Tend to Your Turn: Greens, Victory and Gratitude Await

 



With my late grandparents and tending gardeners at their 50th wedding
anniversary celebration in June 1982

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight

Proverbs 3:5-6

 

 

You must judge a man by the work of his hands.

African Proverb

 

 

Fresh collard greens reign as the caviar of the rural South, and no self-respecting African-American family gets through Thanksgiving or Christmas without some on the table. This was especially true in our household. I could count on the presence of these healthy greens at our holiday feasts, mainly because they grew in our garden.

My grandfather prided himself on producing the best bunches in town. In tending to that particular crop, he explained that the key was to never to pull them until after the first frost, usually sometime in November, right before Thanksgiving. Other vegetable-watchers agree that collards seem to be sweeter, tender, and more nutritious when nature’s timing and work restores them after a frost.

But what does this collard greens philosophy mean for us in life?

§  Nothing before it’s time.

§  Lay the groundwork, plant seeds, and plan.

§  You can reap the benefits of the best, if you but wait.

§  Let the natural order of life guide you.

       This concept falls in line with something our society is not used to these days, delayed gratification.  This notion that you will ‘have what you’re supposed to have when you’re supposed to have it’, doesn’t always fit in the multi-tasking, want it now behaviors of today.   Waiting tests our patience, particularly when we’re just ready for situations to be over, for news to come, or for something to fruition.

I also learned a lot about waiting from my family, particularly in our pre-Civil Rights era and small-town beginnings.  Because I was raised Baptist, I was also taught about the power of faith. Core to our religious beliefs, hope was the standard. As part of our ABC’s (always be constant) in praying for God’s plan and timing to be revealed, we stood fast. We had held out for opportunity, for laws to pass, and for a better day. Activists had boldly laid out a strategy, spreading leaves for change. And those better days did come, when it was our time and turn. The roots of a plan have righted and yielded sweet victories!

How can we further apply these principles to our own harvest?

 

If you believe within your heart
You'll know that no one can change
The path that you must go

Lyrics from “Believe in Yourself”, Performed by Lena Horne in The Wiz

 

As this banner year of 2013 made its way in, I experienced a few other truths about timing and turns. I attended New Year’s Eve or ‘watch night’ service at my church. The guest minister’s topic was “It’s My Time and My Turn.” She used Ecclesiastes 3:1, To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:, which I referenced in an earlier chapter of this book. One week later as I was listening to a radio broadcast from another church’s ‘watch night’ service, the preacher used the same scriptural reference. Then the following week, the same scenario of my listening to a religious programming from New Year’s Eve service and the preacher used the same scripture and same topic. Three times equal confirmation!

What did this mean?

So I’ve had an increase in work from the previous year (some greens) and published another book. One of my goals in waiting was to start doing more motivational talks to different groups. I was honored to speak at the Martin Luther King holiday program, on the day of President Obama’s 2^nd inauguration in my town of residence, Leesburg Virginia. Journeying back to my hometown, I spoke for ‘Women’s Day’ at one of the local churches. One of my other books, For People of Strength, Soul, and Spirit: Seven Guidelines for Life & Career Success, was listed as suggested reading to an Ebony magazine article in March 2013. Just to name a couple of other victories, I attended the dedication of a statue to Frederick Douglas in Emancipation Hall of the US Capitol on Juneteenth and positioned myself at both 50^th anniversary programs for the March on Washington. And….God called me to preach His word! I’m currently working on the process of getting licensed through my church, Mount Pleasant Baptist in Herndon Virginia.

My love of history, the Lord, my people, and my work has showed up in amazing ways— when He said so. A motto I developed for this year is Be Heard, Be Seen in 2013! With the Lord’s blessings, all of these pursuits will ‘enlarge my territory’ in the years to come.

So what are you waiting for? Plant it in your mind and reap in His appointed time.

 

Excerpted from my book, Tools to Cultivate the Promised Land: Working Wisdom from My Grandparents' Garden, November 2013 https://www.createspace.com/4302667