June is often known as the month of HAPPY - school endings, summer vacations…water-everything.

And yet for me, I typically enter the month of June in the same heart space that I left May:

Empty yet encouraged.

Heavy yet hopeful.

Weary yet wondering.

Six years later, the lynching of George Floyd in the public still consumes my May. Remaining
active and. Engaged with the community surrounding 38th and Chicago Ave in Minneapolis, I am keenly aware of the anticipatory grief, the unmet demands for justice, and the lingering
trauma that remains.

As much as I would love to enter June with my rainbow colored Black fist T-shirt (Juneteenth! Pride Month!), it takes my body and soul a week or two to regulate its rhythm..

Indeed, my relationship with June is…complicated.

While many are breathing through “Are we there yet?” whines from kiddos on road trips, I find myself asking the very same question - about justice.

Are we there yet???

No matter how many times I check the social justice map, my heart breaks in knowing that we have not yet arrived…and it’s gonna be a while.

But then…

But God.

I am reminded from the depths of my “swing low” sweet spirit that while we may not be there
yet, we will get there, eventually.

Eventually, we will get to Freedom.

Juneteenth Freedom for everyone.

Open (closet) doors for everyone.

By the time the second week of June arrives, Nature’s Creator reminds me that just as I can
count on trees stretching their branches into full canopy in this season, I can likewise watch and wait for the promised season of abundant Life - for us all.

And so, in the faith-filled spirit of all of the destinations not yet reached this complicated and hopeful season, this non-gardening justice blog writer (me!) has decided to plant a seed.

If you knew how un-green my thumb is, you would realize that this is a very big deal.

Nothing fancy.

But all God.

But God.

It is my hope that its growth, no matter how small (or slow), will encourage me in my faith
journey.

Every time I pass a garden co-op, I am reminded of its makeup: therein is a community of
believers! Gardeners come together in faith that what they are planting will come to pass.

As a new planter, I know I will be in good company.

Truly, there is no shortage of endpoints we have not yet reached. What are you believing God for? Want to join me in planting a small seed of faith - in faith?

"So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up." - Galatians 6:9

Are we here yet?

No, we’re not.

But we will be.

Amen.