Is it me, or did January drag like a piece of toilet paper stuck to your shoe after leaving a public restroom? After a few kicks and 31 days that felt like a year, we can finally say goodbye to the first month of the Gregorian calendar.
Hello, February.
As a Black woman who loves Valentine’s Day, my history, and my culture, I always look forward to February. It is a whole mood, dipped in shea butter, Egyptian musk, and all the shades of us.
There is so much to love.
About us.
About our world.
About ourselves.
About you.
About me.
We can love with our eyes wide open, without rose-colored glasses.
As we take this month to love, let’s also practice discernment.
Think long and hard before you swipe your credit card.
Think long and hard before you give yourself away.
Think long and hard before you speak.
Think long and hard before you walk away.
Live in love in ways that improve you and the people around you.
I was raised to leave a place better than when I found it. What if we loved in ways that made others better, abandoning selfishness and self-serving motives?
What if we practiced discernment so faithfully that extraordinary prescience gave us the tools necessary to be a healing balm to others instead of barreling down a journey of pain and suffering?
In Hamlet, Polonius tells his son Laertes, “to thine own self be true.” Essentially, it is a call to choose to acknowledge things now rather than be forced to face them later.
What choices can you make today that will set the stage for a whole, loving future you who doesn’t cause others pain?
Jabez called out to the God of Israel: “If only You would bless me, extend my border, let Your hand be with me, and keep me from harm, so that I will not cause any pain.” And God granted his request. – I Chronicles 4:10 (HCSB)
