WorshipWeb: Braver/Wiser: A Weekly Message of Courage and Compassion

The Fierce Fist Pump

By Katie Romano Griffin

Against a brilliant sunset, a person in silhouette appears to punch the sun.

“The most delicate flower is still a badass, it sucks food from roots, stares at the sun and basks in it. It wrestles the wind, and drinks rain.”
—Rob Grad

The world feels like a hot mess and while this isn’t breaking news, it seems like every other Tweet, Facebook post, or article is a wind causing the flower that is me to be tempest-tossed. So, I think I need something to help hold me as I face the challenges that come with everyday life. Something which calls me to be a fierce warrior for justice without becoming bitter, exhausted and jaded. I'm going to give “I am a Delicate Badass” a try.

I think I’ll make a sticky note and put it on my mirror in the morning and say it over and over: “I am a Delicate Badass!” Who knows, some mornings I might add a fist pump as an exclamation. I’m going to say it until it is in my bones. And when that story breaks, that Tweet comes, or that Facebook post is flung my way, or that security guard follows me in the mall because I look “suspicious,” or that DHS agent won’t let me deliver a petition to shut the detention camps down, or that person calls me “exotic” as if I am an object, I can hold on to those words: “I am a Delicate Badass!” [Insert mental fist pump.]

I will recite those words and I will remember that I was made this way, in this body and this skin. Like all beings, I have an inherent good that cannot be eclipsed. I am both vulnerable and strong. I will remember that just like that flower I can stare straight into the sun, or into the faces of that armed guard, and not flinch. I can drink up water in a rainstorm, and wrestle with the winds of white supremacy culture without losing the core of my beautiful, unique self that was created by the Universe—and that is pretty badass.
 
Prayer
Spirit of Creation, remind me that there is a power in me and within all beings that is greater than anyone or anything. Remind me that I was made for this stuff and can be fully human, vulnerable and delicate and also fierce in the face of adversity. Remind me that I need not sacrifice one way of being for the other but get to embrace both in this work of creating more love, justice and beauty in the world. May it be so. Amen.