The Roses
While creating my first batch of business cards a few years ago, I decided to include an epiphany-turned-mission statement on the back that God dropped in my spirit during the last leg of my college career: the greatest thing about staying out of their way is having the liberty to make your own.
This adage graces the top of my homepage and has resurfaced off and on since it was given to me. For example, it helped me look on the bright side after a former employer told me to stay in my lane in so many words. But today, I peer at this maxim with fresh eyes and wonder.
What about the times when staying out of another’s way isn’t an option and coexisting with dissimilar people on a regular is inevitable? While I wholeheartedly believe in the imperativeness of creating space to get where one wants to be, some moments and seasons in our lives require us to remain exactly where we are.
Instead of wrestling the urge to move on, sit tight and smell the roses in your current setting. I had to remind myself of this recently after days of attempting to shake off the uneasiness which often accompanies being unheeded among those with whom you share a common space and yet with whom you have nothing in common. Not to mention the blatant ‘Why are you here?’ stares or lukewarm, inspecting gazes up and down your body amid surfaced conversations.
I have also come to terms with being a martian and had to learn to be at peace with the fact that some people won’t care for or like me. I struggle to determine whether or not the following statement is arrogant, and if so, it’s not my intent, but it is a fact. And that is anyone who’s never liked me hadn’t the foggiest idea of who I was. However, despite being this cool cat, there will always be Rhett Butlers to my Scarlet O’Hara, and frankly, my dear, they won’t give a damn. But that’s alright because I AM HERE.
HERE, dressed in God’s best and favor for me, although I am unworthy of His goodness.
HERE, perpetually looking on the bright side with a hearty laugh and straight spine, an elevated head, a perky bosom, and eyes like arrows—determined, despite the passing, stormclouds.
HERE, cut open to my readers, bleeding words on a blank page, hoping to fill my soul and watch the overflow pour into yours.
HERE, at peace, because while I’m not for everyone, I am exactly where I’m supposed to be, and no one can tell me otherwise. The same goes for you, too. It’s funny how often people who know the least of you have the most to say about you. Don’t bother asking, ‘why?’ anymore; let them talk while you walk among the roses, the mere blessing that you are alive, present, and making a difference.
