Every morning at 4 a.m. “First Light Meditation” hits my e-mail inbox from Rev. Dr. Galen Guengerich, senior minister of the Unitarian Church of All Souls in New York City. He suggests that those subscribing read the piece through at least two times and think about it as they start the day. I often find the piece helpful in spiritually centering my start to the day. Sometimes it is a few lines long and on occasion as long as the sample of today’s piece (June 8) from Frederick Douglas which I share with you.

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Rev. Paul

Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are people who want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never did and it never will. Find out what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice which will be imposed upon them. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.

Frederick Douglass, 1818-1895