When my husband and I decided to start eating a plant-based diet last summer, I started to follow a lot of plant-based accounts on Instagram that share good tid-bits on things like meal prepping and how to make produce last longer. I also started to follow accounts of influencers who are plant-based so that I could feel like I was becoming a part of the plant-based community and could be encouraged to continue on my own journey to healthier eating. Tabitha Brown (@iamtabithabrown) is someone I followed because she regularly posts yummy looking plant-based recipes, but after following her for quite some time now, quick recipes are no longer what I appreciate most about Tabitha’s social media content.
While Tabitha is going about making her recipes in her videos, she is constantly suggesting ways to make the recipes your own, following up her suggestions with, “do it if you want, or not - honey that’s your business!” At first I thought the catchphrase was just that - a catchphrase - but she truly does mean it when she says “it’s your business.” Tabitha doesn’t concern herself with judging other people’s choices, and watching her videos has been a wonderful reminder for me to take on her mindset when I come across someone whom it takes a bit more effort to love and show grace to.
At the end of every video Tabitha does, she closes with: “Now go about your business, and have yourself a good day, but even if you can’t have a good one, don’t you dare go and mess up nobody else’s, alright? Okay. I love y’all!” I don’t need to know exactly what is making someone else a little cranky on a given day, that’s their business and we all have bad days; however, it is my business to show others the love and grace of God in how I respond to them.
I’m grateful for the light that Tabitha shines in my life, encouraging me to make the healthiest choices for my body and spirit with each video that I watch. My prayer for you and I, friend, is that we can take a page from Tabitha’s book and sprinkle a little Jesus in there: Go on about your business today and make it a good one. Choose patience and extravagant love, and show those around you the joy to be found in Jesus. But even if you can’t have a good one, know that Jesus still loves you, take a breath, and don’t you dare mess up anybody else’s good day, alright? Okay.
Written By: Jenny J. Spidell