Wisdom from Meraku (The Black Jew)
I love walking Tampa’s Riverwalk. I try to go there at least once a month to get some exercise, but mostly to clear my often overloaded head.
This morning I was going to go back to sleep but felt prompted to go down there. I thought, “This is either Jesus or the devil” because I was exhausted and needed the rest...but I also really wanted to go sit out on The Riverwalk.
After getting a sprouted bagel and green tea from Starbucks, I made my way over there. I initially was going to try to get there from the University of Tampa. The campus is beautiful and scenic, and I’ve never been there before, but I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to park on there, so I just went back to what was familiar.
After finding a free, 4-hour parking space, I journeyed to my favorite part of the Riverwalk: the swinging benches; this is where I feel like I connect best with God and with myself. Honestly, it’s because the swinging benches are fun and make me feel like a little girl again!
On my way over, I saw him. The same homeless looking man I’d seen before, wheelchair, dressed in all black, head covered, white beard. Sometimes he sits on the benches, but this morning he was perched at the foot of the Laurel Street Bridge greeting other walkers and runners also taking in the beauty, serene and quiet that is the Riverwalk.
He greeted me, I greeted him and continued to my swinging benches ready to be transported back in time to my 8-year-old self. I sat down on the last of the three swings and settled in for what I thought would be an hour of divine solitude and me-time.
But as I settled in, a thought crept into my head: ‘I wonder if that man is hungry’? Noooo!!! Okay, this wasn’t exactly the time for a thought like that to shove its way into my head. I mean…I was hungry...I wanted solitude…I needed rest. But the thought remained, so I made a deal with myself: ‘Okay, I’ll eat half of my toasted sprouted bagel, and I’ll offer the other half to him.’ I mean, you can’t serve on an empty stomach, right? You’ve got to eat before you can feed others…that sounds Biblical. Okay.
Deal sealed I ate my half of the bagel and then walked back over to make my offer. He greeted me again, “Good morning…Shalom!” I responded, “Hello, how are you?” He replies, “Set apart.” I thought…Uh oh, either this guy is about to drop some knowledge, or I just ran into a nut case.
I breathed in deeply and quietly exhaled as I braced myself for what was to come…
He’s an older looking black gentleman, with chocolate colored skin, white beard and white teeth. He has a welcoming demeanor, approachable, wise. Not exactly the word one might choose to describe a homeless person. He sat on the grass at the foot of the bridge, just under the sign.
Next to him was a black wheelchair. Under him lay two layers of blankets. Around him a black backpack, a slightly worn green, white and blue folder, a black petticoat, towelettes and two plastic containers of red sauce.
He said he had a message for me and invited me to take a seat with him. I politely, but immediately declined his offer to sit and I continued to stand. I offered him a bagel, but he also declined and said he didn’t need it or money. He was just out here to spread some wisdom and knowledge.
So I said, “Okay, what you got for me?” For the next hour, Meraku began to share some words that encouraged and affirmed me in areas of my life that he could never have known. He also said a lot of things that were weird and slightly questionable, but still insightful. I could go into all of it, but that’s not the point.
The point is: had I looked at him as just another black homeless man, I wouldn’t know that he is an intellect. He studied medicine and law and even passed the bar, but he felt God (whom he referred to by another name) had a different use for him. So for whatever series of unfortunate--or in his eyes fortunate--events led him to where he currently is, he truly, devoutly believes that he is right where God wants him to be.
Had I looked at him as someone who was just a broken, discarded piece of society, I would have missed how whole he actually is.
Now, the thought crossed my mind that he could just be lying, but that’s between him and the Lord. What I chose to focus on were the gems he gave me. So here it goes…
The Wisdom of Meraku (Paraphrased):
You’ve been wrestling with your convictions and standards. Keep wrestling. You’ll figure it out.
You’re a queen. Not because of your skin color, but because of who you are, you are royalty. You like to be held a certain way, treated a certain way.
You need to do you when it comes to your hair. You’ve been thinking about weaves and other things, but you don’t need that; you need to be you, not like other women.
You are beautiful; you don’t need to hide your beauty behind those sunglasses.
God wants you to be open and receive.
Don’t let the way you’ve been taught about branding and design stop you from doing things your way. You have a specific way you’re supposed to do things. Don’t try to be like anyone else (he shared this after he asked me what I do).
You’ve been given a specific way you’re supposed to run your business; honor God in that.
You need to change your perspective on black men. They know how to love you a specific way that no other man can understand.
He said a lot of other things (which I’ll share at the end) that weren’t for me, but I walked away feeling very encouraged and amazed at God. Like I said earlier, there’s no way he could have known that I’ve been wrestling with insecurity and questions about my convictions. He couldn’t have known that I‘ve been wounded multiple times by some of the black men I’ve dated or liked and have carried that hurt in throughout my life or that I had just prayed days before for healing for this specific thing.
He couldn’t have known about the insecurities I feel towards my beauty and my hair. He couldn’t have known the wrestlings I felt in my business and how I’ve wondered if I’m missing the boat somehow with my approach (because it is unique). He couldn’t have known unless God shared those things with him.
Again, not everything he said was for me. While I am open to hearing varying viewpoints on religion, spirituality and other important matters, I also believe it’s important to test everything you hear.
I took away the good from the bad and received something that will bring freedom to those areas in my heart and life. SO big takeaway: keep your eyes and ears open because you never know where you’ll find God (or in my case, where He’ll find you). He just may show up in the form of an older homeless man sitting at the foot of a bridge.
Now for other pieces of “wisdom” from Meraku:
Lay off green tea (not because of what’s in it, but who makes it…Monsato is basically evil, he says).
Social media is a modern day form of Black Friday (apparently it has origins in slavery, not shopping) for black women…it’s disgusting, he said.
Drink alkaline water after working out. It’s what you do after the workout that matters.
Your office can be anywhere, even outside on the grass.
You wouldn’t have gotten bit by that ant had you sat down (I did get bit)
Black people don’t need to run (that’s for white people), we just need to eat the food that the Father provided for us…(welp…)
His cousin Tupac (yes…that Tupac) is still out here doing the same thing as him, just under a different name with a long beard and an unshaved head (yep, he said that).
He asked me if I’d be open to meeting with him regularly to follow up with him, review his music and share some of my marketing tips in exchange for more of his wisdom. I politely declined that offer and went to this all down and finish the other half of my bagel.
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