When the Devil is Busy, Don’t Get Mad…Get Foolish.

By TRACEY MICHAE’L LEWIS-GIGGETTS

I am so excited. All week I’ve been preparing for today’s soft launch of my new ebook, “Diaper Bags and Church Shoes: Living at the Intersection of Faith and Motherhood” (with a foreword by MBB’s Head Mommy/Sistah/All-Around-Fabness, Denene Millner). In an effort to promote the stories, many of which have appeared right here on MyBrownBaby, I’ve been posting excerpts on my blog and on social media. You know, I’m certainly from the school of Dorothy Parker when it comes to what I do. I don’t care for the act of writing but I looove having written. So it’s always thrilling to have a new project come to fruition—particularly one that’s so personal and dear to my heart.

But as my Nanny used to say: The devil is busy.

As a result of my excerpts, I was approached by someone who claimed to be a fan of my work and suggested that I hire her to protect my “intellectual property” and help me “grow my literary business.” Although the work in “Diaper Bags” has been copyrighted, I might have actually considered talking to this person had I not observed her trashing people regularly online—including on my very own Facebook page. But hey, who am I to judge how someone else chooses to do business, right? After obtaining wise counsel, I sent this person a polite message saying that I appreciated her reaching out to me but I had the support I need right now. In response, the person wrote back saying in so many words, “Okay great. Make sure you protect yourself. I just bought the domain name for diaperbagsandchurchshoes.com/org/net and I think I will do a lot with it.”

*record scratch*

Say what now?!

If you could have seen the steam leaving my ears, you would have poured yourself a latte with all my anger. Now sure, I never had any intentions of buying that domain name. I own my name and other “locations” on the web. But I just didn’t understand why someone would do something with such ill intent. So you’re going to squat on my book title now? Because why? Because I chose not to do business with you and you’re going to teach me a lesson?

Okay.

But after my five minutes of intense, ready-to-fight anger, I got over it. And here’s why:

The short answer is, the things I do, the books I write, what I accomplish with my gifts are bigger than me. They are bigger than some random person trying to steal my “shine.” They are designed to do greater works for the glory of God and not for my own. So getting mad at someone for doing something to get at ME really is inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. It’s not about me.

And yes, for some, I know that sounds foolish.

Some will balk at the idea that my pursuit of purpose and passion is for something and someone greater. And that’s cool. I get it. Some of the things I’m led to do feel foolish even to me—the me who can find herself wanting fame, validation, and monetary wealth above other things.

This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. (I Corinthians 1: 25, 27-28 NLT)

There will always be those who consider your dreams and vision foolish. Undoubtedly if your dreams seem nearly impossible to accomplish and you find yourself dangling somewhere outside your comfort zone, even you might view that idea, dream, or vision as foolish. But my experience has shown me that God is an innovator. He specializes in these allegedly foolish ideas. Ask Oprah or Harriet Tubman or Steve Jobs or President Obama. He specializes in those dreams that, by the standards that the world has set, seem impossible to accomplish.

Allow me some leeway here with my imagination but I almost believe that there is a kind of crazy excitement and expectation that takes over Heaven when someone says to one of God’s children, “You can’t do that!” or someone does something ridiculous like my Internet squatter person. It’s like every angel and ancestor in glory knows that God is about to, as we used to say as kids in the eighties, SHOW AND PROVE.

And I realize that not everyone who reads this blog believes in God or Heaven. That’s cool. Because there’s this thing called common grace (Thanks, Pastor James) that applies to you too. God doesn't exactly need you to believe in order for Him to bless your socks off. Click To Tweet To shower you with grace and mercy, whether you call it that or not.

As the scripture verse above implies, the power of God to catapult you into your destiny is so much greater than anything or anyone out there that tries to prevent you from reaching it. INCLUDING YOU.

Think of it like this. It’s super easy to allow fear, depression or, in my case, something simple as anger in a specific circumstance to hinder your pursuit of your dreams. To distract you. To “take you off your square” as my dad and uncles down south used to say. Don’t fall for giving up the easy response. Stay focused.

The beauty of it all, and the lesson I hope to pass down to my baby girl as she begins to face her own obstacles is that God is not trying to hide anything from us. Despite popular belief, he’s in the business of seeing you blessed. And yes, sometimes it requires some character building “exercises” by allowing you to face some hard stuff. Stuff you cannot nor will ever understand. But in the end, if you stay focused on the end goal, then the fruit you bear will be the evidence of your victory.

So, I guess I say all that to say, when it comes to your goals, projects, and dreams, don’t let your anger keep you stuck. Don’t get mad anymore.

I’m not.

Tracey’s new ebook, “Diaper Bags and Church Shoes: Living at the Intersection of Faith and Motherhood” is available here on Amazon.com. Download your copy today!

Photo credit: Carli Jean for Unsplash.