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Be in the struggle
Do not turn away or run
Together or nothing

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To continue the struggle
we need to come close
and sing together
HilaryC

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At times my struggle
ties me up in knots of my
own making. Help, please.

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Words struggle to rise, bubbling up
through layers of doubt, fear, uncertainty:
all this, just to get as far as being heard.

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I struggle in the space between

What I desire and what I fail to do.

....what if I danced there, instead?

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Sweet self, look around with new eyes

The surge has crested, the waters are settling

Struggle isn’t your identity, don’t cling to it

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Struggle. In the midst of the pandemic knowing of the many many deaths I struggle to understand those who cannot see the pain of others.  I struggle to have compassion for the willfully ignorant nor maliciously misleading others.

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Struggle. In the midst of the pandemic knowing of the many many deaths I struggle to understand those who cannot see the pain of others.  I struggle to have compassion for the willfully ignorant nor maliciously misleading others.

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We struggle against social patterns
That are so deeply ingrained
That they’re invisible

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Dear God, we already know

That productive struggle helps us grow

But is this struggle productive?

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Climb the slope with care.
Too fast, you slide; slow, also.
Always close to right.

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Good trouble, righteous struggle - interrupted by fear…

Am I wrestling with the angel or with myself? Wanting peace within the struggle

I search for the eye of the storm - a spirit to protect and sustain me for the long haul

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Politics and conspiracy theories
Invade what was once a safe space.
I struggle to understand what happened to my family

CM

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so it is said
and yet, aided by technology,  supported by friends and loved by God - how can that be?
And then we notice- life's simply not fair...

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today
tomorrow
and ever after

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I changed my voicemail from “I hope you’ll join me in fighting for justice”          Because I wanted to interrupt my own language of violence. So, yes, “struggle” – the                Labor, the toil, the stretch, the scars in myself and others...toward the needful thing.    

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I changed my voicemail from “I hope you’ll join me in fighting for justice”          Because I wanted to interrupt my own language of violence. So, yes, “struggle” – the                Labor, the toil, the stretch, the scars in myself and others...toward the needful thing.    

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Push through,
around, and beyond.
Summon strengths,
rally spirits,
stand firm.
-SJM

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Embrace me, Love, for
I struggle not to snuggle
Up to sin's embrace

WDRplus

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Justice does not roll down like a river.
We ferry it, uphill, bucket by sloshing bucket.
We do not stop; we do this forever.
dm

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Someone told me that my path was easy

Someone else me that I’d paid more than enough on that path

It’s tempting to humble brag about the easy part and ignore how hard I could work again if I chose courage

bwh

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Disoriented, are my roots upside down?
Wet, waiting, wondering ... begin the wandering,
Intuiting a path toward morning Star.

- lmb

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Celebrate struggle, cheer it on! How can this necessity be defiled? My internal struggle against myself - totally normal for a living being. Struggle against marginalization, oppression; valiant, brave. How to find joy and pride in struggle? How to name it's gift.

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Could you picture the sun,
when you broke free of bulb,
and scrabbled greenly towards the day?

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Suddenly details are slipping away
More missteps, more confusion
Breathing through the fear.

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Inevitable, necessary, proof of moving in the right direction?
I thought I had let it go - this claim of redemptive suffering.
But still it remains, having only changed its form.

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No one has or will ever need to die for collective liberation.
Bodyminds weren't created to be destroyed, owned, sacrificed, murdered, crucified to teach us how to know god in each other.

Imagine resilience and sacrifice not as a commitment to transform our individual bodyminds to just survive on this earth.

Imagine resilience and sacrifice as a commitment to transform our systems and ideologies that keep our bodyminds from thriving on this earth,
together.

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I dream that three small nonprofits compete with one another for power at the table.

The 100% woke keep calling out the 90% woke.

No one draws attention to the fact that two-thirds of the table is owned by one corporation.

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Is it still struggle
If I choose to say no
If I choose to surrender?

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Dear Lord,

Help me frame my struggle differently, to myself and others

So that, instead of desperation and self-pity, my struggle helps me feel pride and defend my rights

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The tightness seems to hold fast
Until I let go of the stuggle
Within, where it all begins.

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The Call once sang to us, "It's a struggle. It takes muscle."

Like Sampson with his bad haircut, lately my muscles have atrophied, and I lack the discipline, attention, and devotion to tear down any pagan temples.

Nevertheless, with the Wind of YHWH at my back, here I go again, pushing against the too-tall pillars of injustice... We gon' "tear this ol' building down".

-Mark Nielsen

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As I find myself at Drew again, I remember the words of Dr. Isasi-Díaz: La vida es la lucha. The struggle is life.

May these words sink into every nook and cranny of me.

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my struggle all consuming
yet you struggle to

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America trained me to think that my race-class-education meant ease.

That my life is “free” — and if it isn’t, it’s all in my head. Just another whiny privileged white girl.

But I can see the struggles of others so much more clearly when I stop wasting energy denying my own.

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what if, from the beginning, our motto was not "stay at home"/
but "protect the vulnerable"/
where would we be in this inequitable struggle now?

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Do more. Do more. Do more.
Taking time to write poetry?
Shouldn’t I be selling my soul for more money in the bank?
I am investing in this life, this moment.
At least for a few minutes of the day.

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co-dependence, a whispering lover with whom each night ends the same way: a small, sad self. freedom requires enduring its constriction each time i risk the vulnerability of integrity. though its voice ever-present, i know its hunger can be impermanent. with practice. - lmbc

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co-dependence, a whispering lover with whom each night ends the same way: a small, sad self. freedom requires enduring its constriction each time i risk the vulnerability of integrity. though its voice ever-present, i know its hunger can be impermanent. with practice. - lmbc

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i lost my way.
love-beloveds, lovers-guided me back to the path.
may our struggles be with and for each other.
-akb