The Fruit of Gladness by Jon D. Jervey

Author:Jon D. Jervey
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-63885-065-6
Publisher: Covenant Books
Published: 2021-11-18T03:44:17+00:00

Personal Accounts

Understanding the importance of the fruit of gladness has been extremely beneficial in my personal journey. I would like to share different phases and events during my journey, with an expectation that my transparency will help someone else.

Childhood

As a five-year-old, my amazing mother, Cynthia Mayo, and I initially lived with my grandparents on the East Side of Wilmington, for the first couple of years, considering my parents were not married at the time of my birth. My mother, who I love with all of my heart, eventually married my late stepfather, Roger L. Williams—God rest his soul—and we proceeded to move to a house in North Wilmington. I loved being with my mother who has sacrificed, loved, and supported my interest and dreams for my entire life. I was so comfortable at my grandparent’s house that I dreaded the move.

As a child, I believed that my state of gladness was contingent on a location and my surroundings and not sparked from within. This is a misunderstanding of where the place of gladness is birthed from that many adults make.

As a young child, I conjured up a lie that I will never forget. I told my grandmother, Bettye Jervey—may God rest her soul—that I was only being fed raisin bread cereal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I figured that she would bring me back to her house without qualifying the source. Well, I shared this story with my grandmother who could not wait until my mother got off work to pick me up from her house. My mother arrived, and my grandmother requested to speak with us upstairs, in the bedroom, to keep it all confidential. Mom Bettye repeated what I said and asked me, in front of my mother, if the story was true. I had no idea that I would be confronted with having to tell the truth in front of two people that I love with all of my heart. I was compelled to admit in front of my mother and grandmother that I told a lie. My plan to move back in with my grandparents was foiled, and I obviously learned some very valuable lessons including conflict resolution tactics, which I still use until this day.

To keep this in context, I will focus on the nuggets of wisdom gleaned about gladness being more of what is within me and not by stories I conjure up or where I may be living at the moment. I ultimately enjoyed the time spent on the East Side and the friends who became family, relationships, and teammates after school that I met and treasure to this day. In like manner, I matured and enjoyed the time spent on the North Side of Wilmington in the evening and on the weekends.

Through this process, most of us have come to the realism of how organic, genuine friendships must grow. A few years later, another friendship and brotherhood was birthed. Angel and I were college teammates at Delaware Tech. By the end of the year, the team faced some challenges that caused a divide.

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