Monday, April 18, 2011

Age and Wormholes


If I were to travel back in time ten years to be face to face with myself I would tell the girl before me…


You are fearfully and wonderfully made with a purpose.  ~Psalm 139:14~
Hold fast to the ‘local color’ within your skin and the meaningful traditions that define your surname.  Keep in good care your own sense of what is Hollow, your own God-given moral compass, your own aesthetic preferences, and most importantly your own mind.

Soulmates are not unicorns.
They are real and are not necessarily confined to the forms of boyfriends or husbands.  The first soulmates that you had the pleasure of meeting are your mother and father.

Love is sufficient unto itself.  ~Kahlil Gibran~ 
It does not require you to put on a tailored suit in a review of your qualifications.  Love finds you worthy just as you are in sneakers and jeans.

Self righteousness is anathema.
Be vigilant.  Be leery of those who carry Jesus’ cross weighted upon their shoulders only to bludgeon you with it.  There are no saints, only rehabilitated sinners.  And everyone relapses.

Pure intentions are hard to come by.
The right arm of any manipulator is charm.

Think before you join forces with any entity.
Having the right answers is not a prerequisite but having the right questions is the hoe that allows you to separate the wheat from the tare.

Forgive but in your forgetting do not allow your heart, time, resources, and empathy to be misused again.
In ten years you will have atleast ten long handled spoons.  Keep them in pristine condition and acquire more if necessary.

God is sovereign.
Know that the Most High is in control but also know that there is no shame in asking, “Lord, help thou mine unbelief.”  ~Mark 9:24~

But as a time traveler I know that such an act would disrupt the space-time continuum, the reality that allows for wisdom to be gained by experience.

 Live Long And Prosper In Spirit














Thursday, April 7, 2011

To Be or Not To Be...Under The Steeple?



Will you be reading Hebrews 10: 24-25 in solitude on a park bench or reciting 1 Timothy 2: 5-6 in unison with a congregation?  Will it be church altar call or in-home devotional?  How will you seek God’s face?  Is positioning your posterior in a pew still relevant in our modern age?  According to the article “Shifting Faith” by Adrienne Samuels Gibbs in the April, 2011 issue of Ebony Magazine there is a growing number of individuals opting to exempt themselves from Sunday morning services to prostrate before God in a more intimate fashion, alone.   I love my church family but, truth be told, I don’t always like church.  I think there is something to be said for communing with God on your own terms.  Sometimes the organization of religion can befuddle the process in its efforts to officiate.  But on the other end of the spectrum – church can be a spiritual meeting ground, a grand opportunity for fellowship with God through relationship with people.  Church can most assuredly be the salve that warms the cold ache of spiritual void.  Ideally, it is a north star for the wandering soul, leading back to God’s manger. 

As for me – I’m what you would call a ‘sitting on the steps’ kind of girl.  I’m in the church house but not of it.  I don’t stand with my right hand over my heart to the brick and mortar of man.  The thing is – my present walk is the sum total of my experiences and through the sunshine and rain of it all I’ve discovered that going to church is a tool that aids but does not inform in its totality my spiritual ins and outs.  I go only when I feel lead to do so.  In my acquisition of God’s glory I unabashedly hold to Christianity without making any apologies for taking divine instruction in the sacred verses of other faiths.  Where there is a premise of Love (God) there shall my heart be also.   I believe Alice Walker put it best when she wrote, “Any God I ever felt in church I brought in with me.  And I think all the other folks did too!” Prosper in spirit.     

Link to Ebony Magazine article "Shifting Faith"

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Chain Me!

Don’t get me wrong – I’m all for a good dose of encouragement via email.  But when it comes with stipulations attached I get a little leery.  I‘m starting to fancy these seemingly well meaning emails as some form of a Christian hex.   Generally, the intent of these emails is benign, passing along a good laugh or words to lift your spirits.  But here’s the kicker – at the end of each you are instructed to forward OR ELSE!    Are there incantations being placed over URL addresses the moment someone presses delete?   What happens if I don’t forward said iprayer, itestimony, or iscripture of the week?  Well, your blessings get rescinded of course silly!  POOF, BE GONE BLESSINGS!  Oh and don’t forget the possibility of being plagued by a few menial curses.  Swatting away at locust as they airlift your ham and cheese sandwich into oblivion is a lunch break nuisance that one hopes will lend itself to a Passover option.  The last chain mail I received was a heartfelt prayer with a picture of Jesus blazoning in the background.  It ended with a promise to strip me of job opportunities and vanquish my loved ones if I failed to forward it to at least twenty people.  And well, I promptly deleted it.  Normally, I'm pretty tickled with this Christian brand of cyber antics.  But I must admit after this latest mouse click of good riddance I felt a twinge of worry.  I thought, 'What if?'  It felt a little too daring.  What would a REAL Christian do?  How would a bonafide holy roller handle such a dilemma?  Would they forward or would they delete?  Well, since I'm not in danger of achieving sainthood - I have no clue.  But maybe offering up a 'hail Mary' and avoiding all cracks on a stroll to Damascus will suffice in my case.   Who knows?  I think I'll do what any card carrying Christian would do.  Pray?  Nah, this situation requires a more practical tactic, a rabbit's foot with a four leaf clover between its toes lightly spritz with holy water to be placed in my pant pocket.  Yep, sounds like a straight and narrow plan to me!