Stacey M. Hembree

I'm me!

[Kate Bowler @KatecBowler]

a blessing for hope
(for the first Sunday of advent)

God, these are darkening days,
with little hope in sight.
Help us in our fear and exhaustion.
Anchor us in hope.

Blessed are we with eyes open
to see the accumulated suffering of danger,
sickness, and loneliness,
the injustice of racial oppression,
the unimpeded greed and misuse
of power, violence, intimidation,
and use of dominance for its own sake,

the mockery of truth,
and disdain for weakness or vulnerability
—and worse, the seeming powerlessness
of anyone trying to stop it.

Blessed are we who ask:
Where are you, God?
And where are Your people
—the smart and sensible ones who fight for good
and have the power to make it stick?

Blessed are we who cry out:
Oh God, why does the bad
always seem to win?
When will good prevail?
We know you are good,
but we see so little goodness.

God, show me your heart.
How you seek out the broken,
lift us on your shoulders,
and carry us home—
no matter how weak we’ve become.

God, seek us out, and find us,
we your tired people,
and lead us out to where hope lies
where your kingdom will come
and your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.

Fill me with your courage.
Calm me with your love.
Fortify me with your hope.

P.S. Open your hands as you release your prayers.
Then take hold of hope.
As protest.

[Kate Bowler @KatecBowler]

a blessing for living between.
Between miracles.
Between answers.
Between formulas.

Blessed are you who live here,
this space between
simple categories and easy answers.

You who wonder why this is your life,
why you got this diagnosis,
or why you still struggle with infertility,
or why you haven’t found your birth parents,
or why you can’t kick the addiction
or why your kids haven’t come home.

Blessed are you who
build a home on uneasy ground,
who, despite your trying,
your asking, you’re searching,
haven’t found the satisfying
feeling of discovery.

And blessed are you who never will.
This is not an easy place to live.
Outside of certainty,
outside of knowing,
outside of the truth.

But blessed are you
who realize that love and beauty
and courage and meaning live here too.
Amid the unease and the frustration
and the sleepless nights.
In the way love and courage
show up through people,
through presence, through laughter.

May you be surprised by
your capacity for ambiguity,
for the way it makes you
a great listener and a good friend,
for you are someone who knows
how to feel your way around
in the dark and squint for the stars.

I wish it were easier, dear one.
I wish I could hand you
the answers you seek.

But for now,
may you find comfort
in the fact that you are not alone.
We are all learning to live
in the uncertainty in the unknowing.
So blessed are we who live here together.

[Leandra4Equity @leandra4equity]

I am beyond excited to see this amazing book #stampedfromthebeginning come to @netflix. This book should be required reading in every educational insititution worldwide. It is time people "unlearn" the damaging myths about Black people and reckon with the harm these myths create.

[Stacey M. Hembree @mockingbirdhem]

@TheJuliaHLee I read them and I am 44.

[Jarrett Lerner @Jarrett_Lerner]

I’ll be sending some books to Kentucky. Any author friends (or those with spare books) who can/want to as well see below!

[Jarrett Lerner @Jarrett_Lerner]

EDUCATORS and LIBRARIANS!

Want to greet your new students with new books?!

I’ve got about 160 elementary and Middle Grade books to give away—half here, half on Instagram.

To enter to win half here: follow me and RT this tweet.

Bonus entry: tag a pal who may want to enter too!

[Deidre DeJear @DeidreDeJear]

Let’s prove a point: retweet if you support universal background checks.

[Protect Kamala Harris ✊ @DisavowTrump20]

BREAKING: Democrat Beto O’Rourke is trailing GOP Governor Gregg Abbott by only 2 points according to the latest poll of the Texas Governor’s race!

RETWEET if you support @BetoORourke as he runs to Flip Texas Blue!

[Stacey M. Hembree @mockingbirdhem]

@CJLawrenceEsq Both authors my senior year AP English class.

[Stacey M. Hembree @mockingbirdhem]

@emilyvalenza Any color and thanks so much!!

[Stacey M. Hembree @mockingbirdhem]

@nikkigrimes9 March 18, 2020

[Stacey M. Hembree @mockingbirdhem]

@erinentrada Hot Lips

[Jasmine Beach-Ferrara @JBeachFerrara]

I am Democrat Jasmine Beach-Ferrara. I am running against Madison Cawthorn. I have 4.5K followers. My opponent has 256K.

Can you please retweet this and ask everyone you know to follow this account to build our platform?

[Mia Mason 🏳️‍🌈 🌎 @Mia4MD]

I am the Democrat running against Republican Andy (Andrew) Harris. I am a Veteran of Navy, Army, & Guard.
I am answering the call for service again.
I have 23K followers. Please retweet this, follow this account & help me get to 30K followers.
Together we can take back America

[Stacey M. Hembree @mockingbirdhem]

@tayari Lightning bugs—-Spartanburg, SC

[Julian Bass @thejulianbass]

if y’all can retweet this enough times that Disney calls, that’d be greatly appreciated

[Stacey M. Hembree @mockingbirdhem]

@MarkieJP Temple of Doom

[Robert P. @PeoplesCourt79]

If you are still wearing a mask when you go out, please retweet this status. I would just like to see how much common sense is still out there.