You’ve got journals full of insight and wisdom. Congratulations!
You’ve talked with a trusted friend or counselor and have a better understanding on a few things. Awesome!
You’ve gained some new perspectives through prayer and meditation. Fab-u-lous!
Your aha moments are many and you’re reveling in all this new information and wisdom! Great!
So…um…you do know you’re responsible for all that new intel and have to put it into practice don’t you?
Imagine my surprise when I found out knowledge for the sake of knowledge wasn’t good enough. I was going to have practice what I’d been given and shown! In other words, I was going to have to practice what I would preach.
When what you’re supposed to practice shows up eveywhere
For months, at least once every other day, something would cross my desk, be sitting in my inbox or posted to social media that had something to do with not shrinking in the face of adversity. Articles about being confident and bold and being convinced that the “greater one” was in me. Social media posts about not giving away your power and standing in your truth and knowing that no weapon formed would ever prosper. Blog posts about conquering and being the victor were common.
I understood that this was something I really needed to master. I needed to learn this lesson and learn it well.
So I paid attention and I learned and hid the word in my heart.
Your practice is like a doctor’s residency – you’re interacting with real people in the real world
Then came time to put it all into practice in real time, with real people. Yikes.
I came across some of the most loud, brash, opinionated and obnoxious people who pushed the majority of my buttons on purpose.
In the past, my normal modis operandi would have been to let them throw up all their vitriol and simply walk away. You see, I’d been taught that fools run their mouths and a soft answer turns away wrath. But I also recall how Jesus responded to religious leaders of his day. Trust me. He didn’t let them talk crazy and just walk away. His wisdom always left them with their mouths hanging open. I on the other hand, would walk away angry or hang up the phone peeved because I didn’t say anything. Because I didn’t hold them responsible for the nonsense they just spewed.
I remember sitting with a group of people I barely knew and the conversation turned social and political. One of the guest gave one of the most asinine responses to a social issue I had ever heard and followed up with the, “I have black friends” qualifier like that made it all better. I. Said. Nothing. And I was angry with myself for not speaking up. I should have held her responsible for what she so freely let flow from her heart and her lips.
That was then.
There were lots more people and lots more opportunities where I would practice standing in my truth, owning my Christ-like confidence and using my voice to counter hate and hurtful words. Shonda Rhimes wrote the perfect comeback to a conversation that sounds the slightest bit off to you. She simply asks, “what did you mean by that?” That’s a good question to add to your standing in your God-fidence practice.
Once you receive all these wonderful revelations and have this great understanding, comes putting it all into daily practice.
According to a recent Facebook post, some days your practice will be fabulous. Other days you’ll go to bed and tell yourself well, “we’ll try again tomorrow.”
Just know daily practice is required since mastery is the goal.
#thiswomanknows
#practicewhatyoupreach
Lisa N. Alexander is the author and founder of This Woman Knows and What Million-Dollar Brands Know. She is an award-winning filmmaker, director, producer, and writer and is the owner of PrettyWork Creative.
