Drey’s December Recap & The Book Club’s Book of January

December Reflections

Good evening Sipsters! During December, I curl under a blanket with my favorite mug of tea to reflect on my past year and envision the next. This tradition allows me to engage in a lengthy process of gratitude while also sifting through the year’s shortcomings. And I must say; 2021 was hard! We thought that after creating a vaccine in record-breaking time, we would be free from the hold of COVID-19. However, we have seen the emergence of variant after variant with rampant vaccine hesitation and misinformation. With this ever-present threat in the backdrop, I experienced many setbacks. I didn’t get into medical school, something I had been preparing for the past ten years. I had my first adult falling out with a friend who I thought knew me. And I moved to back to Boston with no job and no plan for the first time in my life. Needless to say, I was lost and confused as all get out.

When I realized that medical school would not be a reality for me in 2021, I faced a difficult question. I had put my science/medicine passions on hold because God had called me to mission. While I have no regrets about my journey into and in mission, it was a tumultuous two years. I didn’t believe that God was calling me to another hard year on mission. But without the “safety” of returning as a missionary, that would mean that God was calling me into deep waters. And if I were to go into the deep, would I not drown?

My proudest moment of 2021 is wrapped with my deepest despair. In my rejection, I chose to trust and hope. I turned down multiple job offers that didn’t “feel” right or peaceful. I looked like a fool to those looking in, including my parents. No one understood how I could keep turning jobs down with the hope of my “dream job.”. I was consistently choosing the hard and trusting that God had bigger plans for me. Maverick City’s Chandler Moore and Dante Bowe’s “Wait on You” got me through this season.

“They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

Isaiah 40:31

However, there were very dark hours. There was a period of time that I couldn’t pray or even attend Mass because I felt betrayed by God. I wasn’t seeing or talking to friends because I feared they would realize that I was struggling. I feared they would think I was a scam. I had always appeared to have deep trust and here I was in serious doubt of God as a personal and good Parent. I ran back to my toxic coping mechanisms. I eventually reached out, went on a virtual retreat, and sought therapy. Through these actions, the dust was removed from my eyes and I was able to see that God showed up and showed out even during my doubt.

In that time of doubt with a hint of trust, God began to reveal my bigger dreams. Dreams that I had buried deep down and didn’t even remember that I had. God began to show me aspects of the personalities of the different Persons in the Trinity and how those aspects were present in me. I got my planner and executor from the Father; the dreamer and compassion from the Son; and my love for chaos and adventure from the Spirit. And with these dreams and personality traits, I realized that the Trinity was calling me to things that were bigger than I could ever imagine. And that was chaotically exciting!

While a part of me is still saddened by not being in medical school this year, I’ve been in the process of undoing and unlearning. I had put my life and dreams on hold for med school, believing that I must only have one dream at a time.

During the last few months, I have been dreaming bigger dreams and actually trusting that they would come to fruition. I have been putting action into these dreams and stepping into the Nigerian prayer warrior that my parents bred me to be and bringing God’s ear down to my prayers. I’ve begun to hope, the process of groaning and yearning for something to happen while believing that it will happen that very evening. My Igbo name, Chinemezu, means God fulfills promises. And God has been fulfilling promises even I didn’t know were promises. With that, I have begun to write down every dream or wish that I have so that as they occur, I can remember God’s promise from 1 Thessalonians 5:24.

Book of January: The New Jim Crow

One of the dreams for January 2022 is to finish “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.” I started this book about a year ago; however, I put it down for some reason or the other and have been feeling drawn to return. During the first couple chapters of the book, I felt anger and despair. For one of the richest countries in the world who makes it their business to be in everybody else’s business about their humanitarian crises, it doesn’t make sense as to why we have not solved the mass incarceration problem. To top it off, we still haven’t figured out that it is a remnant of the racist institution of slavery that founded this country.

During my first go at the book, I wanted a tribe who was also reading the book to bounce ideas around. This time around, I’m not making the same mistake. I would like to invite yall to join me in reading The New Jim Crow next month. However, I want o challenge yall to read it differently. I invite you to write down the emotions and feelings your reading brings up. Also, write down the dreams and ideas that the various chapters invoke within your soul. I have been actively reading this way with many non-fiction books. It allows me not to yell or go into the abyss when I learn hard truths. I practice my dreaming big skills while also honing my critical reading skills.

So during your reading, don’t be afraid to leave comments with your ideas, questions, or thoughts. If we have enough interest, we could also have a virtual discussion about the book (while sipping our favorite teas of course). How would you solve the problem of mass incarceration?

I do believe that we are more creative and brilliant than we give ourselves credit for. I believe that the Book Club should not only be a place where we read books but also where our creative juices flow. It would be amazing to see dreams coming from our readings. I hope that in reading this book, you take your feelings and channel them into dreams and eventually action. That’s my action plan and hopefully, it can become yours too.

Stay Blessed & Stay Sippin’
Drey

Disclaimer: Though influenced by the institutions that formed me, the views expressed here are those of my own at a specific snapshot in time. I make no promises that said ideas will remain constant as I age.