Whatever you are, be it in full. I used to think I had to dumb myself down because I was told I was "too much, doing too much, being difficult- oh and can't forget my personal favorites: "acting white" and "thinking you better than somebody". Who knows how many poems I pushed back down into my belly for fear that they would be misunderstood when they hit the pages of conversation with other people. Then I became acquainted with the book of Job. Verses like: "Would a wise person answer with empty notions or fill their belly with the hot east wind? Job 15: 2 "Your sin prompts your mouth: you adopt the tongue of the crafty." Job 15: 5 "Your own mouth condemns you, not mine; your own lips testify against you." Job 15:6 ...would hit me in ways others didn't. Surely, I have not lost my family, wealth, and health (thank God)but I was doing something that was breaking God's heart: using my own gift against me or not at all. The more I started to write, to vent in binders, juggle ideas and images in journals, the more I stopped caring what people thought, misunderstood, twisted, or simply ignored. I was told to S P E A K and that's just my assignment. I have no beef with other classmates in this earthly classroom but it is my understanding when your name is called, you must speak up even if you're not exactly right, even if you're anxious, even if you don't have it all figured out, even if you're terrified, even if you feel alone. With speaking comes freedom, comes courage, comes correction. If there is something in your heart, in your spirit, in your mind, with your convictions and God-given discernment, speak up. Conversation is contagious. You open the ear of not only those who are interested in speaking and sometimes don't know how and where but you also open the ear of another version of yourself that's continuing a line of growth in thought. s p e a k. #speak #GodsGrace #RealNotPerfect #GodsDaughta #Gifted #Gratitude #Abundance #WaitingOnGod #TheWait #BookOfJob #Perseverance #Learning https://www.instagram.com/p/CYeM4fZAP4Q/?utm_medium=tumblr