Poetry Sunday ~ My Country Tis of Thee...

Isa.24:5 “The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.”

My Country, Tis of Thee…

My country tis of thee

No land of liberty

Of thee I plead.

Land where my father died

Land where all children cried

Where man will always burn inside

For once, let FREEDOM reign.

My country tis of thee

No peace I ever see

Of thee I bleed.

Land never filled with pride

Land with arms open wide

Where man cannot safely hide

Why is FREEDOM pain?

My country tis of thee

No truth will set me free

Of thee is greed.

Land lost to all that chide

Land where no man abide

Where loyalty is put aside

My FREEDOM’s slain!

My country tis of thee

I long to trust in thee

Of thee great seed.

Land where the ground has dried

Land where no fruit complied

Where others all deride

Let FREEDOM not be vain.

Hos. 4:7 “As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.”

Quotation Saturday ~ Holidays

Pss. 36:5 “Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.”

HOLIDAYS

“In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it 'Christmas' and went to church; the Jews called it 'Hanukkah' and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say 'Merry Christmas!' or 'Happy Hanukkah!' or (to the atheists) 'Look out for the wall!” 
― Dave Barry

“Humanity has always conquered the flux of natural time by means of a rhythm between active and passive time-spans. To reconquer his holidays, to establish a new and better time schedule for life, has been the great endeavour of man ever since the days of Noah.” 
― Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy,

“This, after all, was the month in which families began tightening and closing and sealing; from Thanksgiving to the New Year, everybody's world contracted, day by day, into the microcosmic single festive household, each with its own rituals and obsessions, rules and dreams. You didn't feel you could call people. They didn't feel they could phone you. How does one cry for help from these seasonal prisons?” 
― Zadie Smith

“It's not about presents but it is about your presence. Therein lies the spirit of the holiday season.” 
― Julieanne O'Connor

CHRISTMAS

“There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,' returned the nephew. 'Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round—apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that—as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!” 
― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

“The Christmas tree, twinkling with lights, had a mountain of gifts piled up beneath it, like offerings to the great god of excess.” 
― Tess Gerritsen

“Christmas it seems to me is a necessary festival; we require a season when we can regret all the flaws in our human relationships: it is the feast of failure, sad but consoling.” 
― Graham Greene

“When purchasing gifts becomes the focal point of the season, we lose focus on what's truly important.” 
― Joshua Fields Millburn

FAITH

“Is my faith so terribly pathetic that I have diminished God to the point that I doubt His ability to survive in the very world that He came to save? Indeed, I have done exactly that. And all I need to do to beat that mentality is to remember that a baby born in a manger with every disadvantage imaginable stills lives today.” 
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

Dreams come from that special place in our mind where our soul loves to spend its holidays.” 
― Anthony T.Hincks

“The Simple Path
Silence is Prayer
Prayer is Faith
Faith is Love
Love is Service
The Fruit of Service is Peace” 
― Mother Teresa

“There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on His Word spiritual strength for labour in his service. We ought to muse upon the things of God because we thus get the real nutriment out of them. . . . Why is it that some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow advances in the divine life? Because they neglect their closets and do not thoughtfully meditate on God's Word. They love the wheat, but they do not grind it; they would have the corn, but they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the fruit hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it. From such folly deliver us, O Lord.” 
― Charles Haddon Spurgeon

GREED

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed.” 
― Mahatma Gandhi

“He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.” 
― Socrates

“The world says: "You have needs -- satisfy them. You have as much right as the rich and the mighty. Don't hesitate to satisfy your needs; indeed, expand your needs and demand more." This is the worldly doctrine of today. And they believe that this is freedom. The result for the rich is isolation and suicide, for the poor, envy and murder.” 
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.” 
― Edward Abbey

DEPRESSION

“Whenever you read a cancer booklet or website or whatever, they always list depression among the side effects of cancer. But, in fact, depression is not a side effect of cancer. Depression is a side effect of dying.” 
― John Green

“Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.” 
― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.” 
― Laurell K. Hamilton

“Sometimes I just think depression's one way of coping with the world. Like, some people get drunk, some people do drugs, some people get depressed. Because there's so much stuff out there that you have to do something to deal with it.” 
― Ned Vizzini

How Far Have We Come?

Micah 6:8 (NIV) “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

How far have we come, not very far. Let’s see, last night we watched Long Walk Home with Whoopie Goldberg and Sissy Spacek, about the segregation of blacks in America and what it took to change. The other night we watched Railway Man about a POW in a Japanese Camp. I can’t say too much about this movie but I know, if you watch either of these movies you walk away feeling the ignorance that has led you in life. Maybe you don’t even realize the depths of your prejudice but it is there, to some extent.

Why do people call segregation a movement when nothing moves forward or a concentration camp when it’s not camping?

I’ll tell you why because man has been coloring his words so they don’t look racist or prejudice. When you can hate blacks, Hispanics, Jews, Polish, German, Muslim what are you hating? Do you despise a person’s color, religion, ethnicity, a difference from you? We are all different so do you hate yourself for hating? Of course not, you love yourself for your stoic stance and are quite proud of the person that you’ve become, you’re a Christian, right?

Did you know there were Japanese concentration camps in America at one time? Some will say Concentration Camp is the wrong term to use but did you know that F.D.R himself called them Concentration Camps? Someone remarked that this was ‘a stain on our history’. A stain?

Stain definition:
- a discoloration produced by foreign matter having penetrated into or chemically reacted with a material; a spot not easily removed.
-a natural spot or patch of color different from that of the basic color, as on the body of an animal.
-a cause of reproach; stigma; blemish:
a stain on one's reputation.

One blemish on our history? Among how many other ‘stains’?

The Japanese Concentration Camp is another post on facebook that caught my attention and I had to do some researching on this to see if it was the truth because I was never taught this in school. Not one to be fascinated in history here lately I am finding myself very fascinated, I should say shocked by history. 

This stood out to me:
“The order set into motion the exclusion from certain areas, and the evacuation and mass incarceration of 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast, most of whom were U.S. citizens or legal permanent resident aliens.”

The Japanese Concentration Camps began in 1941, and we progressed. Are we going to call slavery a stain also? Just because the British thought beating slaves into working for them in the 18th century, those other white men that came to America followed suit? Why did this ‘stain’ of slavery last so long? Abraham Lincoln TRIED to make amends by ending slavery but man did not allow that to happen because white man was and is an ignorant being clinging to the ME factor, it’s all about ME, my pride in self and my boasting!

In 1955 the African American’s like Rosa Parks, were still struggling with the hatred of the white man. And to this day, the ‘stain of American history’ is still here as you can see across the country in protests and riots.

Last year I found myself more curious about Auschwitz – the Nazi German Concentration Camps. I did learn about these heinous acts in school but very little and not to the extent I found myself diving into last year and not just through Wikipedia either. Site upon site, YouTube and anywhere else I could go. 

I was reading the news about a man, of former S.S. guard Oskar Groening, 93 who was being tried for his part in the atrocity. Here’s a man who is about to die himself, being tried for crimes he committed in his youth. He was a bookkeeper and sentenced to four years in jail. 

I found myself seeking information in depth on what happened and why. While America has a list of worst moments in history, none compare to Nazi Germany because we’re above frying people, right? We are not above enslaving people, torturing and abusing men and women, condemning people for their sex, religious beliefs or building a wall to keep people who don’t fit into what we want here, out! How long before we place illegal citizens and ALL Muslim people in concentration camps? That would be fine by you, right?

Can you imagine if the Native Americans had built a wall and didn’t let the ignorant white man onto their land? We would not be here. Such as it is, we are in the here and now fighting the exact same things over and over continuing to ‘stain our history’ as if stains are okay and can be removed. 

Before you condemn me for what you might see as a finger-pointing post please try to understand that I am trying to grasp why there is so much hate in the world and why abhorrence of your fellow man has become an acceptable way of life. All I need to do is look at history; I can see how far we have NOT come. 

Job 3:5 “Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.”

Quotation Saturday ~ Healing Through Grief

Prov. 18: 24 “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”

Quotation Saturday will be a little different this week. Since I lost my father last week and he was put to rest this week. My emotions have run the gamut; I wasn’t there and that is tearing me apart. I will find healing in my grief.

HURT

“Some old wounds never truly heal, and bleed again at the slightest word.”

― George R.R. Martin

~ This is so true! I realized what kind of family I have when old wounds to my soul resurfaced this week.

“I have learned now that while those who speak about one's miseries usually hurt, those who keep silence hurt more.”

― C.S. Lewis

“Pain is a pesky part of being human, I've learned it feels like a stab wound to the heart, something I wish we could all do without, in our lives here. Pain is a sudden hurt that can't be escaped. But then I have also learned that because of pain, I can feel the beauty, tenderness, and freedom of healing. Pain feels like a fast stab wound to the heart. But then healing feels like the wind against your face when you are spreading your wings and flying through the air! We may not have wings growing out of our backs, but healing is the closest thing that will give us that wind against our faces.”

― C. JoyBell C.

~ Hurt equals pain and this week the pain hasn’t ceased. I’m working on it though and I’ll find that wind in my face called healing!

EMOTIONAL

“There are some things in this world you rely on, like a sure bet. And when they let you down, shifting from where you've carefully placed them, it shakes your faith, right where you stand.”

― Sarah Dessen

~ I relied on my family to actually care for my pain. Knowing I had no means of seeing my father in his last weeks or as he was laid to rest, no one cared, except friends that I’ve never met! My spiritual online family got me through what would turn out to be one of the hardest things in my life.

“So the fact that I’m me and no one else is one of my greatest assets. Emotional hurt is the price a person has to pay in order to be independent.”

― Haruki Murakami

~ I’m paying for my independence and my freedom but I WILL heal!

ANGRY

“There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot.”

― Plato

~ I cannot help that I have a selfish family. My heart and prayers are with them. 

“Do not allow yourself to be blinded by fear and anger. Everything is only as it is.”

― Yuki Urushibara

~ I’m going to remember this every single day!

“Speak when you are angry, and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret.”

― Laurence J. Peter

~ This is why I write. My writing has healing properties.

“If you're angry at stupid people, you're tempted to join them.”

― Toba Beta

~ I’m sure not going to allow myself to go there!

GRIEF

“You will lose someone you can’t live without and your heart will be badly broken, and the bad news is that you never completely get over the loss of your beloved. But this is also the good news. They live forever in your broken heart that doesn’t seal back up and you come through. It’s like having a broken leg that never heals perfectly—that still hurts when the weather gets cold, but you learn to dance with the limp.”

― Anne Lamott

~ This is true. It might hurt for a little while but my heart is filled with the love I carry for my dad, so he will be a part of my healing too. I may walk with a limp, but I’ll dance like a pro for my dad!

“Tears shed for another person are not a sign of weakness. They are a sign of a pure heart.”

― José N. Harris

“The darker the night, the brighter the stars,

The deeper the grief, the closer is God!”

― Fyodor Dostoyevsky

~ I can attest, I’ve never felt closer to God than this week with my unusual amount of shooting stars. Thanks Dad.

“Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow, but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them.”

― Leo Tolstoy

~ AMEN!

HEALING

“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”

― Rumi

“It has been said, 'time heals all wounds.' I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone.”

― Rose Kennedy

~ I feel as though I am one big scar but the only good thing is the beauty of my light will shine through and no one will see the scar, they’ll only see the Light that I emit.

“Scars have the strange power to remind us that our past is real.”

― Cormac McCarthy

“As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation -- either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.”

― Martin Luther King Jr.

~ I choose to transform! I’ll use writing to help in the healing process.

I’d like to thank all of my spiritual online friends who are there for me, helping me and honestly doing all they can for me. They’ve lost a mother or father and understand the pain that I’m enduring and it is only with their love and support that I’ll find the healing transformation that I need. God has truly blessed me!

Acts 4:22 “For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed.”

Worldly Wednesday ~ Conformity

Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
***

Those are words I don’t just read, they’re not just words, to me. To me, they are THEE Word! Sometimes I find that people, understandably, have a hard time practicing what they preach, or what they read in their bibles.

Practice meaning, exercising, making constant use of, or putting into action. We can not just read the bible and put our own spin on it so that we shape it into us. We have to be molded into it, and I mean that in a good way. Conforming to this world, is reading what you want, watching what you want, doing what you want and never giving a second glance at the Bible to see what God wants. He wants us different, and rightly so. Every religion wants us to be different, not just Christianity. We might all have different Bibles that we use, but I believe, we all have the same God.

How would you feel being invited to someone’s house, only to be ignored or disrespected? You wouldn’t like that now would you. That must be how God feels when we ‘claim’ to be Christian, but then disrespect Him by not living as one. He comes into our house, sits at the table, you bring out the food, jam to some rap music, read your book Twilight or The DaVinci Code, drink a beer, and then look up at God and realize, “Oh, you’re here?”  He looks at you and says, “YOU invited me!” What’s your reply? “Wanna beer?” How does that make you feel? Good? Bad?

What I said is exactly what people are doing. They’re conforming to this world, inviting God over, then asking him to partake of what THEY believe in, not respecting what HE believes in. And you’re okay with that?

My writing has taken on a dark nature as of late. When someone comments that my poetry is saying the same thing over and over, then it is time for me to take a double-take and see what it is I’m hooked up on that is giving me a dark edge. Well can you say LIFE?

I look around and see a world where people are conformed to lust; (yes, watching half naked women (or men) prance ANYWHERE, and having the thought of, ‘man I’d like some of that’, is called LUST.) greed, (yes wanting more and more of everything is called greed); idolatry, claiming Christianity, but practicing astrology, so many other things that just bring me down as a human being trying to be righteous in an unrighteous society.

I’m not perfect and surely don’t claim to be. I am a sinner just as each and every one of you are. The only difference is this, when I invite God over, I want HIM to be the center of attention, not me me me and my selfishness. Him and all His glory! I’ll put praise music on, I’ll have a good meal and ask that he add blessing; I’ll tell Him how much I adore Him, and go right on drinking some tea and having a wonderful conversation with Him, only to open my eyes and realize, He’s been with me ALL THE TIME!!!

He’s not a stranger in my world. I don’t invite him just for dinner, or on Sunday’s because that’s what the world wants me to believe, He only want to come to dinner on Sundays? Or invite me to His house on Sundays?

My writing reflects the darkness that tries to consume my soul and the Light that owns me.  I will work on writing what GOD wants me to write...oh wait...I just did! :)

The Season of Gifting?

Prov.15:27 He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live.
***

I remember so many times as a child getting through the crowds at Christmas time, trying to hail a cab with my mother because we had so many bags and boxes we just couldn’t fit onto the overstuffed bus!  Pushing through the throng of shoppers, waiting in long lines, pressing through to get that one special gift!

My mother would take herself broke to give to others. Always on Christmas eve, running at the last minute to get just one more ‘special’ gift. She’d pay dearly all year long for having a giving heart. Did it cloud my view of what Christmas was all about? No, it opened my eyes to the unnecessary attachments we hold to the gift giving season.

Have we as a society gotten away from the real reason we even have a Christmas or has the world colored our vision so much so that we feel the need to give give give? I remember AFTER Thanksgiving, the stores would decorate, the streets would become a bastion of light shows, the trees, the street signs would all welcome this gift giving season with open arms.

Now the Christmas holiday is ushered in right after Halloween, forcing us to think that if we don’t get an early start, we won’t ever be able to get that perfect gift for the ones we love. The season is shaded by giving gifts, even if that means taking yourself broke. Buying and spending, all in the name of love? So are you telling me, love has a price tag on its head and if I don’t give you a gift, I don’t love you?

How clouded is that theory? Commercialism will not suck me dry. It will own no part of my soul. When I give, I give year-round, I give of myself, my time, something treasured from my heart that I know will impact a person for years (seconds, minutes, days?) to come. I don’t spend money at Christmas! I buy my son a gift, beau a gift, and everyone else receives my presence.

The only reason I celebrate Christmas, the pagan holiday, is because tradition almost demands it of me. While others are out buying, shopping, feeling good about themselves, sometimes they overlook the reason they are giving in the first place.

Are they doing it to make themselves look good? Others feel good? That is all well and good, but wouldn't a batch of homemade cookies, or hand-knitted scarf, or a simple poem, picture or other treasure from the heart mean more than a gift certificate from Macy's? Top-notch perfume? The 'perfect' purchased gift? Think about the answer you just thought!

Think about it a minute. If everyone truly gave from their heart and soul, (meaning, not spending a dime on the 'show') the stress of the season would be relinquished! Money could be given to HELP people, and EVERYONE would have a warm feeling during this day of celebrating Christ’s birth, and all that His presence meant to the world.