WEDNESDAY THOUGHTS: FREEDOM

I had a WONDERFUL time at historic Blues Alley last night. 

For me, music is oxygen. 

To be in the company of music makers and those who appreciate good music, is so refreshing...no drama...just harmony, mutual respect and cooperation. 

It’s just nice, but then there are always the smirking gawkers who can't enjoy what's happening, because they're too busy wondering what you're doing in their supposed lane. Their worry is toxic and so unnecessary.

This world is gigantic.There's so much room for everyone to grow and shine.  

Many should stop competing with, throwing shade at, and being intimidated by people who aren't even interested in running...ain't laced up nary a running shoe...who are just enjoying the scenery on the track, every now and then. 

Many are actually happy to cheer others on from the bleachers. If some people would just slow down, lose the shady, paranoid air, and see there's no impediment (human or otherwise) to their goal, they'd enjoy their own run so much better. 

What'd my friend Billie say? "God knows a lot of people". 

Yep--and he hasn't run out of stuff OR opportunities.

Is it me, or would some prefer that you do nothing at all? Could it be that some have established places where they think you belong, and should remain? Do others want you to be bored, flat broke and floundering until they beckon? Do they want you on mute and inactive, unless it is on their terms, or according to their timelines, preferences, and standards? 

#aintnobodygottimeforthat

I pack boxes, wrap boxes, open boxes, even tear up boxes, so they'll fit into the recycling bin. I don't willingly stuff myself inside those constructed by other people.  

#ILikeToBreathe 

#smilingtoday
 

FRIDAY THOUGHTS: POWER GAMES

Someone is listening to your every word. 

You may not know it, because you're too busy impressing the people in your circle who think the same way you do. 

Your plans involve human beings. 

You, however, feel superior to others, so your plans often ignore the wants and needs of your fellow man. 

Your bold, brash, arrogant, thoughtlessly spoken words may sound great to you, but they're making someone else very anxious and afraid--

someone who may be weary; 

someone who may not be stable; 

someone who is oppressed; 

someone who means you no harm; 

someone who just wants to live in peace. 

Your words and actions are relentless, selfish, and inconsiderate. 

Those who hear you, feel they must find a way to fight back, but they are not as powerful as you are.

Finally, those who are shaken by your words and actions, become enraged. 

Those who you have bullied and disregarded, because they are not like you, or because you feel entitled to what they have, just SNAP. 

You blame them for responding to their fear; 

for demanding their rights to exist; 

for feeling they have to do something--anything-- to get your attention and make you stop, and see their humanity.

What are leaders of nations saying and doing that is striking fear into the hearts of men and women, who then feel they have no alternative than to lash out in deadly ways? 

What is it, for which leaders and governments must acknowledge, apologize, and repent? 

No one is ever angry for nothing. 

Things don't just happen. 

Someone is doing or saying something offensive, provocative, and dangerous. 

There are reasons why people do what they do, but too often we are only preoccupied with the reaction--not the action that led to it. 

Someone foolishly started a ball rolling, but never dreamed it would result in such destruction.

The atrocities we often see are the ANSWERS to what people in high places have started. 

The people in high places, however, are safe. 

Their families are safe. 

Innocents celebrating in the streets, or just going about their daily routines, are not.

Woe to leaders in--any capacity--who see human beings as dispensable pawns in their power games.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

When you make a recommendation, two reputations are at stake. The last thing you want to hear is that someone you hailed as competent did a mediocre job, or didn't show up at all. 
When opportunities arise for you to put in a good word for someone, or suggest someone for a job, do the same faithful few come to mind? 
I'm noticing that "no drama" is a frequent stipulation when people ask, "Do you know of someone who could_______? No matter how well someone executes a task, bringing drama to the table is the difference between getting the job and being overlooked. 
Let your demeanor give you a boost, and not be the reason your name was taken out of the running. Whatever the task, do it well. It's encouraging to know that someone else was confident that you would.

SATURDAY THOUGHTS: GOOD SHEPHERD

There are times when technology is such a lovely thing.

 

My Dad's pastor sent a phone message that I assume was sent to the entire congregation. Imagine, a shepherd sensing how recent events have impacted the hearts of the people. Imagine a leader not concerned about celebrations, pledges, or building bigger barns, but about the mental and physical well being of sheep. Imagine a shepherd thinking about them, looking for them, and emphasizing the need for them to come together tomorrow--to magnify God, and not the problems; to encourage one another, and pray. 

Wow. 

That shouldn't be rare.

#Nice

FRIDAY THOUGHTS: POETRY PROMPT---ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

You've been smacking me EVERY day for as long as I can remember. 

I do nothing. 

I move. 

I stay out of your way. 

I don't fight back. 

I forgive. 

I try to make sense of it; understand it; excuse it; bind up my wounds, ice my bruises, and keep smiling. 

You KEEP on smacking me! 

I look forward to the day when you stop smacking me, and I'll finally stop saying "ouch" and crying all the doggone time. 

One day, I realize that I will NOT stop crying and being in pain, until I pick up a 2"x4' and clock you upside the head. 

Then, because you don't like pain or crying--especially not initiated by MY hand, you get mad and call ME violent! 

HUH? 

Why can't you just stop smacking me when I ask you to? 

Why can't you acknowledge that you're hurting me? 

Why won't you just leave me alone? 

Is my mere EXISTENCE bothering you that much? 

Is it because you think you have a RIGHT to smack me, think you're superior to me, and I should just take it? 

Is it SPORT for you to harm me? 
Are you afraid that one day, I'm going to get up enough nerve to knock the stew out of you just so you can see how it feels? 

Are you sensing the power of my long delayed punch? 

Is THAT why you're afraid now? 

Are you realizing that at some point, I'm going to say, "Enough is enough" just like YOU would? 

Are you afraid that you have gone too far, and DESERVE what's coming to you?

 
Don't EVER be surprised when your victim snaps, and stops the fight YOU started.

What we are taught, and what we experience, shapes us. 

Now we have a name.  

The deceased shooter was trained to fight the enemy; trained to defend his life. 

In his own country, in spite of his service to it; in spite of his good deeds, clean record, and academic achievement, HE was, like his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, brothers, uncles, and male cousins, the perceived threat. 

The monster. 

The brut. 

The thug. 

He saw those who looked like him picked off by those in authority, one by one, with no repercussion. 

He saw men, who looked like him, lose their lives unnecessarily; left to bleed in the streets like slaughtered hogs. 

What did that do to him? Did he wonder when he would be next? 

Who did he come to see as his real enemy? 

Men in Afghanistan who'd NEVER done anything to oppress him? Who did this soldier's perplexed, exhausted mind tell him he had to fight? 

When he devised a strategy, reached for his weapon,  and headed out into the streets, where did he think he was? 

Did he tell himself that his enemy was closer than he thought, armed, wearing a uniform, and bearing legal authority to kill him at whim? 

Is it a wonder he snapped?

Is America, with its long, shameful affinity to #racism and oppression, spreading, not democracy, but denial and mental illness?

God help us. 

I know you do, but a little more help, please.

VIOLENCE IS NOT THE ANSWER

"Violence is not the answer."

The somber phrase spoken by those

Who have consistently visited violence upon others

As families mourn the murders of their fathers and brothers

It is also the phrase oppressors demand 

That the oppressed preach to their own

In fear that they'll reap the violence

They've so often sown

"Violence is not the answer"

I kill you

Because you kill me?

My place in your society

Was not by choice, but by force 

Unspeakable cruelty was, of course

The way you kept me and mine in line

Yet

You still hate me?

Still see me as less than?

Still screaming for me to "go back"

So that you will no longer have to face

Your evil past; the ease you lack

Your schemes have failed

I am still here in this place

You deem yours alone

Yet in every place, the blood of my ancestors

Cry from the Earth

And I am still here

And you still hate me

In this, my place of birth?

 

You know what you and yours have done

You simply dread to face it

I remind you of your wicked heart

Your sickness; you can't take it

You saw me as less than human

Yet I am here and thriving

You've done all you can to ruin me

You hate that I'm presiding

 

"Violence is not the answer"

Speak it to yourself

Speak it before you raise hand or gun

To destroy someone else

Who could help you heal 

Open your eyes

Give you a sense of peace

Speak it, before you justify

Harming someone like me

Is it ever surprising when a person who has been repeatedly punched and kicked cries out and wildly fights back? What happens in the minds of the oppressed? Is it any wonder that more people have not snapped? Fortunately, more people condemn hate than embrace it.

People SHOULD be afraid that the misery they have visited onto others is on it's way to their houses.

Greatest fears are realized when what you set into motion to mow down someone else rolls up to your door. If you want mercy, fairness and understanding for yourself, you can't continually, legally deny it to others.

Sowing and reaping are not just financial and agricultural principles. Until you acknowledge what your role in the dysfunction you face; apologize, and make amends, the individuals who have been impacted by your selfishness, insensitivity, sense of superiority, lies, injustice, cruelty, and scheming will always be in a state of disease, waiting, protesting, complaining, and simmering. Don't ever expect sustained peace if you only enjoy it, not because it is right, good and reasonable, but because it is mandated and maintained by force, manipulation, and evil doing. 

 

After a while, people get tired of being bullied, oppressed, denied, disregarded and debased. Some will accept the abuse as normal, surrender, find ways to cope, or through faith see their anxiety subside. Others, out of sheer frustration, will boil over, not caring whether innocents are scalded. When your cause is unjust and inhumane; when your heart lacks love and compassion; when you are operating on a lie, when you refuse to acknowledge the humanity of others, when you are motivated by fear, you should always, soberly think about how what you start will finish.

CAREGIVER DIARIES: GENUINE HELP

Yesterday was a long, sweltering, but lovely day. 

I witnessed the outpouring of love and respect to someone who had spent his life in unselfish, relentless service to others. 

Yesterday, I saw a family united and strong. It was so moving and beautiful. Their gratitude to everyone who participated in the celebration of their loved one was sincere and genuine. 
People don't have to be kind. When they are, the impact is tangible.

The text I just read made me smile. 

It's nice when people wake up with you on their minds. 

Four days in a row, someone has reached out to either ask, "What can I do?", or they just decided they would give, or lend a hand.

 
Today's text read, "Don't worry about lunch. I've got it". 

Then they even bothered to ask if what they'd thought of was appropriate. 

It's funny. Some people boast of what they've done, but it hasn't been in the interest of my Dad nor me. If one is going to do something supposedly for someone, shouldn't it be something they at least like, can handle, need, want, or will appreciate?


I read James 1:2-3. 

"You want what you don’t have, so you kill to get it. 

You long for what others have, and can’t afford it, so you start a fight to take it away from them. And yet the reason you don’t have what you want is that you don’t ask God for it. And even when you do ask you don’t get it, because your whole aim is wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure."

That's a stinging indictment, but it's true, and I've experienced it. There are those who have made caregiving difficult because they want something from my Dad; they think they're entitled to what my parents worked for. They see and know what specific needs are, but would rather sit back and hope we're suffering. They've even advised him against obtaining things that would be of great help to him. 

It would mean ease for me, I suppose.

 
There are those who resent my sisters and me and still see us as children--insignificant and incidental, and without voices. 

They think they're entitled, too. 

I wonder what erroneous information fuels them. They've clearly forgotten that God is their source, too. 

I realize that I've mistakenly magnified their power and influence. 

If they could drive a wedge between my Dad and his children, they would. It's their trying that is such a nuisance. 

However, they've tried and failed. That should be the operative truth in my mind.

Today, my charge to myself is to give attention to those who are truly making my days a little lighter and brighter; 

to be kinder to myself, and ask when I need help. 

I charge myself to celebrate those who are genuinely helping, and to celebrate every now and then myself.

I admit, I'm a little tired this morning although I got a good night's sleep. 
Thank God for human angels, though. 

I'm really looking forward to lunch...: )

SUCH JOY

 

You're always smiling

Is there something you know that we don't?

Please won't you share

What are we missing?

The last time we looked, your life was far from perfect

But there, right there

Is it real? It's genuine

And we don't understand

We know your story-- or at least the one we heard

Don't mean to bring up painful memories but if you can, tell

Why aren't you reigning as, "Most Evil in the Land"?

What makes you feel such joy?

How can you be so happy?

Is it a conscious choice?

What makes you keep on living?

What makes you keep on loving?

I have no tricks, no gimmicks, or schemes,

No presto-chango, magic words, no bottled help, nothing illegal

Just faith and hope

I feel so sure that with each new day

There's there's possibility at work;

Help behind the scenes that defies the naysayers

But since you asked,

The only words that come to mind are these, so hear me

So you, too can wave goodbye to what has been

I firmly contend:

What you don't do is despise your propensity to love--

Though it may seem a miracle that you still can

Life's issues flow from it like streams into a river

Go with it, don't drown in regrets or what ifs

Guard your heart with diligence

Know that your dreams can either live

Keep moving, keep waking with anticipation

It's alright

Say to yourself

I don't have to become what hates me

I am worthy

I am free

Whether sooner or later

What's for you will be

In the meantime, look around

There's so much that's good, lovely, and pure

See it?

There's so much to stir your gratitude

So much to prove how cherished you are

That's what brings such joy

Being alive

That's all it is.

What makes you feel such joy?

How can you be so happy?

Is it a conscious choice?

What makes you keep on living?

What makes you keep on loving?

I have a choice.

AWAKE

When did I become so jaded?

When did my heart change?

Seems like my devotion's faded

Old narrative rearranged

Feel like I've never been clearer

Some things had to go

I realize as Truth gets nearer

Ain’t got time for show

Can’t say “Yes” ‘cause you say so

Can’t say “No” ‘cause you do

Can’t put on what you’re wearing

Don’t be fooled—ain’t nothing new

Eyes ain’t never been wider

What hid up high, has come low

Keep on pressin’ and I might tell you

Stuff you just don’t want to know