Today I received a message in my dm on Facebook from a person I do not know.

Today is International Women’s Day, and I don’t believe that I could have received a better gift.  You see, I speak a lot about seeds and weeds. What seeds are we planting? Are we planting any at all? Are we allowing weeds to choke out the seeds we do plant? I thought I was planting seeds and maybe I was…but the weeds man. Those weeds are aggressive. They hog all the water and choked out the seeds I hoped would develop into fruit bearing plants.

In my life, the weeds represent many things, but the one thing that stands out is sin. I have at times allowed racism(weed) and a myriad of other inequalities that have been passed down systematically to harden my heart, and when that has happened the seeds that I attempted to sow were merely choked out by the weeds.  I was suffocating and those seeds were falling on infertile soil(deaf ears) partially because of my approach.

But then my heart was softened. I come from a unique perspective of understanding a variety of people. Even those who are fast asleep looking at #wokefolk like we crazy. I understand them because I used to be them.  It’s that in between stage that can be a beast. That stage where you are realizing that you have been in the “Sunkin Place” most of your life and then when you exit that place, life(for lack a most fitting description)…”bitch slaps” you with reality….AND. IT. SUCKS.

But over the year my use of the words, weeds(problem) and seeds(action) have helped me gather a proper understanding of what the fruit(solution) should look like.

Well, I know that I am a hot mess when I’m not led by the Spirit. So, with that said the only fruit I want to produce comes from the Spirit and that is… “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
–  Galatians 5:22-23

I’m writing this so that we all can take note as to what seeds we are planting.  What is the weather like in our lives when we sow? What weeds do we need to uproot so that our seeds can produce beautiful fruit? Do we even recognized them? Because the truth is, you never know how one interaction you have with someone can change the trajectory of their life and yours. You never know if they will be led into self-reflection or destruction. You never know…unless somehow in your lifetime they are led to share how you impacted them, just like this stranger did from a thread on a mutual friends timeline…on Facebook…over a year ago.

#recess