Lighting a candle AND cursing the darkness

I am still stunned by what happened in Charleston. As I typically do when these things happen--and they happen far too often in this country--I go to people I trust to help process my feelings. 

One of my favorite people, Sarah Bessey, posted this to her Facebook page:

And I thought YES. THIS IS HOW I FEEL.

As I scrolled through the comments to her post, I noticed that people were commenting on the power of the word "and". The word "and" helps link the dichotomy of human emotion. 

You can be brave AND scared.

You can feel excited AND cautious.

You can be standing in a crowd AND still feel lonely.

You can like Coke AND Pepsi.

Humans are mysterious like that.

Then I read this from Glennon Melton of Momastery:

And I thought, yes! This is me! I want to help AND I am afraid of saying or doing something very unhelpful.

And then I read Kristen Howerton of Rage Against the Minivan's post: 

And I knew that I could help in a small way AND learn something in the process. 

This is a small little blog. Sometimes my posts get 300 views, sometimes 50. But I don't want to squander what little influence I have. 

If you're willing to talk, I'm willing to listen.

We can grieve AND be angry. 

We can wrestle with our race issues AND still be respectful.

We can desire equality AND be unsure of what that really means. 

We can acknowledge white privilege AND not understand it. 

We can learn about gun control issues AND still honor our constitutional rights.

We can ask hard questions AND not be offended when we get honest answers.
We can love Jesus AND not know how to follow Jesus.

But we cannot be outraged AND do nothing. 

Light a candle AND curse the darkness.