"Honey, All You Need is a Made Up Mind!"

 

When I first started attending the Evangelist's Saturday noontime meetings, I'd recently returned to Colorado after trekking through the South, my parents' birthplace, on what I'd lightly dubbed my missionary journey.  My search for a mythical, (or was it mystical) genesis in the Mississippi town of my birth certainly bore no resemblance to the "historic South" I had envisioned.  In fact, my fantasy about a romantic, welcoming South shared no basis with reality for Black people!  Surely, my parents would've laughed at my mind's machinations! 

Jimmie and Velma Taylor would have clearly explained that they'd been part of the great migration from South to North because of unforgiving social conditions and a culture that denied our right to live as valued humans.  They hoped to lessen the debilitating weight of Jim Crow laws and their pernicious enforcement that had threatened to destroy their lives and livelihood.  My parents would not relinquish the rest of their lives to Mississippi, nor could they deny the dreams they held for children they loved.   

My reference to Apostle Paul's Missionary Journeys only very obliquely references the travails and persecutions he endured.  No! I never came close to St. Paul's legal, moral, or spiritual oppression. Yes! I encountered racism, sexism, and bigotry but they should be viewed as "a walk in the park" by comparison.  Similarly, each of us changed in remarkable ways, and for similar and different reasons.  

I had learned to adapt to differences between southern and northern culture during my 15-year sojourn. Some were mind-boggling, while I didn't allow others to take on more meaning than warranted.  I had learned from Kenny Rogers, 

You got yo know when to hold 'em,
Know when to fold 'em.
Know when to walk away,
Know when to run,
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at the table,
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the dealing's done."

I don't remember who issued the invitation to attend the monthly service the Evangelist hosted.  Curiosity prompted me to give up an hour or two for a "look-see." I knew some of the attendees from various community venues, so on that initial visit, I loosened up, and settled in---not knowing what to expect.  The Evangelist did not disappoint! (In truth, I learned biblical truths and life-lessons from a well-prepared and spiritually secure "Woman of the Cloth"). A member of the ministerial staff and "First Lady" at the church her husband ably pastored, she both challenged and inspired.

"Honey, all you need is a made-up mind!" rings still as the refrain and rejoinder to hesitancy, doubt, or disbelief we listeners may have offered.  Whether she was teaching lessons from apostle Paul's missionary journeys or consoling others caught up in the exigencies of life, Evangelist listened closely to our "But you don't understand!" or "It's not that easy" rebuttals.  She'd then point to proof from her  delivered message rooted deeply in the Word, and respond with, "Yes, honey, but all you need is a made-up mind!"

Years later, I wholeheartedly agree.  I recall my Internist who'd underscored the Evangelist's exhortation, "The most important thing you can do is to make a choice, make a decision!" He urged me not to equivocate or posture.  "That's a waste of precious time," he'd advise.  Now,  I not only enthusiastically honor their wisdom, but I also repeat it! I could have forfeited sleepless nights and unwarranted worry, gnashing of teeth, or furrows in the carpet from uncontrolled floor pacing if I just had made up my mind and acted! 

"It is well, it is well with my soul, It is well, It is well, it is well with my soul."  A made-up mind generated it. Thank you, Evangelist.