I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Romans 1:16
King James Version (KJV)
She spent a lifetime being a quiet, powerful force for peace, for equality, for justice. She was fired from her job because of her ground breaking decision to hold her seat on a bus in Montgomery Alabama. She spent her later years speaking, and tending to sick relatives. She lived on her husband’s pension, donating all she made to scholarships, civil rights. When she suffered from injury or illness, she accepted the help of church groups, reluctantly.
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks founded an institute that instructs young people about the history of the Underground Railroad, and Civil Rights. Even the institute honored her husband, being named the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development. I remember deciding to invite her to visit our elementary school and by the time I drafted the letter, she had passed away.
Rosa Parks lived the gospel. She believed that all people should be treated equally. This quiet seamstress, sewed people together with quiet determination and hard work.
She took risks, big risks on behalf of others, not unlike the Savior she loved.
She was a planner, for when she died, the headstone she had made in advance for herself simply read, “Rosa L. Parks, wife, 1913- .” What a statement about her, and how very like a hero or heroine to understate themselves even in death.
Today, take a risk in Jesus’ name. Let God show you how and where. Whether it is one stitch or one step, take it for the sake of the one who gave all.
Because of Him,
Linda
