Now that you've graduated what's next? You  ran the race and you kept the fight. You finished your assignment, so what's next? I have to be very transparent about my feelings from that day up until now. Even though I put in the work, I had never felt so unaccomplished. I found myself asking God what's next? I found myself also telling him now that I have accomplished this why do I feel so unaccomplished? What is missing in my life? I've prayed in season and out, I have studied, read your word. Did I do this in vain? Did I do it just to be doing it? Lord i know that I know your voice. Why do I feel the way that I do? And God took me back to the day of the graduation. Instead of celebrating myself I wanted others to celebrate me. Can you imagine someone throwing you a party and over a hundred invites being sent out, only to have maybe 25 people to show up and celebrate with you? I cried like a baby. My words were Lord I show up for everyone and you mean to tell me that they couldn't show up for me on this day to celebrate with me? No explanation from some. Some called and gave explanations and I understood that. Then from that day to now some still have not talked to me like they used to. Well babayyyyy, let me tell you now that God gave me a real reality check that day. He told me to stop expecting me out of others. And he also told me no one should cheer for me or celebrate me harder than myself. Y'all do know the scripture right? 1 Samuel 30:6b where David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. Sometimes you have to encourage yourself. So I ask you today what is it that you have graduated from? What's next? And are you encouraging yourself? if no one else shows up for you are you showing up for yourself? If no one else applauds you are you applauding yourself? 

Have you ever been in a situation where something looked to be one way but it really was something different? The saying that it is what it is and it ain't what it ain't means to accept things as they are and not force it to be what you want it to be. Do not focus on what you cannot change but focus on what you can. I used this picture because it shows a seed that was planted. it is in fact a seed, it is what it is. But what we do not know is the type of seed that it is. We all know the process of how a seed grows. It grows through a process called germination. It needs water, warmth, and oxygen to grow. You plant the seed, you water it , the seed expands and develops roots. The root grows down into the soil where it gets water and nutrients. Once the warmth of the sun is added it begins to grow. As it grows you do not determine what this seed will become. It is in fact what it is, a seed. But as you watch it grow, you do not know what it will become. That part is out of your control. I said all of that to say this. In life people are on different levels. We all have something that God has placed in us. It is up to us to plant and God adds the increase. What I have been seeing is people wanting to force people to be what they want them to be. You have no control over that my dear. The seed was planted. But in the seed being planted what were the conditions that the seed or person had to go through? Did the person follow the plan or the instructions? We can dress up and make ourselves look very appealing (Example: Wolves in sheep's clothing), when in fact we are a mess. It is what it is & it ain't what it ain't. Let's stop being judgmental and allow God to finish the work that He has begun in people. Stop calling right wrong and wrong right. Encourage people with a word, hug, a song. Offer prayer and be a solution and not a problem. The person that you have counted out, or overlooked because they didn't fit what you were looking for may be the one that you need (come here David). Let's help to build and push one another. Yes it looks one way but the way that you are looking at it is not the way it is. Look at it through different lenses and view things and people the way that God views them. This seed is actually a tree.  If you know anything about trees they symbolize life, growth, fertility, and  God's blessings. Looking at this picture you don't know what it is. But it is what it is and it ain't what it ain't. 

India Arie wrote these lyrics. “Little girl with the press and curl, age eight, I got a jheri curl,thirteen, and I got a relaxer, I was a source of so much laughter. At fifteen when it all broke off,eighteen and went all natural. February 2002, I went on and did what I had to do. Because it was time to change my life, to become the woman that I am inside. Ninety-seven dreadlocks all gone, I looked in the mirror for the first time and saw that, I am not my hair.” Let us stop these lyrics right now because for me this is so far from the truth. Child please, who wanted to walk around without any hair? Not me.

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