FAITH: WHAT BLACK FOLKS HAVE ALWAYS RELIED ON WHEN THAT WAS ALL WE HAD

Loved Ones Questioning Your Instincts? Get In Line

By Cousin Kim

I thought I'd call the community college assistant dean at 8am and leave a voice message. Murphy's law would dictate that she would answer the phone and answer she did.

It made absolutely no sense whatsoever; definitely not financially. But something deep inside told me not to take the teaching position even though I am only currently contracted for part time work elsewhere. When I thought about each of the multiple jobs offered, none of them "lit me up" or filled me with enthusiasm.

It all started this spring. My current boss notified me that my current position at UCLA would not be funded next year. I was given the option of interviewing for another full time position or work part-time with full medical benefits. I picked the part time spot.

There was no part of me that even wanted the full time job. I knew that God abhors a vacuum and that leaving space in your life allows for more blessings. So I released the full time position and made space in my life for more.

When summer started, I contemplated how to fill in the other half of my salary. Once I released to the universe my full time job, I was hired by a friend to do independent contractor work for another school and have been offered other opportunities on a project- by- project basis.

None of these positions could I have imagined or generated myself.

Of course at the time I made these decisions, my loved ones really questioned my logic. "You gave up a full time job for a part time job? How are you going to pay your bills?" I have learned that when people love you, they unknowingly project their fears unto you. They want to see you avoid any pitfalls and if they see you making illogical choices, they see a red flag.

The difficulty is that faith makes no logical sense.

Faith seems completely unreasonable when we see no future beyond what is directly in our line of sight. But faith involves seeing what has yet to manifest. It is the vision of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi.

Faith becomes much easier to understand, however, when we consider that we are the dreams of our ancestors fulfilled. As I sat on the podium at the UCLA graduation ceremonies in June as a faculty member, I reflected on the fact that there was a time when my people, people of African descent, did not attend White institutions of learning and were certainly not faculty members. They did not sit on podiums wearing cap and gown with hoods representing advanced degrees, nor did they have the opportunity to confer degrees on others.

When we release our attachment to "running things" and we allow our higher consciousness to dictate our decisions, we tap into that all-knowing source of God that is who we are. We move into the flow of ease and grace that accompanies surrender to a Higher Power.

God sees a larger picture of our lives than we could ever imagine alone. When we trust in this divine wisdom, we are demonstrating faith.

Thus, I have learned that there are times when not making sense is a really wonderful thing. And for that, I am eternally grateful.