This month is the 19th anniversary of my arrival to North Carolina from my hometown in Mexico. One practice I have adopted is to reflect on the ways God has blessed me all these years, and how God has helped me go through difficult times. There is one moment in my journey that came to my mind. One is when I worked for the first time in the United States, it was in a restaurant in Cary, NC called “Sweet Tomatoes.” I felt blessed I was able to find a job quickly, but I felt very insecure because of my English-speaking skills and because that was not the kind of job I was accustomed to do – I got a job as a dish washer.
Mr. B was the manager of the restaurant. I can say now that he was the first Black encourager I have had in my journey. My first week of work, the more experienced dish washer we had was sick and I ended up being the more experienced dish washer, which meant that I needed to lead the other two dish washers to make sure to finish on time – 10:00 pm. Well, that evening I established a record, we weren’t finished until 1:00 am, yes, a three-hour delay. I thought I was going to be fired, instead, Mr. B with his big smile said: “Great Job the other day, thanks for doing your best!” “Keep up the good job.” This gesture led me to work harder and learn the skill, I became a very good dish washer. Every time Mr. B was there, he would go to my area and would just say “Keep up the good job!” At the end of the month, I earned the employee of the month recognition. Again, Mr. B’s commitment to encourage me made a huge difference in my life and in my journey here in the United States.
As Mr. B, I want to commit to be an encourager. I wonder if as the Heritage District, we can commit to be encouragers to one another first, especially when we make mistakes, so that we can become encouragers in the communities our churches are located. In the last 19 years I have had several Black brothers and sisters who are committed to encourage others and who encouraged me in my own journey. Pay attention to the encouragers in your journey that might not look like you. Even more, try to find conversation partners, mentors, coaches, teachers who are from a different races and backgrounds.
Mr. B impacted my life in a concrete way. However, my life keeps being encouraged and enriched by the beauty, deep wisdom and faith, mystical spirituality, and profound scholarship and theology of my Black brothers and sisters. One concrete way to celebrate Black History Month, is by showing our love and commitment to make sure that our Black brothers and sisters and other minoritized groups feel that they belong to our United Methodist Church. Our Conference has committed to be an antiracist, diverse and inclusive conference. Not only for the sake of being antiracist or inclusive, but because in doing so we are honoring God’s image in all people.
Prayer: God helps us to be committed to become encouragers to one another as you encourage us with your love. Amen.
If you would like to view past editions of Time with Ismael,
follow this link: https://heritagedistrictnc.org/category/from-the-ds/