Stay in Your Lane
I was just a
girl when I met Mother Moore, but she was already ancient. Mother Moore was my
godmother’s mother and she was real deep.
Mother Moore
rarely spoke, but when she did, everyone stopped whatever they were doing to
hear the words they would all head.
“Mother
Moore is special,” I was told. “She hears from God and when she tells you
something, you better be listening.”
I kept
waiting for Mother Moore to “speak into my life,” as it was called but it seemed
like forever.
She would
sit for hours with her eyes closed but I knew she was not asleep. Sometimes she’d
just stare into space and then she’d turn and look at you. The truth is, Mother
Moore was kind of spooky so I was hoping she never told me anything.
Mother Moore
was a big woman and when she finally spoke to me, I knew why everyone listened.
He voice vibrated and you could actually feel her words.
She looked
deep into my eyes and spoke the words that always come back to me guiding my
every decision: “Stay on the side of right,” she said.
I expected
her to say something more, but that was it. She closed her eyes and went back
to wherever it was that she went.
“Stay on the
side of right,” didn’t mean much to me as a kid. I was hoping for something
like, “You will be great one day,” or at least “Get out of Wilmington,” but I
got “stay on the side of right.”
I can’t
begin to tell you how frequently those words ring in my ears. They have been a
constant reminder that even when I want to do what seems good I need to go a
step further and stay on the side of right.
The area of “right” may not seem
clear to you at first, but throughout my years, I have learned that the side of
right comes with a neon sign.
So here’s my Mother Moore message to
you; when others are doing whatever they please and seem to be getting away
with it, you stay on the side of right.
When you feel like you want to haul
off and slap someone because they are due; stay on the side of right.
When you feel the need to quit and
throw in the towel on something that requires your love and dedication; stick
to it and stay on the side of right.
When you don’t know where to go or
what to do next; stay on the side of right.
Be you, be well, be
true.
Bertice Berry, PhD.
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