it may just resonate with how many of us are feeling right now.
Morgan writes about this poem:
In regards to recent events, there is a lot of discourse directed at the country at large, which is important. And this is also true: there are those who have been fighting this fight for a long, long time. And yes, it takes courage to do this, and it’s also exhausting work. Heartbreaking. I think back to my great-great-grandfather who was born a slave and died free and I wish I could have known him and told him that we have come so much further along. Tonight, I don’t have a conversation. Instead, I have a lament. A lament to the one who is tired. Tired of having to explain. Tired of having to educate. Tired of having the same conversations over and over again. I don’t speak for everyone in what I’m saying. I speak from the actual sharp pain in my gut as I write this. The anger, despair, and heartbreak, that cries: Why are we still here?
I recently watched Toni Morrison’s documentary on Hulu and of the many stories shared that will forever stick me, there was a sentiment she shared that I will not forget. “I never asked Tolstoy to write for me, a little colored girl in Lorain, Ohio…Never…If I tried to write a universal novel, it would be water.” ― Toni Morrison
For this poem, it was not about writing for everyone. Yes, I write for other people’s stories, but I also write for pain that I feel as an American, in the skin I’m in. I have been told my work is “too depressing” or “redundant” and honestly, it has never even bothered me because I know I am writing to the part of me that cries with the reality that the wounds are still open. The fight is taking on new shapes. I write as a way of finding peace…just any kind of glimpse that amidst the hurt, maybe we’ll be okay. “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” ― Toni Morrison
~ Morgan Harper Nichols
Published with permission from Morgan Harper Nichols, author of All Along You Were Blooming.
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Your Turn
How is your heart right now? Are you feeling broken, unheard or unwanted? When the day becomes too much to handle, let us remember to bring it all to Him.
“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." ― Matthew 11:28
Come share your thoughts on our blog. We would love to hear from you! ~ Devotionals Daily
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