ACE #135: Cream of the Crop

Cream of the Crop (Urban Dictionary)

The best of the best. Being the cream of the crop is being the best of something, it ranges from sports to school, to just being awesome. If someone says you're cream of the crop, you're better, smarter, more athletic, and just cooler than everyone else.

 

I remember when I was having a difficult time on my job and I wanted to move into a different department at the same workplace.  I asked one of the directors if he could transfer me over to his department so that I could get out of the current position I was in.  He proceeded to tell me that he had helped other people before and it hadn't served him well.  He used an analogy about how you have a cup of latte or cappuccino and the gunk is at the bottom.  Sometimes when you stir from the bottom, the stuff at the bottom is so concentrated and sometimes not as pleasurable; yet the cream always rises to the top.  If someone is the "cream of the crop" they will rise to the top.

 

At the end of the encounter, I was so furious I was on the verge of tears and all I could see was red.  Yes, my feelings were hurt because he didn't want to help me, but I was mostly angry because I felt like he was alluding to the fact that I WASN'T the cream of the crop.  He had me all messed up...and was all wrong.  He had NO idea who I was for real.  But today, I am grateful for that encounter.  It taught me several things.

 

1. Some people forget where they came from...when they had to start at the bottom.

2.  Everyone doesn't see the potential or the promise in you.

3.  Some people just don't have it in them to help others because they think they got wherever they are on their own...not by the grace of others and of God.

4.  Learn how to identify an advocate or a mentor who is actually for you.

5.  Don't let others dictate your destiny, kill your dream, poison your spirit, or dim your light.

6.  Don't stay in a job where you're invisible no matter how hard you work.

 

Honestly, after that encounter I couldn't stand him and had lost all respect for him as a professional.  I didn't realize until today, when I saw him in the post office, that I probably just forgave him today.  He asked me how things were going.  I told him they were great, I couldn't even complain.  His response, "I could."  My response, "For what?  It probably wouldn't do you any good." He said, "You're right.  Nobody wants to hear it."

 

What I took away from that encounter was that even though he makes three times the amount of money that I do, I was the one that had the JOY. 

 

Maybe to that one man, I'll still never be the "cream of the crop".  But to God, I've always been!  In the words of my dear friend, Rochelle O., "See you at the top!"

 

Nehemiah 8:10

King James Version

¹⁰ Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

 

 

 

 

Beams and light and joy exude from within me.
“Light shines on the godly, and joy on those whose hearts are right.” Psalm 97:11

 

When you realize your self-worth, beauty and joy in Christ, you have the fearlessness to step into your destiny and Reign…

I am a victor.
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Romans 8:37