Divine Timing

“The secret of life is to have no fear” -Kwame Touré

All of my heroes are Revolutionaries. They are thinkers, writers, teachers and especially activists. Like them, I believe that the secret to life is to have no fear. The comprehensive list of people is too extensive to share in this blog context, but their lives were and are a testament to the power of transformation. It’s from this long list of women and men that I find the strength and inspiration to have made some of my most meaningful life decisions. My own Mother (appearing in the feature photo in yellow), tops this list of powerful influences and great, Revolutionary Black Power movement leaders. And selfless men, like Kwame Touré, whom I have cited above (and was blessed enough to meet within my lifetime while still a young and impressionable college undergrad), have an admitted place of prominence among my activist exemplars. In fact, if I had to choose a common thread connecting across each of my significant influences, it would be their innate sense of fearlessness and the divine light and intention from which they chose to live their lives that I would glean the most insightful lessons. I am grateful for their models of God anointed, Black power centered and purpose driven lives.

In the same sense that you innately know which choice to make when you’re faced with pivotal, life-altering decisions – I think we all know what moves and choices to make in other areas of our daily lives too. The choice to wake up with intention and carefully plot out our days’ agenda, is an (oftentimes futile) attempt to control the external outcome. Then there are other times when we’ve all had a strong sense that a person, situation or encounter seemed off or just didn’t feel right and we wisely heeded an inner knowing that somehow saved us from irreparable harm. This is divine timing effortlessly fueling our intuition and working on our behalf. What I now know to be true is that we just need the strength to first recognize and then speak and finally to act upon the inner urgings of our beings when we are intentionally aligned to spiritual and divine order, to consistently be on path of honoring our uniquely divine life’s purpose. One of the ways that I personally ensure that the innate desires of my heart is in sync with the spirit is to make sure that my actions mirror the innermost truths of who I Am and flow easily from a place of peace, justice, reciprocity and service to humanity.

To an outsider, other people’s lives might seem to unfold effortlessly as they progress through the days, weeks and decades which are the inevitable promise of longevity. But ultimately, you never really grasp the depths of other people’s personal struggles and would do well to reserve judgment of those who might appear to have it all together. Perception can mask a multitude of pain. Each of our lives are a direct reflection of a series of small decisions, everyday choices and major shifts of consciousness that we have each made along the way. The recent passing of Chadwick Boseman seemed to catch our collective consciousness off guard with its heartbreaking finality. Yet he, his family and close friends made an admirable and purposeful decision to honor, protect his confidentiality and to respect the dignity of his decision to opt for privately in the last season of his life. The free will to live in certain areas of the world (not necessarily where we were born), and to divinely select our parents, mates, close family and friends with whom most of us will spend a lifetime, are intentional actions with lasting implications. And no doubt, there’s no secret about how heavy and difficult it is when some decisions we have made with our whole hearts and the best of intentions, have sometimes had to have been abruptly changed because of actions outside our control or the painful reality that the situations no longer served us and aligned with us living our best lives. Certainly, divine timing is not always about joy, the fulfillment of our selfish desires or the ability to live long and pain-free lives devoid of hardships and heartbreak.

I can honestly relate to the concept that the key to life really is to have no fear. Whether life divinely unfolds in a way which could be subjectively interpreted as good or bad, I have the maturity to release the illusion of control and to remain steadfast in my faith, despite the circumstance. It’s my heartfelt desire to always be so in touch with the divine source of life, the power of discernment, the wealth of my many blessings and with all good things, that I simply flow with and in the same direction as the tides of life and not to struggle against it. In fact, if life has taught me anything over my 40+ years, it’s that any/all resistance to change is futile. In order for me to tap into my divinely inspired path and minor (or major) next steps, I have recently gotten quiet enough and intentionally plugged in to my God source to know that change is on the horizon. And I’m okay with that. I feel the shifting of cosmic energy deep within my consciousness on a cellular level, before it ever manifests externally. This is likely a blessing of foresight and wisdom that comes with age and experience. In my 20s and 30s, I used to be anxious and even fearful when I sensed that change was imminent and have even been foolish enough to attempt to hold onto people, positions and life situations that no longer served me. It may sound hokey, but I now acknowledge and hold to the adage that when one door closes, 2 or 3 doors of opportunity really do open and they often work more in my favor, than I could have even imagined. If my forties have taught me anything, its that a transparent series of especially tough life lessons were far from proving that my life was over or even that my blessings had shifted to misfortune. On the contrary, countless unavoidable obstacles did not block my blessings, but rather forced me to enhance my perspective and shifted my focus in life. I’m sure that my own life is not unlike yours in demonstrating that God has indeed blessed us immensely, but that we must also effortlessly accept and be seamlessly aligned with the divine timing and plan for each of our lives in a way that complements our new knowledge and experiences. When changes are pending and I am able to innately sense this deep down within, I need only to stay spiritually connected to my source to know which turns to take next on my divinely guided path.

I no longer worry or fear what the future holds, but I warmly and enthusiastically welcome the changes to come. In my best version of myself, I am like my beautiful and wise Queen Mother and the ever focused and committed revolutionary ancestor Kwame Touré in that I have a justice driven, purposeful calling which requires me to divinely plugged in for strength, direction. How blessed I am to be able to channel the powerful, infectious energy of yet another hero, Fred Hampton, as I unapologetically declare “I Am a Revolutionary” . . . and present myself as open and receptive to significant change. Asé