God wasn’t trying to hurt me. He was teaching me a lesson that I could only learn through experience…
~The Pecan Tree: Part One
Suddenly, the lights came on like an officer shining a flashlight in a traffic stop. Immediately, I threw the car in reverse and raced back to Walmart on Cone Boulevard. I walked to the plastic goods aisle and grabbed a box of Ziploc bags. Then I rushed across the store and picked up a digital scale, and before I could talk myself out of it, I was back in the car and headed for the house to put my plan in motion. You’re probably wondering if this was the beginning of a drug operation. Not at all, but this was the reemergence of a hustlers mindset that was lying dormant since my childhood years at Dudley.
I carried my bags in the house and grabbed a roll of burlap twine and a hammer. Then I popped the trunk of my car in search of a few paint sticks that I saved from Home Depot. The squirrels were gone. I guess all the commotion was enough to end the fighting they were engaged in. So I scanned the backyard and began marking 5x5 foot sections with the rope and stakes. I knew this was going to take longer than a day, so I wanted to avoid overlapping. After hammering the stakes in the ground and wrapping each corner with the string, I picked up every single pecan I could find and began filling my Walmart grocery bags. Although I was exhausted from last night’s shift, my determination out weighted the fatigue and I filled three grocery bags before crashing.
I woke up later that evening annoyed by the fact that my shift would begin in a few hours. I thought about my conversation with Ben, and the bags of pecans that were sitting by the back door. As I was picking up the pecans, God was uploading some jewels into my spirit that I wasn’t ready to receive years ago. I had to reach a financial breaking point before he began sharing this message.
Money is an energy! It’s alive and well like electricity, but most people don’t understand how to use it. It’s not a dollar bill, or the coins we exchange. It’s a medium or vibration that exist like sound waves moving between radio towers. The dollar is just a tangible means of expression printed by the Federal Reserve that simply applies a value to this medium. It’s not the “origin” of money.
I realized that my early encounter with money shaped my perception of it, and THAT was the sole reason why I was broke. It wasn’t “the man” holding me back, or some propaganda by the government designed to keep me down. It was me! I was the problem because I was uneducated! My attitude towards money was pushing it away instead of attracting it. But now that I understand HOW it works…life is GOOD! We’re surrounded by BILLIONS of dollars but we’re struggling to keep the lights on?!? Something is wrong with that picture. That’s like standing in the rain, while dying of thirst. It doesn’t make “cents.”
Money used to control me, but now it’s the other way around because I treat EVERY dollar like an employee. I assign a task for each dollar, and I expect a return. As a child, I worked a minimum wage job and I thought THAT’S how you make money. Even as an adult, I earned more but the model was basically the same. Most people don’t understand that either money controls you, or you control it. There’s no in between. It took me a few years to learn this lesson, and a few more to do something about it. But God is a “Wonderful Counselor” and he didn’t start pouring this knowledge in me until I had the capacity to receive it. Some of you guys are the same way, because our opinion of money was shaped by our family, friends, classmates and even the church. We complain about the LACK of money or we were taught that money was bad. It’s the root of all evil, yet we go to work every day to earn…MONEY. Sounds crazy right?
Well…before you can receive the abundance of God, you must break and reshape your mindset, and I can guarantee you that it takes more than reading a blog to make that happen.
So after washing the pecans, and letting them dry, I weighed them on a scale and began filling the quart sized bags. I sold a majority of them to some old guy’s playing cards. They wanted more a few days later because their wives wanted to make a pecan pie. I even negotiated a deal with the owner of the Bessemer Curb Market, but I changed my mind. It’s hard to believe that I had money laying on the ground in my back yard going to waste. But I didn’t see it because I had the wrong mindset. Most of us are in the same situation. We’re searching high and low for that big investment opportunity when the BEST options are right under your nose. I’ve thought about sharing these lessons, but most people are too impatient to receive them. But for the few with the desire to learn, I suggest purchasing The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clayson, and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. And when you’re serious about reaching another level, speak with a knowledgeable and experienced financial coach. May I suggest my sister Nadia B. Faucette at www.reddoorfc.com.
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