Community advocates sow seeds that transform lives and just like seeds sown on concrete it shows that God waters everything for his purpose…even an unknown seed in the crack of concrete can produce a beautiful rose.
Greetings my fellow Pen Session Jammers, and Happy 2024!
Twenty-Seven|27 is hoping your year started with new goals and purpose, or you’ve stayed the course of a journey in motion. Come with us as we jump into the second month of the year by highlighting community warriors chosen for change!
Recently I came across an article in my local neighborhood paper highlighting the 50-year marriage and community of my first-grade teacher, Mrs. Lynne Bryant. The article transported me back to the 6-year-old me and brought back so many memories. The Porch Press Writer, Robert M. Sarwark without knowing guided me to the moment I decided to choose art and began thinking like an artist.
For years, I dedicated my love of camping, and art to this beautiful soul as my testimony of how God confirmed who I was starting with her words. She worked at my Atlanta inner-city elementary school, Gresham Park.
She also lived in my community and cared about me as a student and as a person in her neighborhood. She helped shape me in many ways, she tutored me after school in her home, she included me in her Church Girl Scout troop, and she recommended I attend a local art school to my parents. Her advocating on my behalf and seeing more in me was the sowing of seeds that flourished throughout my life.
Reading the article showed me, that’s who Lynne Bryant is…she was chosen to change people, to sow silent seeds that she wouldn’t necessarily see the benefits from.
Since that time with Mrs Bryant, I have camped worldwide and given my family the love of camping. I’ve studied art and been blessed to walk through many famous museums and be wowed by the brilliant minds of artists throughout history. However, my greatest gift from Mrs. Bryant was an understanding of speaking value to children. Seeing something in them, and helping them see it in themselves; while showing them how to pull it out and make it tangible. This deep understanding of how precious gifts are has helped my children. You see the seeds she gave me allowed me to plant in ways I could never fathom.
Thinking of the great things Mrs. Bryant planted in me made me think of the Beyond Brunch women’s faith meet-up group founded by Wendy Edwards. I was introduced to this community group in December 2022 where I experienced sisterhood, support, and a round table of positive conversation. I was blessed to join most of the Beyond Brunch 2023 meetups and each month the heartfelt topics touched and healed my soul.
Edwards brunch derived from the COVID pandemic, in a time when women were feeling more alone than ever and after difficult moments in her own life she chose to be “chosen for change” by giving women a safe place to discuss faith and life. She told me, “I desired to teach in ministry, and God touched me and asked if I send you one, will you teach the one”? Thankfully for the women of Beyond Brunch, she replied, “Yes”.
Beyond Brunch meets every 2nd Saturday and showcases local eateries and small businesses in the Temecula, CA area.
Each month there are fun themes and topics, but the star of the show is the positive conversation with women in the community.
Since 2022 she has grown Beyond Brunch by women being moved to bring other women because the experience is that powerful. Edward’s brunches showed me the seeds we give, continue the cycle of giving, and
even if the table is full there is room for more. In 2024 she’s expanded her love of sisterhood, by adding networking and community outreach and I’m excited about what God is doing through her and the future of Beyond Brunch! If you’d like to check out a brunch please reach out to Wendy Edwards at: beyondbrunch19@gmail.com
You see teachers and leaders are interchangeable and both titles are in gardens of concrete. When you are chosen for change you don’t necessarily get the memo you were chosen. However, you get the urge to want to roll up your sleeves and get involved. You become a warrior in the battle to help the people around you become better. There's a process to continuing the cycle of change. You start with a deposit of a part of you into someone else which is the seed, and then without knowing which the unknowing is considered the concrete, that seed blooms in the community and creates a garden of love and dedication.
I’m more than positive that Mrs. Bryant at Gresham Park Elementary in Atlanta, GA didn’t start her seed throwing with me, but has sown in many places with many people and made a true impact on this world. I'm also sure she's completed this without a thank you from each person she’s touched.
Beyond Brunch’s possibilities are limited less with how many lives “one” woman can change one woman at a time, but seed sowing doesn’t stop with these two women. I urge you to move forward if you have seeds to plant. Don’t allow doubt, money, detailed plans, or any other small thing to keep you from being chosen to change.
I can think of many people and organizations that have sparked a change in my life, however I start with these two phenomenal humans.
Why you ask? To show that there are never enough people chosen to change the world. Remember, we were all created to do something, so why not make that something make a change?
(Check Out Our Blog Post How Do You Know You are doing what you were created to do?
I AM THE SEEDS SOWN IN ME
Twenty-Seven|27 would love to connect the community to those chosen to change. These spaces help us feel at home. If you have an event or a group that you’d like to share, please contact us. We’d love to join and share!
