Dreaming of a Palomino Up Do

Sunday, June 28, 2026 - Fourth Sunday of Pride Month

The Rev. Julia Joyce-Miesse

LGBTQIA+ Person of Faith

Quote

“Do the work that your soul must have.”

~The Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon

Devotion

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” This is a question often posed to young children as they enter school. I love the feisty passion that bubbles through their little beings. “An astronaut!” exclaims one young one. “A garbage collector!” bellows another. “A horse hairdresser!” sings one from the back of the room. Not one child turns to another and shares that their dream job is foolish. No one says that the other can’t do it. No one asks, “How much will you earn? Will you be able to support yourself? Will it support a family?” Everyone is living their dream at that moment.

Somewhere between that five-year-old exclamation of certainty of their dream vocation and the last day of high school, many of us leave the dream of what could be and focus on what we think we are expected to be. We go to school or to work and begin creating a life of achievement. Sometimes we are lucky enough to do work we love. Often, we do the work that pays the bills. Even more often, we work, perform, achieve, and forget the little dreamer inside of us.

Womanist theologian and ethicist Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon was often heard sharing a prominent womanist principle: “Do the work that your soul must have.” For so long, systems have been in place that altered the dreams of the young. A dream of a college education was just a dream for African Americans until Liberty Hall Academy, now Washington and Lee, allowed John Chavis to attend in 1799. It would be 63 years later, in 1862, that Oberlin admitted its first African American woman, Mary Jane Patterson. The Stonewall Riots are heralded as the pivotal event for LGBTQIA+ rights in 1969. And it would be June of 2016, after over thirty years of advocacy and trials, before First Nations and Indigenous peoples would have the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

How many dreams have been only in the hearts and minds of our ancestors?

We are coming to the end of another PRIDE month in the United States. Many of us have gathered to organize marches, parades, parties, and cultural celebrations throughout the month of June. But friends, we are Queer all year long. How are we celebrating ourselves for the next eleven months? What is your dream? Are you doing the work that your soul must have?

Some of us are weary. We have been fighting for our dreams for far too long. I want to make space for rest as important too. Throughout our sacred texts, we know that Jesus took time away. Jesus went up to the mountain to pray. Jesus went out in the boat to get away from the crowds. Jesus models the last day in our Creation narrative in Genesis. Jesus rests.

Tricia Hersey shares in her book, Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto, “You were not just born to center your entire existence on work and labor. You were born to heal, to grow, to be of service to yourself and community, to practice, to experiment, to create, to have space, to dream, and to connect.” I know that many of us see so much need to act in our current political landscape. We are tired of fearing for our rights. We are tired of justifying our lives to those who are too lazy to learn. We are angry when we are misgendered. We are hurt when our existence is talked about as expendable. So, my friends, yes – there is plenty of work to do. But we cannot give from an empty vessel.

Take time to rest. Create a new rhythm of life for yourself that engages the self-care activities that are life-giving to you. Experiment with different teas, learn to play the instrument that you always dreamed of but never gave yourself the time to explore, curl up in a hammock beside a creek, and listen to the sounds of creation around you. Learn to dream again. Learn to celebrate yourself!

From this place of restoration will come a renewed sense of life and focus. What do you want to be NOW at 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90? Where do you get that horse hairdresser training?

Nothing is impossible. Ask the ceiling-breaking humans throughout time.

Reflection

What is the work that YOUR soul must have?

Action

Pause. Resist the world’s push to perform. Listen to the five-year-old in you. What do you want to be? What is your soul’s work? Take the first step in your new dream today…maybe after a nap.