I recently took a housekeeping position to supplement my business (I’m a writer/graphic designer). Though the job only lasted three hours, I have to share what I learned in hopes of encouraging you. My grandfather closed his store, ‘Sweet’s Confectionary’ in Louisiana and moved to Dallas, where opportunities were a plenty, in order to support his family. Upon his arrival, he took a custodial job at Dallas Federal Savings and Loan where he worked for Mr. Bowles. Though I never met Mr. Bowles, my grandfather talked about him all the time which is surprising because this was in the early 70’s when discrimination and racism abounded.
Mr. Bowles must have actually taken a liking to my grandfather. In some way, I think they even became friends. I don't know how much of a friend Mr. Bowles really was because if he were, he would have known that his friend once owned a small business in Louisiana which meant that as the bank president, he could have extended a small business loan to help get his friend started and get him off the janitorial staff. Unfortunately, ole Mr. Bowles didn't see my grandfather that way. Instead he considered him as a trustworthy negro that could clean well. But I digress.
Stuck Between Two Legacies
Fast forward forty-four years and here I was in the same position as my grandfather. Having to put my business aside to go clean up after white people. Unlike my grandfather, I have no excuse. But the fact that I inherited his willingness to let his entrepreneurial dream go to clean disturbed me. The fact that not only did his daughters, my aunt and mother, try to start cleaning businesses that didn't do well, but his granddaughter was putting her business aside to walk in his footsteps was gut wrenching. Coupled with the fact that my father had a penchant for not finishing what he started helped me to understand my struggle. Here I was caught between someone who walked away from their entrepreneurial dreams and another who never finished the businesses he started. Here I was in the midst of the two, grappling with who I was becoming at 48; an age where I should be well-established, yet here I was stuck between two legacies.
For the longest time, I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. Now I understand. I was built like this. My grandfather and father had mistakenly passed on their inadequacies to me. What I’m experiencing is in my DNA. And though it is, I’m not hopeless because the blood of Jesus has the ability to undo everything.
‘…for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.’ 1 John 3:8
The word ‘destroy’ means, ‘undo, loosen, and dissolve’. Therefore, Jesus came to loosen me from the effects of the inadequacies of the men who raised me. Though they were passed on to me, when I embrace what Jesus has done, I will be an award-winning bestselling author – even if I don't hit the bestsellers list until I'm 50+. The best part about it is that as I do, I will dissolve the remnants so as not to pass them on to my son. And though I should be ashamed to discuss this publicly, I do so because there are millions, just like me, of a certain age, that are stuck. Unable to move into the place God has prepared and become who He has created them to be which can sometimes mean coming face-to-face with the ugliness and inadequacies of our fathers so that we can let the Son of God loose us from that stuck state. Am I totally loosed? Yes…by faith! God told Abraham he was, ‘…a father to many nations’ even though his wife had been barren for decades. God, ‘…gives life to the dead, and calls those things which are not, as though they were.’ So am I the award winning, bestselling author, playwright, and screenwriter I know I was created to be? Yes…by faith! But the manifestation of it is in process, and yours is too! Just because we're 50+ and have been stuck in a rut for decades doesn’t mean God can’t unstick us. So why don’t you and I get unstuck together?
Pray this with me: Heavenly Father, I am stuck. I have been unable to get past <insert your area of stuckness here>. But Lord You made me an overcomer which means I will go through and get past this. Thank You for undoing what’s been done; loosing me from this place of stuckness, and dissolving the emotional and financial trauma that it's caused. In Jesus’ name.
Get ready child of God! You’re about to advance, go higher, and move forward into all God has planned for you!
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