Remembering Your Good Works

Though your beginning was small,

your latter will be greater…

(Job 8:7)

Our college advisor used to remind my sorority sisters to “remember from whence you came.” I gave Dr. Clark credit for this nugget of wisdom until I read a James Baldwin inspirational quote: Know from whence you came. If you know whence you came, there are absolutely no limitations to where you can go!

Bishop Jakes has a sermon about saving the scraps. The story is taken from the miracle of feeding 5000 and collecting the twelve scrap baskets of leftover bread and fish (Mark 6:42-52). The morale of the sermon is that the scraps are not to be eaten on the boat, but to remind you that when you are in the middle of a storm, of what your God can do, as evidenced by the previous miracles. It took me a moment to understand this message, or to slow down to remember some previous times He made a way for me go and grow. Every step in life has a purpose and requires you to go through The Process.

I have been in business for myself for three years now. The other day, I saw an old check stub from my days in corporate America. I had a momentary thought that maybe it would be easier to just go back to working for someone else. However, I remembered the leftover scraps of imbalance in my purpose of being a good wife and mom and in fulfilling my purposed work. Then I remembered how far we have come in three years. Yes, we are small today, but because of God’s grace, we have made remarkable progress and have accomplished more others gave us credit for being able to achieve. I stand on the promise that eye has not seen, nor ear heard, what God has prepared for them that love Him. By remembering from whence I came, I have the confidence to wait patiently and go through The Process.

I have a box that I call my treasure chest where I keep pictures and small mementos of my life’s journey. All of the memories are not happy, but they are keepsakes that remind me that even with life’s obstacles, I'M STILL HERE, so I am victorious. Someone once asked me why I hold on to some thoughts and trinkets from the past and the answer is simple: when I get to a place in my present when life feels heavy, I can go to my treasure chest and pull out a past reminder of something that I thought was the best, or even the worst, and remember from whence I came and know that my latter will be greater on my journey to good works.

I have a treasure chest of remarkable gems that I go to when I need inspiration for the work I am purposed to do. What do you use to remember how far you have come on your journey toward fulfilling your purposed work? Feel free to comment, or, send me an email at latanyua.robinson@gmail.com. If you like this post and want to catch up on some of my previous discussions, please visit the full Purposed Work blog at http://ltr-latrobe-mfg.blogspot.com/.

Patience For Perfect Work

We try to live by example in demonstrating to whom much is given, much is required. So instead of having a day off on Monday, our son spent the day with me, working and giving back to the community. Thanks to Ava Graves, my sister-in-Christ and mentor-in-servitude, we spent the afternoon at the Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club, partnering with Growing Communities Inc., facilitating workshops on team work and team building.

 

We try to incorporate concepts of engineering and manufacturing in our community outreach initiatives. Our participants ranged from ages 5-12, so we decided to use Jenga to demonstrate basic mechanical ideas required “to build,” the Swahili term in which the name is derived. We wanted to illustrate that to build something well that will stand up and not come tumbling down, you must begin with a solid foundation. Secondly, we wanted to stress the importance of balance and equilibrium (rules of the Leaning Tower of Pisa do not apply). Finally, we wanted to show them that the best buildings are built, one block/stone at a time from the bottom up (like the Egyptian pyramids).

James 1:3-4 - knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Q (shown sitting in the back left of the image above) facilitated the team work sessions. He explained that the purpose of a team is to win. Just like in sports, individual points (picking a block from the stack and placing on the highest level) are great. But we could improve the team score faster by working together and helping other team players to find a loose block. Winning was defined as the team who built the highest tower in the specified time. In this case, we used two sets of Jenga blocks so that teams could compete in building the tallest towers.

So how did this become a test of faith to encourage patience? Imagine  trying to engage 40 kids with varying age of interest and experience in playing Jenga. Our project coordinator decided to divide them into groups of eight and rotate them through five workshops every 30 minutes. We further divided the groups of eight into two teams of four. Set-up was actually one of biggest time wasters, so we encouraged the participants to stack by threes to minimize time. However the satisfaction and anticipation increased with the younger groups. There’s a lot of adrenaline for six year olds finding loose blocks and confidently placing them back on the stack, sometimes reaching 25 levels or higher. It took patience to get them to that competitive level of teamwork.

Comparing the history of building the Egyptian pyramids with the Jenga games was a teaching moment for me about building the Latrobe business model. The Egyptians were known as creative and skilled engineers. Their perseverance and determination were attributes to building pyramids, one block/stone at a time, exemplifying God’s perfect work, that have lasted for centuries. Latrobe’s success in the community requires many hands to do good works, determination, and great patience-built on a solid foundation of faith.