Are you tired?
When a 42-year old woman finished her shift sewing for a department store, all she wanted to do was go home.
She spent that night in jail.
You see, in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, segregation laws were still in place. Black people could only drink from specific water fountains, they could only use the “black” library, and had to go to specific schools.
And, when you rode the public bus, as a black person, you had to sit in the seats designated for blacks – which were at the back of the bus. The seats for whites were reserved in the front of the bus.
1955!
The 42-year old seamstress did not get on the bus to cause any issues. She sat in the “black” section, like she was supposed to. But, when the “white” section was full, and a white man wanted to ride the bus, the bus driver decided to add to the white section, and asked a row of blacks to move.
They all moved, except for Rosa.
She refused to give up her seat. Soon, she was arrested and placed behind bars.
When Rosa died in 2005, she became the first woman in history to lie in state in the United States’ Capitol. And, she joined the likes of George Washington and Thomas Edison as the recipient Congressional Gold Medal – the highest honor the US can bestow upon a private citizen.
Rosa Parks became known as the mother of the civil rights movement.
So, why didn’t she give up her seat that day on the bus?
She was worn out.
“People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired,” wrote Parks in her autobiography, “but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically… No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”
Rosa Parks was worn out and exhausted. Sick and tired of just giving in.
When you get tired enough, you’ll stop giving in.
When enough is enough, you will find the determination to stand.
That determination will change your life… and maybe the world.
The devil loves to keep us sedated enough, that we just go with the flow. We give in, over and over again.
We are conditioned, just like the other three people who gave up their seat, to give in. We are programmed to give in.
We don’t want to. We would prefer not to.
But, it’s what we do.
Until we allow ourselves to get tired of it.
If a Christian ever gets tired of giving in, the world will stop and take notice.
And, who knows? You might just make a difference in more lives than your own.