By Terry Allen
Big Mama had a way of seeing something in you before you could see it in yourself.
My grandmother, Lucille “Big Mama” Allen, came from a generation that believed in correction. I grew up in a household where somebody might tell you, “Go get me a switch.” You knew what that meant.
But age has taught me something: correction without direction can stop behavior, but it doesn’t always develop the person.
Sometimes what we call a young man’s problem is really an undeveloped gift.
I learned that through mentoring.
I once worked with a young man who was gambling and running numbers. Now, I wasn’t going to celebrate the behavior. Wrong is wrong. But I also refused to believe his mistakes represented the totality of who he was.
I looked underneath the behavior.
This young brother understood numbers. He understood money, calculation and risk. His gift wasn’t gambling. His gift was his mind. So I introduced him to another image: Mansa Musa, the legendary African ruler whose name became synonymous with extraordinary wealth, commerce and economic power. to The message was simple: You already have something inside you. Now what are you going to do with it? That young man redirected his abilities. What had been operating in the wrong environment found purpose through education, accounting and legitimate business. Today, he has built a leading Bookkeeping firm in California’s East Bay.
That is what mentoring can do. It is also why I created programs like City MenTor and why, for 25 years, City Men Cook has celebrated fathers, mentors and men who show up. Mentoring isn’t creating somebody in our image. It is helping somebody recognize what God already placed inside them. I thnaks GOd for allys ike Pastor Keith Lofton who helpe me keep the programs grunded in Faith.
Scripture tells us to “fan into flame the gift of God.” — 2 Timothy 1:6.
Somebody reading this has a gift that survived mistakes, disappointment, rejection, bad decisions and maybe even your own attempts to bury it.
But it survived.Now comes the question Big Mama might ask
Baby, if God restored your gift, who are you using it to restore?
Don’t just celebrate your comeback. Reach back. Find somebody whose gift came wrapped wrong—and help them unwrap it.
Big Mama said: Don’t throw away the gift. Redirect it. Develop it. Then give it away.
Terry Allen is an NABJ award-winning Journalist, DEI expert, PR professional, and – Vice President at FocusPR, founder of the charity City Men Cook, and Dallas Chapter President of NBPRS.org
