Tag: cycle

The Glass Ceiling

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When we think about the phrase “the glass ceiling”, we are reminded of the limited point of view, experience, expertise, or restrictiveness that comes with reaching our highest heights or greatest potential. The glass ceiling, metaphorically speaking, has represented reaching the pinnacle, the highest point of something. We strive to reach beyond that point, breaking through the glass ceiling, to go above and beyond societal and social standards of living.

As I grow in Christ, I’m learning that the more I learn, the more He expects. The more He expects, the more I must give up those things that easily beset me. The more I give up those things, the more I am able to move higher and higher in God. And even in moving higher, I must give up even more.

Mark 8:34 (amplified)

And Jesus called [to Him] the throng with His disciples and said to them, If anyone intends to come after Me, let him deny himself [forget, ignore, disown, and lose sight of himself and his own interests] and take up his cross, and [joining Me as a disciple and siding with My party] follow with Me [continually, cleaving steadfastly to Me].

There is no such thing as a perfect Christian; even those of us who live so-called righteous lives fall short in some area. Despite our short comings, God graces us with blessing we don’t deserve and opportunities that we are sometimes not qualified to have. He loves us so much that He’ll give us the greatest desires of our hearts even when we haven’t earned them or deserve them. He’ll allow us to be blessed beyond measure despite our sinful ways, our shortcomings, or the numerous times we’ve ignored His call to go higher.

We know our God to be merciful, gracious. He gave us his only son for our sake even when we were undeserving. He’ll continue to do it over and over and over and over….

But even God has a glass ceiling.

There will come a point where we will reach our limits in his grace and mercy. We’ll bump our heads on His “ceiling” because we’ve reached our greatest potential in this current walk. We will finally max out on the current mercy and grace He allots us despite ourselves.

If you plan to go higher, your must lay down your life (your will, your way, your sin), pick up your cross (His will, His way, His sinless life) and follow him.

Easier said than done, I know.

But…

We are limited by our own refusal to live a righteous life for God. We stifle God’s ability to continue to bless us on a consistent basis because we desire our own will over His. God, in all his sovereignty cannot and will not dwell (versus visit, which is momentarily) in a place where sin/death is prevalent.

It’s a hard gospel, but its the truth.

You want to go higher in God? You want to not have a fly-by-night experience with Him? Remove the “ceiling” of sin… take the roof off this mutha by no longer excusing our short comings with sub par excuses like “the devil made me do it,” “I can’t help myself,” and my absolute favorite “what had happened was…”

I speak from a place of familiarity; at the end of last year, I was involved in a relationship that was operating in (quite well, I may add) some *clears throat* stuff. I knew that God was calling me to a higher place in Him. He was showing me things, revealing parts of my purpose to me–but every time He showed me a piece, it seemed to be so far out of reach. Not because it was unattainable or that it was even out of season, it was because my sin was limiting God’s ability to release that part to me. In order for me to walk into that part of my destiny, I had to let go of the thing (or person) that so easily beset me. 

I laid down my “life” (that relationship) and picked up my “cross” (a total committment to God’s plan and his righteousness) and haven’t looked back. It was hard–when the text messages rolled through and the when hitting the “ignore” button wasn’t enough to keep me away–but the end reward has been so much greater than anything I could have gained from remaining in disobedience.

Breaking through God’s “ceiling” is my goal. I’ve shattered it into pieces in the last three months, but there are some jagged pieces still hanging around that I’m working on knocking out through obedience to Him. We push to break through the “ceiling” at work, in our relationships, etc. We will change our ways, our hair, our weight, get more education, lay aside our hood ways just to break through society’s “ceiling”. What are you willing to change to get through God’s?

I want the limits off, don’t you?

On the Chase,

Alisha L.

Face Time: You are Who You Think You’re Not

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Breakdown

I am breaking the cycle.

I am breaking the cycle.

I am breaking the cycle.

In my head, there’s a vision of a person who is strong, fearless. A person who speaks in front of 10’s of thousands of people, who uses her words to motivate and inspire other people into greatness. In my head, I travel the country talking on the radio, T.V. about my books, my platform to revolutionize women, their outlook, and who they can be. I do things never done before all by a person who had humble beginnings, expectations, and hopes.

All in my head.

But in reality, I’m afraid of that person. She scares me to death. I don’t know who she is, how she’ll ever come to be, or if she’ll ever be a real life, breathing person. She’s so big, so magnificent, so capable, ready, and equipped.

Have you ever had a day dream where you see yourself doing something so big, so major that you snap out of it, look around your humble apartment or home, alone or with three kids standing around you and realize that who that person you dream of does not exist? Has someone ever told you that your dream is too big, it can’t be done, or that you don’t have the skills, education, ability, beauty, smarts, or money to do it?

You will break the cycle.

You will break the cycle.

You will break the cycle.

Face time, folks. Remove the bondage of inadequacy. You are not inadequate.

You have every skill, ability, financial power, level of education you need. Everything you need to be the person you see in your head, you already have. If you did not, would you  be dreaming it?

At this point, you’re either near tears or feeling angry. Tears because you know that, in the dark nights, this is exactly how you feel. Anger because I’m stepping on your toes and you don’t want to admit that you’ve put up a facade long enough to make everyone believe that you are stronger than you really are. You believe that your social organizations, advanced degrees, and family ties have “qualified” you to be who you say you want to be. But be honest, no matter what you have, you still feel, in a number of ways, inadequate.

Be honest. You don’t feel like what you’ve done is enough to get you to where you want to be, do you?

But where you are now is a reflection of what God began in you years ago.

“…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete [it] until the day of Jesus Christ;” Philippians 1:6, NKJ

I’ve been on a quest all year to write my book, Pieces, and by now, I was hoping that I would have had a literary agency to represent me and my work. I’ve gotten nothing but rejection letters, some nice, some not so nice, but, I know that in this business, that is to be expected. As anyone should do, I’ve done my research about what literary agents are looking for, what makes them “believe” in a project. My non-fiction book, according to one resource, has to answer the question, “what makes me qualified to write on this topic?” I sat back and thought about that question, and in the scope of society’s standard, nothing does. Oh, other than the fact that I had a kid, unmarried, at the age of 22.

I don’t have a Ph.D. in child psychology; I didn’t study at Harvard or Yale. I attended a small women’s college in Atlanta that has been named one of the top liberal arts colleges in the nation year after year. I don’t have a lifetime of experience (I’m only 27) and I’ve done no extensive research on women, their psyche, and what dictates “good mothering experiences.” I have, however, countless friends who are mothers, daughters, wives, and widows. I’ve never written a book in my life, and quiet as kept, I always have to double check my grammar; it’s never been my strong point. But I do know good writing when I read it and I can tell a good story.  I’m not from Malibu or any ritzy town in America and my daddy isn’t made of money… I’ve only seen him 3 or 4 times in the last three years. I’m from a middle to lower class neighborhood in Decatur where trap boys trap, girls fall for the quick game rap, and if you’re lucky you can catch the t-shirt man on Candler Road selling white T’s 10 for $20.

Those reasons and those reasons alone qualify me to finish the work God has started in me. There’s nothing ordinary about me and I’m not deemed to live a mediocre, ordinary life. I can be the woman who I see in my head because God gave me all of the tools to be that.

My hood ways, my Spelman refinement.
My broken heart, my healing in a 4 year old.
My wild imagination, my controlled tongue.
My inexperience, my countless friends and family who know better than I.

All have equipped me. All have validated me. All give me the ability to be who I see in my head.

If you get nothing else from this, remember: Simply because you do not have the title, degree, or association does not disqualify you. You have already been called, deemed needed, necessary, and, in your own right, a requirement for God’s plan in the earth to come to pass.

You are who you think you’re not.

On the Chase,

Alisha L.