Change is a coming...

Change is coming to One Voice...

there needs to be a change

Enmity Abounds

Matt. 18: 9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

Enmity Abounds

*  *  *

The blanket of hatred is pouring

Its darkness across the land.

Evil cannot be counted

In every grain of sand.

Marching to a different drum

The music can be heard

Waves crashing all around

The silencing of the bird.

Fires light up the night sky

Dolphins line the shore

The earth it shakes and trembles

Awakened is the core.

Lust lines the heart of man

In every quaking stance.

Hidden from the Light of truth

Like a fireflies swift dance.

Man can’t see beyond himself

Although he thinks he can.

He breeds the little seeds of hate

In his insufficient den.

Calamity will rain upon the seas

As flames fall from the skies

Be ready for mass destruction

Pluck enmity from thine eyes!

Poetry Sunday ~ The Secrets

The Secrets 

***

The lies become barriers

When truth is not there

Disguise is a veil

Of secrets not shared.

Love is an open door

That honesty fits through

It’s the cosmic tell all

That couples go through.

Lost is the love

When things are hidden

The line of mistrust

From truth now forbidden.

The love has ended

Two lives now dead

All because lies

Were all that was said.

Where do our lives go

Now that it’s done.

My life will be empty

Where trust has now gone.

More Sex Scenes for Teens?

More SEX Scenes for Teens?

Can you imagine my surprise when this subject was approached at the LinkedIn Forum. It’s a forum for adult writers/publishers/editors to toss thoughts around in the form of a Forum Topic. I don’t comment on many because through my experience, some (no names here) think they are above the little guy, and toss around their degrees acquired and their college this and that’s, that makes someone without a MFA feel small. A long post for sure, and I’m sure I’ll write more.

As the prude you all know I am, I had to comment. Here was the specific topic that got to me:

 

"More sex scenes in books for teenagers"? I'm meeting with a client (a respected, mainstream publisher) on Wednesday for a brainstorm on a possible new series of romance titles for teens, a kind of "teen erotica", with educational value - to some degree at least, in line with what is expressed in the following link. (no name)

 

No thanks, I won’t post the link on something that is telling me that we need more sex in books for teens so they can learn? They want to use erotica to teach children the ropes of love, not really love, but sexual arousal? You mean to tell me, this is where our educated children are getting their information on sex? Through these types of trashy (to me) books?

 

One of my responses went a little like this:

 

I think if we raise our children morally right, then they can make a moral decision whether to read what is deemed 'teen erotica' or not. (I personally think erotica is for healthy adults, not children)
If kids who are not raised in a moral environment read that type of book, then they are probably lacking education and hunger for the explicit content to teach them what they should feel.  

 

Wow, wouldn’t you know the higher ups (the ones who think they have ALL the answers and are RIGHT and no one can tell them differently) thought my response was spoken like a true naïve mother.

 

Joni, I am not saying that this applies to your son, but many, many parents get fooled by their children as to what they are up to, what they like to read and watch etc. And your post assumes, like so many others, that the novels we have in mind will be dirty tales of rampant sex. Not sure how many times we need to explain.
Then Paul jumps in and calls it trash. Says that kids can be tempted. Well, if they are not already temped by the trash that is out there, perhaps they might be tempted to read an erotic rendition that is not trash but has a moral message.

 

And IT (no name) went on to say:

One wonders how many copies of mom's 50 Shades has gotten to the hands of teenagers who must wonder, amid the preaching, about the hypocrisy of some parents.

 

Another WOW! For this person to assume that I’m a mother who would even TOUCH 50 Shades of Trash, one must assume, WHO is the preaching hypocrite here?

 

IT also said:

Joni, I am so glad for you and your son. Good work. As to 50 Shades, although the writing is horrible, the sex, I am told is quite good. No reason to deny yourself the experience of such literature, IMO.

 

I had said my son has a moral compass and wouldn’t TOUCH crap with erotica in it. Was this jealousy or envy that their son or daughter turned out to be a greedy/selfish/ immoral sex freak?

 

Does my son look at porn? More than likely so but we’re talking about WRITING/READING here. To call Shades literature to me is a slap in the face to writers of generations past and future generations who take writing more serious than, ‘lets add more sex so it sells’ writers.

 

I was not the only prude in the comments, there were many as you can imagine and non-religious freaks also. They had a moral compass that didn’t stem from religion, it stemmed from what they thought about a subject.

 

A comment:

Shame on anyone who contributes to sex for teens. Let them be kids as long as possible. How stupid some adults act. Such an idea only puts additional sex ides into their innocent minds. Research proves that young boys who dwell on porno rewire their minds and will be unable to sustain a relationship with a woman. So you contribute to more divorces. Shame shame shame on you. Some publishers will work for anything that makes them money No matter how you try to relabel it you are pushing sex and porno.

 

Oh, the bashing went back and forth and goes on for pages, and IT always came back with a response basically calling us unnatural, inhuman, sex-deprived beings who live in a box!

 

I had to share this forum topic with my son, who is a very vocal teen, that wants to be a writer, and loves reading books.

“Adam, what do YOU think?”

 

Adam’s response, “I think Shades is trash and NO, not all kids want to read that trash. I want to read a story and erotica is not storytelling, it’s sex. If I want sexual content, I’ll go to a porn site!”

 

Okay, I laughed, his honesty with me never ceases to amaze me. And while some uppity ups think all kids are liars and not honest with their parents, I say they are WRONG! Raised with a moral compass, kids can and will be bluntly honest!

 

I know what I like to read, he knows what he likes to read, and no I don’t find sexual gratification in a book with erotica. When did we as human beings need books and words in a book to fulfill us sexually?

 

Wow, I must have really messed up my son, huh? He has a moral compass that teens today would never know or understand for that matter.

 

Note to parents: Don’t let books raise your kids! Don’t let them learn life, sex, morals through a book! Lead by example and sure enough, your kids will learn! Talk to them, face to face, not via a text message!!!! I have to admit, homeschooling was the smartest thing I did for my son! He’s not led around by peers, he’s led by his moral compass, and that’s a GOOD thing!

Sad commentary from the ‘I know it all, IT’. I feel for this lonely person IT:

It may take another hundred years before John Lennon's image of no religion will come to pass...but make no mistake...religion as a fundamentalist ideology, is dying. I think it wise to do what we can to nudge that dying process whenever possible.

Religion, dying? While erotica is rising??? Sad thought isn’t it?

The final comment I read before unsubscribing after 200 and some comments?

The easier it becomes to get sex, the harder it is to find love!

 

I am not alone. Thank You, God!

Quotation Saturday ~ Blessings, Karma, Destiny

Prov. 28: 20 A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.

*** ~~~ ***

BLESSINGS ~ a favor or gift bestowed by God, thereby bringing happiness.

“When we lose one blessing, another is often most unexpectedly given in its place.”
~ C.S. Lewis

“You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestation of your own blessings.”
~ Elizabeth Gilbert

“Live your truth. Express your love. Share your enthusiasm. Take action towards your dreams. Walk your talk. Dance and sing to your music. Embrace your blessings. Make today worth remembering.”
~ Steve Maraboli

“For Equilibrium, a Blessing:

Like the joy of the sea coming home to shore,
May the relief of laughter rinse through your soul.
As the wind loves to call things to dance,
May your gravity by lightened by grace.
Like the dignity of moonlight restoring the earth,
May your thoughts incline with reverence and respect.
As water takes whatever shape it is in,
So free may you be about who you become.
As silence smiles on the other side of what's said,
May your sense of irony bring perspective.
As time remains free of all that it frames,
May your mind stay clear of all it names.
May your prayer of listening deepen enough
to hear in the depths the laughter of God.”
~ John O'Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings

DESTINY ~  the predetermined, usually inevitable or irresistible, course of events.

“I told you. You don't love someone because of their looks or their clothes or their car. You love them because they sing a song only your heart can understand.”
~ L.J. Smith

“There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be...”
~ John Lennon

“There are winds of destiny that blow when we least expect them. Sometimes they gust with the fury of a hurricane, sometimes they barely fan one’s cheek. But the winds cannot be denied, bringing as they often do a future that is impossible to ignore.”
~ Nicholas Sparks, Message in a Bottle

“I knew I loved you before I met you
I think I dreamed you into life
I knew I loved you before I met you
I have been waiting all my life”
~ Savage Garden

“Your soul knows the geography of your destiny. Your soul alone has the map of your future, therefore you can trust this indirect, oblique side of yourself. If you do, it will take you where you need to go, but more important it will teach you a kindness of rhythm in your journey.”
~ John O'Donohue

KARMA ~ the good or bad emanations felt to be generated by someone or something:

“Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at the moment.”
~ Eckhart Tolle

“When you see a good person, think of becoming like her/him. When you see someone not so good, reflect on your own weak points.”
~ Confucius

“If you send out goodness from yourself, or if you share that which is happy or good within you, it will all come back to you multiplied ten thousand times. In the kingdom of love there is no competition; there is no possessiveness or control. The more love you give away, the more love you will have.”
~ John O'Donohue

“Even chance meetings are the result of karma… Things in life are fated by our previous lives. That even in the smallest events there’s no such thing as coincidence.”
~ Haruki Murakami

Pss. 24: 5 He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Carma and Destiny

Carma and Destiny…

Ezek. 34: [26] And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.

Well since Steven pretty much told of the exciting day we had on Thursday the 8^th here, I thought I would add to the specialness of the day.

  

First allow me to tell you of Destiny. That is what we deemed his ’99 Explorer after his purchase of his truck back in 2003. It was destiny that rode into my life, in the fashion of a galloping blue steed, with Steven behind the wheel.

I saw that day back in May of 2003 as the day my life would be changed, altered, and would never be the same again. It was a year I would never forget and destiny was all a part of the swiftly changing scene; it only seemed fair that we gave her that name.

I know you think only guys name their cars, but this truck swept me off my feet into another state; another world than what I was accustomed to living. I had been living a sheltered life with a man who was ripping at the seams and for the protection of my son, I basically fled, with his blessing mind you, because he knew he was becoming volatile.

Destiny waved her colorful ribbons all caught in the moment of windswept storms. We dwelled in Texas for six years, and it is where I home schooled my son, got my license (at age 37) and watched as my son grew into a respectable human being. After six years in Texas, we were destined to be in Nebraska, where I sent my son to school for the first time. Now a senior, embarking on his last year of high school, he turned out to be a fine young, albeit tall, young man. Destiny was good to him too.

Now Destiny, the truck, had her inhibitions. She liked to stall on occasion, but nothing we couldn’t talk her back into a good rev. When I lost control a few years back, I planted Destiny in a ditch, and with airbags exploded, the tow- truck driver said, “You might as well junk it.” The undercarriage had been immersed in water and he felt she would never ride again.

Would you believe, the next day she started right up, we rode to his brother’s house, (he’s a mechanic) and he said she’d make it! Well, we KNEW she would, it was our Destiny! And ride she has for the past four years, never letting us down.

Now let me tell you. Here in Kearney, they have a car dealership named Crossroads. Wouldn’t ya know it that was the title for the novel I’m writing? That was its decided name BEFORE I moved to Nebraska and saw this car dealership. I had said from day one, “If I ever buy a car, it’s going to be from Crossroads, because that is like an advertisement for my novel.” I had even mentioned it again a few weeks ago, maybe even every time we ride past the dealership.

Now go back and read what a wonderful day we had yesterday. Everything went perfect, the car we wanted to buy seems perfect and too many things fell into place to not think something greater was at work. We road past Crossroads and again I said.. “I always wanted my first car to be from there.” You know what Steven said?

“I forgot to tell you, the back of the car? It has a Crossroads emblem on it.” Chills ran up my arms, tears built up without overflowing my eyes.

“This is our car! This is OUR CAR!!” My excitement as we were driving to the man’s house was building up, until we finally pulled up to the car. That is when the tears overflowed my eyes. Breathless I whisperd, “That’s my car! THAT is MY car!”

Adam in the back seat kept telling me to NOT cry, and as I dried my eyes, I got out and approached the car. We took it for a ride, and I knew, it was Karma! Adam kept saying Karma with a C and it stuck. Carma and Destiny met!

Yes, our two vehicles will outlive what the record books say because they were destined to be together. This is where you say, “Awwwwwwwww.” 

 Ecc.3: 1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

Karma, to me, is God working in every way!

Praise God!

I'm Tired...

"And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, 'This is the way, walk in it,' when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left." Isaiah 30:21

I’m tired…

Have you ever been so tired of life that you just want to climb in a shell, meditate (which to me is PRAYER) and leave all the clutter on the screen behind? Well I am!

Note: I’m tired of all the liking, all the twitting tweeters, all the clutter that fills a page.

Tired of being put down, led around like a puppy on a leash, being mislead, disrespected, unappreciated, the feeling of being unloved. I’m just tired of it all. (pity party about to ensue)

Every day I wake feeling good, glad to be alive, then it happens, I read the Yahoo news feed and the comments, and did you know that the mere mention of God draws so much hate and thumbs down? I think that is why Facebook doesn’t have a thumb down button because it would cause a virtual cyber riot!

I’m tired! I try to lead my life in a respectful manner, show others respect, share the word of God and am always most certainly persecuted or misunderstood. This is the life I chose and one where God has chosen to walk with me down this murky path, never to be left alone. Nothing in this physical world can fill me spiritually like the Fluent Waters of God.

Although the physical world and many of its people lets me down, the spiritual world NEVER lets me down and thus I need to hide for a spell to allow it all to make sense. To you, it might not make sense. To you, you’ll fan through a few words, roll your eyes and continue on thinking blah blah blah, there she goes again. Yes siree! There I go again!

And go I must. To the two or three who have been there for me and actually understood me and comforted me, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You won’t be forgotten as I hope in some small measure, neither will I be forgotten. I’m grateful for the few He has placed in my life!

Pss. 23:

[1] The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
[2] He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
[3] He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
[4] Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
[5] Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
[6] Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.