In the United States, we are marking the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War. One consequence of that conflict was the Emancipation Proclamation, which ended legal slavery. However, before that dream became a reality, there were many courageous people who helped slaves escape from their slave-owners and find passage to freedom. This passage became known as The Underground Railroad and one of its chief engineers was an escaped slaved named Harriet Tubman. I have to tell you that she is one of my all time heroes, but it wasn't just because of her involvement in The Underground Railroad. It was because of her militancy for freedom. (Click here to read more about her.)
Having been a slave, herself . . . having been permanently damaged by the abuse she suffered at the hands of her masters, she had almost insurmountable odds to overcome - just to live! But this pit-bull of a woman refused to remain a slave to her circumstances. She escaped and found her way to freedom, where she could have remained safe, but that was still not enough for her. Not enough because there were still those just like her who remained enslaved, hence the intensity of her mission and life work.
Harriet Tubman once made a statement that perfectly summarizes the struggles of all abuse survivors when she said, "I freed hundreds of slaves. I could have freed hundreds more had they only known they were slaves."
Perhaps one of the greatest challenges you face is recognizing the parts of your life - your mind, soul, body, and relationships - that are still enslaved. Let's face it - the legacy of abuse tends to keep how we live on a kind of "auto-pilot" in which you mindlessly obey the damage and don't even notice that you're not free. It is only when you've been conquered by it just once too many times that you become aware that you are still owned by it - owned by the damage and dysfunction. The question then becomes, what are you willing to risk to follow the passage that leads to freedom?
The journey beyond abuse is not for the faint-of-heart. It is for militants. It is for revolutionaries! It is for those who are sick and tired of being slaves to the past. So sick and tired of it that you're ready to escape, regardless. It's interesting to me that Harriet Tubman - and many just like her - didn't wait for the Emancipation Proclamation to proactively find freedom. She didn't need permission to know she deserved to be free. Neither do you. In fact, you may never be around people who think you have the right to be anything but conquered and dysfunctional, but you do!
The beautiful thing about making that decision to be free is that once you do, you already are! The recently released Burmese human rights activist, Aung San Suu Kyi, stated, "I always considered myself free because my mind is free." That's a powerful truth for you to embrace: once you make up your mind that you are ready to escape - to be free - you already are. This is an echo of Proverbs 23:7 in the Hebrew Bible that reads: "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." That truth will be increasingly manifested as you take each step along your personal Underground Railroad. The fact that you're on it means you're no longer a slave. It means that you've laid claim to your emancipation and you're taking action on that claim.
Harriet Tubman was ruthless about freedom and would not tolerate anyone who jeopardized the escape to freedom. The legend goes that she was known to shoot people who did so! She was completely unwilling to risk dragging dead weight - those who impeded the journey, those who preferred bondage to freedom, and those who tried to hold her or her passengers back from being free.
You and I need to be equally committed when it comes to taking back ownership of our lives. While we must always respect ourselves and other, and interact with kindness and gentleness, that is not the equivalent of being a doormat or a pushover. You have every right to be free. Harriet Tubman, who was often referred to as Moses, knew this. Jesus came for this. You must know this too, and then push past the lies that enslave you and move along that well-worn path to freedom, illuminated by the Spirit of God.
Written by
Sallie Culbreth, Founder
Committed to Freedom . . . providing people with spiritual tools to help them move beyond abuse
No comments:
Post a Comment