Laura Nelson

I'd like to meet:

YOU...

I'd like to meet YOU, my fellow-Sista-Queens on our journey to and through our God-given GREATNESS.
This page is a place EXCLUSIVELY for Black Queens to Network, Share, Communicate, Encourage, Educate, Empower & CELEBRATE the GREATNESS of the strong, loving, Afrocentric Woman.
Share your thoughts, your art, your poetry, your gifts, your words of wisdom and encouragement for other sistas, your Love & LIGHT.
Black Woman Thou Art GREAT
by LB Lacey, MA (Dedicated to Laura Nelson and all of the majestic Mothers & sistas out there rising beyond the onslaught of all those who would tear WE down, exploit, use, abuse and confuse WE. WE AIN'T NOBODY'S 'B'! ) Be not afraid of greatness, some are born great, some achieve greatness and others have greatness thrust upon them.
-William Shakespeare Just because a revered old poet, great though he was, made that oft quoted empirical statement, does that make it true? Would we be struck by lightening if we reworded it? Let's see. What if we said: Embrace GREATNESS. All are created for GREATNESS. Some are born with the awareness of their GREATNESS. Some grow into awareness of their GREATNESS and others have the awareness of their GREATNESS thrust upon them. ? Black Woman thou art GREAT! There is an inexhaustible Source of creativity and vitalizing energy within you. You were and are Created by God to be whole, to be happy and to be divinely successful. You are a Queen, no matter what anyone else has said to the contrary. You are Divine despite the pernicious machinations of popular culture and racist/sexist American society which esteems the Black woman, for the most part, as less than/inferior to any other member of our society. No matter what aspersions have been cast upon you by either yourself or by others, you were born for GREATNESS. The Black woman is in fact the Mother of all humanity. We are the ORIGINAL-original!
Nelson Mandela who went from being a prisoner to president, eloquently illustrates the significance of embracing and accepting our GREATNESS. We need to comprehend this on a much deeper level in order to progress from survival to success to GREATNESS. Please read and contemplate the following words which may already be at least somewhat familiar to you: Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant?"
Who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking
So that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It is not just in some of us: it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give others permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others. Nelson Mandela's 1994 Inaugural Speech (fragment) It is true. Deep within every woman alive is the seed of the awareness of her Queenhood. In her soul every woman knows that she is infinitely more than the prime cuts of meat that popular culture attempts to dissect females into. Indeed you are far more than a handy set of T & A. You are Body, Mind and Spirit. You are whole. The Creator has given you everything you need to be absolutely brilliant. Anyone who tells you differently, including yourself, is a liar. Decide in this moment to really know this Truth. Know it and be FREE! Every second you spend reading these words is blessed. I have asked to be used. I have asked the Creator to give me the right words. The words that would reach into your inner self in order to access your essential beauty, grace and Divinity. As one Black woman to another I endeavor to help you to really perceive the inner beauty that is uniquely YOU. The aim for me is to support your intention to place your feet firmly on the path to your ultimate Purpose in life. What is your ultimate Purpose? Your ultimate Purpose is to become ALL that you might be. This is simple, yet not "easy."
As Mandela has stated, our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. Black women are uniquely powerful for their struggle individually and collectively has been uniquely fraught with obstacles, opposition, exploitation, rape and murder. Often throughout HIStory HERstory has been squelched and if SHE ever dared to show her true power, defy the status quo or descent with the dementia of popular culture, she faced severe retribution or even death. It is little wonder that the African American woman in America would fear revealing her truest nature and magnificent power. They will hate Her and try to kill her just for being as God created her--POWERFUL...Queenly...Great! America has misused the Black woman perhaps more than any other society. The white man has used us (kidnapped us, raped us, tortured us, impregnated us and sold us). Many Black men have abused us and even the white woman has attempted to refuse us our rightful place as Queens. Sadly, even Black women have conspired to keep other Black women down by using, abusing, betraying and doing all manner of evil against her own sister. We often speak of the lechery of the Black man, especially when it speaks to the fragility of Black marriages, but who are these men destroying their families with most of the time? Why do other Black women so easily and willing act as accomplices in the destruction of the Black family by being the fickle dust that darkness uses to destroy the Black family? We are all responsible for this and we shall all face the consequences. Surely, our children shall. The Black woman has struggled in ways that others know not of. Please ask yourself if this is not the case with you or someone you love. Together let us feel the fear but go on to embody our GREATNESS anyway. I am GREAT. All I had to do in order to be GREAT was just to know that I AM. How could I not be? I did not create myself. I was created by GREATNESS to be GREAT. So were you. YOU are GREAT. Pass it on Sista!
In order to be useful to you, I had to go through a process. This process was very painful. In this process I might have perished. It continues. This process is more commonly known as "life." My demise, however, though supported by this world, was not sanctioned by the Universe. By God I am still here. You could have died before reaching and reading these words, yet you are still here. We are here! We have arrived in this moment for a reason and with a Divine Purpose. Since we have made it this far, let us travel the road however infrequently traveled, to GREATNESS & divine Purpose together. True sisterhood is about encouraging and supporting one another in the endeavor to fulfill our collective Destiny and potential. This is the Purpose of life; to embrace the totality of your essential GREATNESS through the Grace of God. When you learn...
Teach
When you get...
Give -Maya Angelou, Our Grandmothers
Your potential is immeasurable. There are many women who have some inclination of their inherent GREATNESS. There are even a few who gracefully embody that GREATNESS at the present time. Unfortunately, however, there are too many of us who do not have a clue regarding the inestimable value we possess. We are acting like sorry little slave girls and victims instead of Queens and victors. The time has come for all of that to change. Surely you can see it. Look at the world around you. Do you really believe that this world can afford the loss of your Light?
Each woman is called. You are needed. There never was nor will there ever be one who is uniquely YOU. You exist as a precious singularity in the vastness of the Universe. The Creator loaded you up with Divine gifts and blessings to share with the world. Only you can present the world with your gifts. You must decide that you will tolerate playing small no further. In his transformative masterpiece, Woman Thou Art Loosed, T.D. Jakes, offers the following insight, "You often experience success in one area and gross defeat in others. You need a burning desire for the future, the kind of desire that overcomes past fear and inhibitions. You will remain chained to your past and all the secrets therein until you decide: Enough is enough! I am telling you that when your desire for the future peaks, you can break out of prison." Your divine energy and bright Light is desperately needed in today's world. If you are not illuminating your Light out into the world it is due to feeling unworthy to do so. It is due to fear. As Mandela states, It is our Light not our darkness that most frightens us. You are here to be a reflection of the Creator's Light. In that way others will be validated in their call to do the same. This is how we change the world. This is how we serve the world and give others the inspiration they need to also act as conduits of GREATNESS. The oak tree is in the acorn. GREATNESS is within you. Just as the potential of the mighty oak is embedded in the acorn, the potential of ever expanding GREATNESS is embedded in every cell of your Body, every corner of your Mind and within the internal/eternal fire of your Spirit.
When I was just a little brown baby girl hiding and cringing in the closet listening to my mama being beaten, GREATNESS was within me. When I was just a skinny little 15 year old Black girl in Detroit City being physically threatened, emotionally annihilated and spiritually devastated, GREATNESS was within me. I was a Queen, but I did not know it yet. When I wallowed in despair weeping as a young adult in the wake of self-destruction and negativity, GREATNESS was within me but I did not know it yet. When I cried alone as a poverty stricken unwed teenaged mother, GREATNESS was within me but I did not know it yet. As I bore the weight of being a divorced single parent of three children thumbing through my foodstamps, GREATNESS was within me but I did not know it yet. While lying up under benighted males in search of love and validation as a lost woman, GREATNESS was within me but I did not know it yet. As I walked across the stage to collect my BA then my MA degrees, thinking that they were legitimizing me, true GREATNESS was within me, I thought I knew but I did not know true GREATNESS yet. God knew it though.
My Purpose is to proclaim the Creator's gift of GREATNESS within YOU as I reveal it within myself. I was created for this Purpose before the very foundations of this earth were formed. I did not know these things for many years. Oh, but I am beginning to get it now. I am getting it so that you might get it. You are getting it so that others might get it through you. You are a Queen and before today you may have been able to excuse yourself by saying that you "just did not know it yet." Woman thou art GREAT. Now ya know! No one, no, nor no one million ones dare deny me God, I go forth
alone, and stand as ten thousand. -Maya Angelou, Our Grandmothers
I have suffered. You have suffered. Women have suffered uniquely in patriarchal society. With women of color, the double whammy of simultaneous sexism and racism can be particularly devastating. Let us consider the resultant GREATNESS of women who have gone through great trials and lessons. Everyone who has achieved any substantive modicum of greatness has suffered in one way or another. Our pain makes human. Overcoming our suffering through perseverance, grace, wisdom and determination exemplifies triumph over adversity. This is how we tap into the inexhaustible Source. Our suffering becomes our strength. This strength is our gift from the Creator to the rest of the world. Our pain has shaped us physically, emotionally and spiritually. Going through our lessons with determination and conviction has taught us perseverance. The most profound epiphanies, revelations and personal transformations have resulted from
the experience of persevering through pain. In The Life You Were Born to Live by Dan Millman, he states, "Flexibility avails us far more than either passivity or resistance; by actively using whatever arises, embracing even the most painful circumstances, we deal with our difficulties more effectively, as we begin to see them as a form of spiritual training." Just as an infant learns not to caress the fire, a woman learns not to embrace the things, situations and people that cause her undue suffering and pain. She kicks all scoundrels and 'hatas' to the proverbial curb. Thus, our so-called "suffering" may also be considered "lessons" and ultimately great blessings. How wonderful have you felt when you finally broke loose from someone who abused, misused or confused you? That is GREATNESS. It makes us and shapes us.
Ask yourself, "What if my suffering really was the necessary inspiration to foster GREATNESS within me?"
"Haven't my life's greatest challenges taught me the most and made me stronger than I would otherwise be?" Surviving suffering to the soul, is often like rain to the acorn. The oak tree is in the acorn. The Queen is within the girl. By learning her life's lessons the girl ascends the throne to her queendom. GREATNESS is within all of us...but it just needs a lil rain to make it grow.
In his exquisitely healing, comforting and insightful book, Legacy of the Heart, the Spiritual Advantages of a Painful Childhood, Wayne Muller offers the following wisdom, "Accepting the pain we are given requires us to soften our hearts and allow the pain to break us open, to acknowledge and to grieve the terrible sadness that comes with abandonment, loss, illness and disappointment. In this moment we can feel most human, in kinship with all who have felt the deep despair of a broken heart. This is not angry resignation, born of defeat; this is the deep, loving acceptance that what we are given that has become our companion and our teacher, regardless of how painful, unwelcome or unjust."
The blueprints for your ultimate identity came with you when you emerged from Mama's womb. You were bound and born for GREATNESS. Everything you need to succeed is already within you. Your veins surge with the blood of Queens and Kings...though the manufactured mores of society may brand you a "commoner". Your Mind possesses infinitely sharper acuity and capacity than the most advanced super-computer...even though you only use 10% of it's power. Your Soul is as old and wise as the immeasurable, ever-expanding Universe...though you may have not yet tapped into your Divine power and destiny. Society may deem you ordinary but the Creator of ALL esteems you EXTRAORDINARY. Which distinction matters? ... All my life I have always known I was born to greatness. -OPRAH WINFREY Woman, you were designed and specially created by God to rule. True greatness and strength are available to all of us. You are a Queen in the authentic sense of the word. This is royalty that cannot be bestowed by "man", by money, by membership among the "elite," mental exercise by "master" degrees, by might or by any popularly held status symbol of the modern day bourgeois. The Creator has no use or respect for these false systems of so-called accreditation and validation. Why should you? Your authentic GREATNESS issues forth from the Creator. No one here can take it from you because no one here gave it to you. This may be foreign thinking for our society today. That is because popular culture is heavily invested in the illusion of your worthlessness. Women are rated by the size of their hips, their breasts and their lips. As we grow in Wisdom and stature we are deemed old maids, bitches and hags. The younger and more fickle we are the more this world values us. Is that not completely upside down? You are GREAT. Foolishness like that is offensive to a Queen. It is time to truly think outside the box which is really a cage. Think differently. In The Power of Wisdom by Aman Motwane, it says, "There is no common set of rules, laws, characteristics, styles, principles, values, habits, agreements, tricks or techniques that lead to a life of success and harmony. What sets extraordinary individuals apart is not what they do, but that they see the world in a way the rest of us don't." It's time to reclaim your rightful inheritance. Ascend the throne Queen. Get up!
"Your playing small doesn't serve the world." Black Woman...THOU ART GREAT! Be BLESSED,
LB Lacey, MA
CEO, Author, Speaker, Holistic Counseling Consultant www.SoulutionsForDynamicLiving.com
1.443.703.7873

www.MySpace.com/LBLacey