Just Like Job

Maya Angelou was an American writer and social activist best known for her 1969 memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and her poem "On the Pulse of Morning," which she read at President Bill Clinton's inaugural ceremony in January 1993. Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1928, and raised by her grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. She had a difficult childhood as she and her brother, Bailey, traveled between their parents' homes and endured egregious racism. At the age of seven, Angelou was raped by her mother's boyfriend. To avenge the horrible crime, Angelou's uncles killed her mother's boyfriend, and Angelou retreated into silence. Deeply scarred by the trauma, she did not speak for many years.

When her family moved to San Francisco, California, during World War II, Angelou began to study dance and acting, and in the 1940s, she became the first African-American female cable car conductor. An accomplished performer as well as a writer, Angelou earned a Tony Award nomination for her role in the play Look Away in 1973 and an Emmy Award nomination for her work on the television miniseries Roots in 1977. She later won a Grammy Award for her reading of the 1993 poem "On the Pulse of Morning."

Angelou died in her mid-80s at home in North Carolina in 2014 after experiencing health issues for a number of years, and she is one of the first women to be commemorated on a quarter produced by the U.S. Mint. Angelou was a remarkable writer whose work repeatedly reminds us that we are all God's children, calling us back to the humility and reverence that lead to deep joy. Hear Angelou's words in her 2014 poem "Just Like Job":

My Lord, my Lord,
Long have I cried out to Thee
In the heat of the sun,
The cool of the moon,
My screams searched the heavens for Thee.
My God,
When my blanket was nothing but dew,
Rags and bones
Were all I owned,
I chanted Your name
Just like Job.

Father, Father,
My life give I gladly to Thee
Deep rivers ahead
High mountains above
My soul wants only Your love
But fears gather round like wolves in the dark.
Have You forgotten my name?
O Lord, come to Your child.
O Lord, forget me not.

You said to lean on Your arm
And I’m leaning
You said to trust in Your love
And I’m trusting
You said to call on Your name
And I’m calling
I’m stepping out on Your word.

You said You’d be my protection,
My only and glorious saviour,
My beautiful Rose of Sharon,
And I’m stepping out on Your word.
Joy, joy
Your word.
Joy, joy
The wonderful word of the Son of God.

You said that You would take me to glory
To sit down at the welcome table
Rejoice with my mother in heaven
And I’m stepping out on Your word.

Into the alleys
Into the byways
Into the streets
And the roads
And the highways
Past rumor mongers
And midnight ramblers
Past the liars and the cheaters and the gamblers.
On Your word
On Your word.
On the wonderful word of the Son of God.
I’m stepping out on Your word.

As the world sways and shimmers around you, echoing with its violence and beauty, its wisdom and terror, where will you find God? How will you seek His Word?

Blessings on your week,

Jennie