Birthday Reflections

In case you never thought about it, we celebrate our first birthday on the first anniversary of the day we were born. So today I celebrate the 69th anniversary of the day I was born which means I have already completed 69 years of life and I am entering my 70th year. To God be all the glory!

In my 69 years I have seen so much history unfold that today’s children will only read about in books. I remember going to segregated schools, movies and restaurants. I remember sitting in the back of city busses, not realizing that I HAD to sit back there. I remember watching President Kennedy’s funeral on a little black and white tv with my Grandmother. I remember participating in a civil rights march in downtown Memphis as a teenager and being tear gassed just for being there.

Other memories are more personal. I remember growing up in circumstances so poor that we did not even own a car – so I remember walking to Cummings elementary school and to St. Paul Baptist Church. I remember the pain of being ridiculed for being the “fat kid” in junior high school. I remember having my dreams of being a writer crushed by not getting a spot on my high school newspaper staff in spite of being a straight A student. I remember being made to feel as if I did not deserve my entrance into Washington University because affirmative action allowed me to “steal a spot” from a white student. I remember being the first college graduate in my family. I remember feeling out of place in a medical school class where only one other student was black and female! I could go on and on.

The fact that this chubby little black girl from South Memphis has been a been in private practice as a physician for nearly 40 years is nothing short of a miracle. Every time God closed a door, he opened another one! Proverbs 16:9 says “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.” Every morning I wake up grateful to God for ordering my steps and for getting to live another day of this remarkably blessed life. I cannot thank Him enough! As Jill Scott would say, I am “representing His glory, hope He’s proud of me.”#blessed #livinmylifelikeit’sGolden

Yvonne Moore

“Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit.” 3 John‬ ‭1:2‬ ‭NLT‬‬