Quotation Saturday

CHANGE

The only man I know who behaves sensibly is my tailor; he takes my measurements anew each time he sees me. The rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them. ~George Bernard Shaw
 
He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils; for time is the greatest innovator. ~Francis Bacon
Every single thing changes and is changing always in this world. Yet with the same light the moon goes on shining. ~Saigyo

Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower

KINDNESS
 
Never look down on anybody unless you're helping him up. ~Jesse Jackson

A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble. ~Charles H. Spurgeon

During my second year of nursing school our professor gave us a quiz. I breezed through the questions until I read the last one: "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?" Surely this was a joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Before the class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our grade. "Absolutely," the professor said. "In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say hello." I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy. ~Joann C. Jones

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. ~Mark Twain

LIFE
 
Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. ~Hans Christian Anderson

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me." ~Erma Bombeck

I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day. ~Elwyn Brooks White
 
Life is not always fair. Sometimes you get a splinter even sliding down a rainbow. ~Terri Guillemets

Try not to waste life on things that really have no meaning. If it does not move you forward to the next step, then you have just wasted precious minutes out of your time.  ~Joni Zipp

Change taking places...

1 Sam. 21:13 And he changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard.

***

Change taking places...

Okay, I do believe I’ve bored you enough with the week of change. Thank you ever so much for tolerating my week of Compassion, and then to jump into a week of Change topics, you all are real troopers. We have to end on a high note, a positive in the world of negative.

A miracle changed and shaped my life as of October 10, 2011 when the cornea transplant took place. I liked staying in a hotel, having a continental breakfast, eternal coffee around the clock, and the lovely confusing Omaha. It started to feel like home, since we’ve been back so many times. All in all it’s been good.

For two and a half years we’ve lived here in Nebraska, about ten miles from his hometown where he grew up. He hadn’t ‘seen’ it since we came up from Texas a few years before that and I know it was killing him not being able to see his old school, and the demise of it as it got torn down, new buildings emerge and life in Little Town Nebraska taking on new shapes and memories.

His sight has returned and everyone assumes yippee 20/20, easy peasy. It has been anything but ‘easy’. It has been a challenge and breathtaking all at once. I say a challenge because we never know what to expect with each new day, and breathtaking in watching him see a snow squall for the first time in years, watching Sassy our dog recognize that, “Hey, Papa man can see again.”, and seeing him change his blogs, The Drums in the Deep and AudioBook Heaven, to a more aesthetic view, with charm oozing out all over the place. This has been an amazing, quite astonishing sight, literally.

I notice people posting pics, as if he even goes to facebook, but they post in hopes he’ll look, but he can not SEE THAT WELL YET!!! Give the man time! So much is hitting him, that it exhausts him. A day of looking out the window, seeing the sun, sky, grass, leaves can be very tiring to a man who has seen total darkness for years. It’s kind of funny watching the people react, who’ve seen him as a blind man, take in this miracle.

The people at church for instance, each week (as always but with new vigor) smile with a gracious smile, shake his hand and can not say enough about how happy they are for us. Us? Well happy for him that he can see, and me, they are happy to see my elbow free and him walking in the door all on his own and finding our regular seat. :)

His mom and sister have come out to see him, (they were great help while we went to Omaha, taking care of our beloved Sassy) and people want him to come here and there, ride here and I think they have the idea in their heads that he is one hundred percent healed,  eager for a visiting frenzy and ready go running around all over the place and drink in the beauty of all that awaits him, and return to being that old guy of his past.

I say the old guy of his past because when I met him eight, almost nine years ago, he was a completely different man. He was a man I didn’t like too much, but had fallen in love with and was determined to ‘stand by my man’ and all that entails. It means putting up with nasty habits, enduring the slimey pieces to get to the solid middle. He began the change about six years ago when we began going to church.

No, it was no miraculous event and it took its good old time, but I’m telling you now, the man before me today is not the man I met 8 years ago, he’s the inner man that I fell in love with. And with that, a miracle unfolded, and we both are here enjoying the newness of life, taking in every grain of sand; finding pleasure in the changing of a clock, the making of a bed, the vacuuming of the floor, the petting of a dog (who, by the way, doesn’t move out of his way, because he can see now!) and the loving of a snowflake.

I’m not preaching to you to change, but one day, you might wake up and say, What is wrong with my life? You’ll look in the mirror and realize, you’re what’s wrong; and your kids, your family and everyone in between sees you, and you then realize in an instant, I need to change something.

Go on, make that change. Miracles await you, too.

 
***

Pss.55: [19] God shall hear, and afflict them, even he that abideth of old. Selah. Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God.
Prov. 24:[21] My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change:

What? No Change?

When you are through changing, you are through. 

~Bruce Barton
***

Well the week of change is coming to an end as we near Friday. I’m sorry again for boring you but really, writing is all about change so in actuality, I AM writing about, writing. :)

You know, as with anything, everything takes time. In it’s own season and for a reason. When one decides to BE a writer, there are things that you go through and years of persistently grinding the stone to the curb, and in the end, you’ll feel as if you’ve accomplished something. Then there comes a season where you wake up and smell the coffee and realize things aren’t working out as planned, so you begin making other plans.

My entire life has been about change, but until recently, one thing that has never changed, has been my love of writing. Only recently have I begun to think this is the season to change plans, take a turn down the road, hop off this moving train, give back the oars ‘cause I ain’ta paddling! Thank you September incidence's, you marred and scarred me for life.

So what exactly ARE my plans? I may be heading into the mentoring field at WVU, since I am dedicated to Mr. Hembree and the Institution of higher learning.  I’ll continue to embark on educating others in the writing field as a side job in my ever changing world as I grow and learn myself. Then it will be off for a world of change for me.

What is with all this change going on? Well let me tell you, you don’t have a miracle plop smack dab in your lap, molded and shaped by the hands of God Himself, and go back returning to your old ways. No way, no how! Normal takes on new and supernatural shape and form. Never considering myself normal in the first place, life was slugging along at a snails pace, and we were just patiently waiting for change to whack us upside the head.

I don’t really think anyone can understand or grasp the depth of what happened to us. Trying to put it into words has been quite a challenge in and of itself. Plain and simple, he was blind, and now, he sees! On a more complicated level? Everything shifted! The earth moved, literally! Look at the recent earthquakes in the Va./Md area and in Oklahoma too. We’re not the only ones who FELT the shift, apparently the Earth took notice too.

And what is so sad, is that as this shift happens, everyone goes on as if nothing has moved in the transformation. Maybe this was just meant for us? Are we the only ones who’ve experienced the altered state? Am I talking to myself here?

The windowed world holds nothing for me now. Once I’ve been given the chance to see things from a new perspective everything transitioned into a new and improved life altering phase of light. You look different, he looks different, life in general has taken on the variance of shapes and colors that are all meshing in my brain and while people say, “How are you?” I can only answer with “Fine.” because in all honesty, I don’t really know myself.

Things change, people change and nothing is ever the same again. We muddle through, do what we do, and wake up every day doing the same-old-same-old, mundane routine. For me? I’m alive...in an altered state. Grasp THAT!

Change...again???

Rom. 12: 1- Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
***

Change again????
 
I know, right? Day three and I’m still talking about change? Change already and move on! Sorry if these topics have you wanting to run for the hills, but really, writing is all about change. I have journals dating back to the early eighties, and in them there is nothing BUT change. It wasn’t as if I was writing about all the good things in life, no, when I journal I write about my life, in a metamorphosis, and as I sit here now, my wings have taken shape.

Change is a part of human evolution. Y’see, Darwin had it all wrong, we didn’t evolve from monkey’s into humans, we evolved from something sinful, hurtful, spiteful (think Cain and Abel) into something consciously aware of our sinful natures and only through change can we recognize the nature and change what needs to be changed.

We can stay the same, as I’ve seen many do, never growing and changing. Always staying the same but using a mask as a front so people see you as changing but deep down within, you are still the same. To change within, enormous leaps and bounds have to be taken, we can’t just baby step through things, like we’re walking on egg shells, or broken porcelain. We have to tread on the glass, we have to hurt and feel the pain. We need to embrace the inevitable change and not dress it up in some bible words. Give Him a little more credit than that!

When you look at pictures of people from say, the 1800’s, while although women still had make-up, their faces had different shapes, men had different looks too. As technology evolved, men and women did too. Today’s woman can be airbrushed, men can pop rogaine pills, we can hold the destiny key, and shape ourselves into who we want to become, without ever looking to reconstruct our inner selves.!

We can have boob jobs, nose, and butt jobs; liposuction, tummy tucks, manicures, pedicures, weaves, shapes, and anything we want to ‘change’ we basically CAN! But is all this part of our natural evolution? I think it is evolution on steroids! It has evolved into something grotesque and inhuman. I think Darwin would wake today and say, “See we DID evolve from animals, but I was wrong, monkey’s are the better looking species!”

Women have sold their souls to the devil, men have danced in the dark with them, all thinking that this is the way that we’re supposed to live; just a natural evolution. Has no one retained a moral to carry through life? Has everyone landed in a pile of marshmallow and allowed their brains to become pillows of disgust, justifying their actions by saying, "this is what we’ve evolved to become. Live with it.’"

I personally thought that we were supposed to be aware of something higher and bigger than us. I consciously am aware of God holding the key to my destiny. Change does not come from anything outward that technology has cloned. Humans have become living products of  ‘Technology Gone Wild’.

Change comes from within. Holding the destiny key of change, does not give you the right to cosmetically enhance who you are because, lets face it, you can have Parton’s breast (and hair for that matter, it’s a fake too), Matt Damon’s smile, but when you turn in at night, you will always be the you that God created.

Return to change...

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. ~Victor Frankl

***

Yeah I think I should return to my writing blog before I bore all of you to tears. Since I AM the mastermind behind this blog, I do have the free reign to do what I want and write the topics that I want. But will you walk with me down this path? Only time will tell.

Last week was blog topics about ‘Helping the Unfortunate of Society’. It has nothing to do with writing, but writers I believe, have a duty, when they’re not off making millions or maybe it is just hundreds of dollars, to help the less fortunate. Me, I make nothing and still feel the need to help the less fortunate and if my words encourage just one person to help someone in need, then my work is not in vain.

We’ve gone through some changes here on the Nebraskan home front. Some good changes but as you know, not everyone embraces change. Change to me is like waking one day having a beautiful luscious green tree, broken in half and the leaves all turned brown. Yeah, I don’t embrace change very easily, but I know, it is just a part of the natural flowing river that God has placed in our fluid lives.

Some folks ride the river screaming, whee whee whee all the way down, missing a few of the intricate steps it takes in getting to the end of the river, or really they are so absorbed in the water they miss the true beauty of the ride. They embrace moving right along, ignore necessity, and they just...flow. That can be good in some instances (if you’re a baby who has no other care in the world, and enjoys being pacified), but in a world full of chaos? That uninhibited flow can also be detrimental.

Others, grab hold of a floating branch; just coast down the river, enjoying all the blessings that surround them  and are well aware of and prepared for the forceful waterfall ahead of them. The rushing of chaotic change comes and suddenly you’re pulled in  many different directions; being stretched here and there but if you’re lucky, you’ll have a guiding hand tugging you on the right path.

That is what is happening to me as the year moves downstream into a new era. I’m putting to rest something that held me captivated for eight years, and while those who continue to flow don’t recognize that they’ve shattered a dream of mine, they’ll flow, missing the fact that they alone were the ones who broke the mirror.

While I hold onto the branch and look skyward seeing what is the next leg of my journey; I’m going to embrace the change that will carry me swiftly to new heights. What am I going to embrace in the new year that will carry me, rushing into a new dream, a new phase, a loving world of souls with their arms outstretched to me? Only time will tell.

I know one thing for certain...my blog and I will survive.  

A Year of Change...

“One path in life is lonely, directionless and hopeless. The other is taking the hand of Jesus and letting Him guide you along the way.” ~ GodVine on Facebook

There’s a Readers Digest contest of 150 words of Thankfulness and what it means to you. Promote? A contest should be judged on merit of a story, not how many votes you can get, and in hindsight, I wished I never would have entered.

Seeing that I have no friends, or not that many really like me and who have basically pushed me out of a circle I once belonged to, I scaled the ropes reaching for the 100 votes mark while others, who had friends, neared the 1000 mark and the 20,000 mark.

This really gave me an idea of where I want to go with my writing. Seeing that book sales are all about the people you know. Nothing stands on its own legs any more and if you have a novel to sell, it goes for 4.99,  the ebook trade swallows it up, and you never really get recognition unless your name is King, or someone in the industry (think Ellen or Oprah) promotes you.

This year has brought about many drastic changes. None that I have had any control of but changes that I’ve been a part of the unraveling of, like a ball of yarn.

We began the year in the unknown. Would this be the year that the Blind Man sees? As March approached swiftly, we were off on doctor visits and running around on the legs of hope and prayer. I understand intrinsically that waiting is not just a requirement that God asks of us, it is a measure of faith. Not diminishing faith, but some have a better resilience on the waiting bar than others who want it now. They think, “I prayed and I want it now. I shouldn’t have to WAIT!” But guess what, you HAVE to wait and as I’ve learned over the years, that waiting is just a small part of the plan. Sure I have my anxious moments, but I know if I wait patiently, the Lord will take care of everything. Then the anxiety is diminished.

July brought about an unexpected blessing. I received a laptop. It was a strange miracle because I’m used to everyone else receiving them and I sit and watch the glory of God take shape and form. But in this instance, I was the receiver. Then I decided, against my better judgment, to mentor f2k, thinking this would help me relieve some of the anxiety I was facing, little did I know, it was the culmination of a poignant year of realization. It opened my eyes in the writing world. F2k changed my life in more ways than one.

Ironic isn’t it? October brought about the the sight being restored to my man, and for me, the sight into the reality of my life and where it is going? The month began in pain for me as my mouth needed attention, but I’d have to suffer in pain and give my undivided attention to matters at hand. Sight is a pretty big thing that I think we all take for granted, and until it is taken away for years, you’ll never really understand the level of dependence you have on your sight.

Trip after trip to Omaha, took its toll on my body, and finally my mouth hit a heightened pain that could no longer be ignored, but who would help me? Again, no close friends, I slept in pain and rose in anguish until someone near to me like a mother said, “Get to the dentist! I’ll help!” As tears rolled down my face, I made the appointment and felt the loving arms of God once again embrace me.

Life will shape into a ball if I allow it, or into a pile of dung, either way, the year will come to rest on change. Change in focus, change in direction, a broad change in the path I’ve decided to travel down.

Poetry Sunday ~ The Rainbows Touch

Luke 24:49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.

***

The Rainbows Touch
***

The sun drips rainbows from the sky,
a canopy of color blooms down.
Skyward my eyes squint to behold,
the hue of God to which I’m bound.

Rest those eyes, my precious child
For you are not alone.
Color the sky in rainbow pearls
where angels before have flown.

Whisked away to the palette
where brush and paint collide
In His hand I’m gently cradled
the arc of the bow I reside.

Flecks of color come alive
they dance in a splendid show.
His voice now sings a melody
of which I’ve come to know.

Beads if shivers rush my spine
but warmth of light abounds.
Spinning in a cosmic glow
awashed in harps and sounds.

In Gods eyes we unite
the harmony I seek so much
I’ve found it in the loving care
and warmth of the Rainbow’s Touch!

Quotation Saturday

BALANCE & MODERATION
               ***

I soon found out you can't change the world. The best you can do is to learn to live with it.
~Henry Miller

My good friends, while I do most earnestly recommend you to take care of your health and safety, as things most precious to us, I would not have that care degenerate into an effeminate and over-curious attention, which is always disgraceful to a man's self, and often troublesome to others.
~Edmund Burke

We may outrun
By violent swiftness
And lose by over-running.
~William Shakespeare

Be moderate in order to taste the joys of life in abundance.
~Epicurus

 
PLEASURES
     ***
 
Fun I love, but too much fun is of all things the most loathsome. Mirth is better than fun, and happiness is better than mirth. ~Thomas Carlyle

In diving to the bottom of pleasure we bring up more gravel than pearls.
~Honore de Balzac

We can often endure an extra pound of pain far more easily than we can suffer the withdrawal of an ounce of accustomed pleasure.
 ~Sydney J. Harris
 
Pleasure is the bait of sin.
~Plato

PURPOSE
***
 
We all possess the thunder of pure fury and the calm breeze of tranquility. If it wasn't for tomorrow, how much would we get done today? Whatever your purpose... embrace it completely. Get lost in the clouds every now and then so you never lose sight of God's wonder.
~Paul Vitale

Men, like nails, lose their usefulness when they lose direction and begin to bend.
~Walter Savage Landor

To have no set purpose in one's life is the harlotry of the will.
~Stephen MacKenna
 
This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.
~George Bernard Shaw

PRAYER
***
 
When we pray to God we must be seeking nothing - nothing.
~Saint Francis of Assisi

Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays.
~Søren Kierkegaard

Don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines.
~Satchel Paige, 1974

We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties.
~Oswald Chambers

11-11-11 Thankfulness and Glory

John 8:7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said to them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
***

We’ve arrived at the last day of the week which is 11-11-11. A culmination of Help the Less Fortunate Week. All those ‘ones’ in the date, makes me think of the number one front and center force in my life and that is the Lord God. Throughout this week I’ve given you a window into the world in which you live and perhaps maybe sit in judgment of innocent human beings. Have you hung pretty curtains at the window, so the low-life outside doesn’t look so clear. Have you put up shades on your window so their tattered and torn smelly clothes can’t be seen or inhaled? Have you turned your nose up to the needy?

This is what you have done in the season of Thanksgiving? Shut yourself off from giving and absorbed yourself in YOU. “I have all my Christmas shopping done! Aren’t I great?” “I dropped a five dollar bill in the Salvation Army bucket, instead of my usual one dollar!” Wow, don’t you just feel so good about YOU? I have not written this week to guilt you into anything. If you can not act of your own fruition then acting at all will be futile.

I’ve helped you to open your heart and mind into the world of compassion so that maybe when you see a person in need, you won’t turn away from them, out of disgust, maybe you’ll humble your heart, and go to them and see what they need and how you can help. Maybe they just need a cup of coffee, not a whole order of food, maybe the car behind you in the Wendy’s drive-thru could use a spontaneous act of kindness, maybe an elderly person in your building, complex, neighborhood could use a visitor. Maybe someone in the hospital where you’re visiting a friend or loved one, never gets to see a friend or loved one, why not go in and say, Hello?

Instead of gossiping behind peoples back who are not as fortunate as you, why not reach out to them with an arm of compassion. Why not bend in a different direction this holiday season and better yet, why not do it year round? Why wait for the holiday to begin?

Heb 13: 1-3  Let brotherly love continue.
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.

As we entertain ourselves in the company of like minded people, our hearts will overflow with the compassionate nature that Jesus had intended for us. When we surround ourselves in the body of lust, greed, perversion, we get lost in the mire and can never see clearly what God has intended for us on this Earth.
 
As I sit here in farm country, watching the harvesters reap what they sow, I look out into a nation who is being swallowed by earthquakes in divers places, fires, storms, unearthly behavior. Remember, we’ll be protected, because we as Christians will see the signs and wonders and won’t be caught unaware. We’ll have our arms wide open, and ears wide shut to all the naysayers who wish to drive us away from our innocent intent, and that is to help someone in need, without once asking for praise in return. Can you do that?
 
Why a person shuns people in need, is really beyond my comprehension. How can you neglect looking out the window and not SEE what is going on around you and how can you not care unless there is something in it for YOU? Have you ever just given, to give? Have you ever went above and beyond YOU, and thought of someone else, not for gain or recognition just for the sheer warmth that it left lingering in your spirit?
 
Feel that warmth of a giving heart. It is the rainbow of God lighting your soul. Don’t deny it when it happens to you, embrace it and do something because of it.
 

May the joy, peace and compassion envelop you this glorious season. Bring a miracle to life. All you have to do is...PRAY! Godspeed my friends...

“Remember this, what you do in secret, God sees it. What you think silently, God hears it. What you post publicly, would your mother be proud to call you hers? What you think is innocent, would your Father, think so too?” Joni Zipp

***

Before you act, listen.
Before you react, think.
Before you spend, earn.
Before you criticize, wait.
Before you pray, forgive.
Before you quit, try.”
~ Ernest Hemingway

***

 

to all the veterans in

the world

I salute you.

All Tied Up?

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble." - 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
***

Did you ever notice people with the means to help, don’t. And the people without the means, do? Or at least want to. I think I remain poor because even if I was a popular published novel writer, my money would be flung out the window, handed off to people who need it!

I have family members who make more than $100,00 thousand a year, and ones who make less than $25,000 a year. Wanna know who helps in our dire time of need? Yup you guessed it, the ones with the least amount to give. And if you ask the ones with more than enough money for help? They tell you they don’t have it, their money is all tied up. What does that even mean? Oh wait...it is in savings for THEM, so THEY have a good life, for the rest of their lives. Poo, on those who have nothing, get a job they say. Well! I don’t need you, I have GOD, and YOU have your place carved out for you.

More so than that, the ones without don’t even need to ask if I need help. Have you ever seen the man with raggedy clothing on the street corner, cup in hand, sign on ground, NEED FOOD, some call them ‘bums’, some say they are derelicts, some whisper, ‘street trash’, I say the are ‘homeless’ victims.

Why victims? Because they became a victim of circumstance. Please don’t give me the story on these men and women, how they are just out for booze. Sucking off of ‘good taxpaying people’. Do you hear how wrong that sounds? I grew up in the city, Baltimore city, and the homeless could be seen sleeping on top of steaming sewer drains, they will carry their ‘home’ with them, usually a cardboard box, a lot of times a shopping cart filled with a coat and boxes that they would roll around the streets from one place to the next.

It was always so sad to see these men AND women clinging to the very edge of society. A misfit among the human race, pushed there by disease? Hard times? Society? Or Family? I have been on the edge of that line numerous times but God has always sought someone to reach out to me and bring me something, anything in my time of NEED, not want. God is the only saving Grace during these hard times of need, and having real Christians surround you and pull you together into their arms, that is what you NEED!

Sure we all want a nice home, a warm home with a car outside waiting for us to jump in, clothes on our backs, and food on our plates. We also want that new blouse we saw at JCPenny’s, or that purse we saw at Macy’s, or the new sofa we saw at the Furniture Store. But those are all WANTS and nothing that you really NEED.

I NEED my state of mental health, and the Greed Factory is not where I’ll ever visit anytime soon. You enjoy your time there and if you see someone who resembles Jesus, in need, tell him you can’t help, “YOUR money is all tied up.” See how that works for you.

Hebrews 13:1-2 "Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares".

But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mk 10:43-45 (NLT)

Pointing Fingers

Ps. 136: 25 Who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy endureth for ever.
***

After yesterdays post, I could feel the fingers pointing, the mouths hanging open, whispering sounds, “You were on welfare?”

I’ve known many people who should BE on assistance but they don’t because of pride. Pride holds people back from many things and when you get the haughty attitude in life, you are missing a main element in your human existence; compassion, meekness.

“I’m not going to lower myself and go THERE” they say, while slopping up oats, or mac and cheese, for the 28th day of the month. When you don’t have a child, I guess you and your pride can stand on the pedestal thinking yourself really something way up there, above everyone else. Looking down on the lowly, meek and humble.

“HaH, look at me, I’m way up here and you, you have lowered yourself and will sit in that welfare office with all those stinky people who have absolutely nothing.” They have absolutely nothing? Really? I don’t see it that way. I see them as having MORE than you and as human beings who need food and are willing to go and get it, even if that means, shaking off the prideful attitude, humbling themselves and standing in line for hours at our government offices, and going home with food. Real food, delicious healthy food that will strengthen and nourish their bodies.

Meals on Wheels, food assistance to the elderly. Would you stand on your pedestal and deprive the elderly of a meal every day? You sit there and say that the welfare offices are full of people who take advantage of the system, yet you have no idea the persons life or circumstance that caused them to be in that situation. The meals-on-wheels is no different, the elderly need food and sometimes they don’t have cars or a means to get a meal each day, but would you deprive an elderly person a meal? Then why judge and deprive anyone else who is getting a much needed meal?

Oh, I get it now, it all boils down to your ego. “I work for my meals!” or “I have a job, now YOU go find one and stop allowing taxpayers to pay for you!” Really? Is that what it is to you? You being better, you having something others don’t have, you wanting to keep it for yourself and not share it?
You’ll spew back at me, I have no ego, I just call ‘em as I see ‘em. My point exactly, YOU call it the way YOU see it. When YOU have an ego, remember your pov lessons? Ego is all about YOU.

So what we have is YOU calling yourself a Christian, and YOU depriving innocent people of food and shelter, YOU taking from the poor, to give to the what? I can’t say rich, but those just getting by, too?
 
We have greed festering and surfacing, boasting, taunting, yet you say you have no ego?

Luke 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Can you imagine just for a moment the weak and lowly of the earth coming to Jesus and saying, “I’m hungry.” And Jesus scoffing and saying “Get a job! I have nothing to offer you!” You’re jaw just dropped open. Close it before the flies get in, would you? Why did your jaw drop open? Because you know that Jesus would NEVER deny any man food, and I do mean ANY man or woman. So you calling yourself a Christian and denying a man his food, is no different than your Lord and Savior turning his back on the needy.
 
We as Christians have to humble ourselves and at one point in our life, become a weak, meek, lowly person to grasp the reality of what is being taught us by Christ.  Some of us never seek to rise above humility because we’re comfortable teaching what truly needs to be taught. All I ask, is look within at YOU and see just who it is YOU serve. It's not all about YOU pointing fingers, remember that.

Pro. 13: 23 Much food is in the tillage of the poor: but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment.

Humble Yourselves

James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
***

I remember a time sitting at the welfare office in Texas with hundreds of other folk in need of the same thing we needed, assistance. Things had just gotten that bad we had to resort to help from the state. In Texas you sit in the office for hours upon hours awaiting your number to be picked. If you arrived at 7 a.m when the doors open, standing in line outside in the cold, you might be lucky enough to get a number that would only leave you in the office for two hours instead of four, but if you arrived late, you were definitely going to be there until five.

Short staffed, enormous need, and a bad system left many sitting there grumbling, but many, just patiently waiting their turn. This system was for ANYTHING you needed, even if you just went to ask a question of things you needed to bring with you, you waited! One day after sitting there for an hour, a young couple came in with a baby. They didn’t look like they belonged there any more than we did. They looked at their number and after an hour I finally asked, “What number do you have?” Well the man said a number, and I KNEW it was going to be a long day for them. I handed him my number, he looked amazed.

“But it’s almost your turn.” he said. I looked at him, “God bless you.” His wife came back in, she was making a call telling her mother, I guess, that she’d be there all day. Her number was next, she looked amazed too. Her husband pointed at us. “Thank you,” she said, “Thank you so much.”

They just moved from Oklahoma, he had lost his job, and they had never been in this situation in their lives. He was telling us his story as his wife went to the counter to ask a question. She came back and they thanked us again and again. I sat there another hour but to see the smiles on all three of their faces was well worth it!

I had done that one other time to a pregnant girl who was there alone, and looked like she was going to give birth, right then and there. She was nine months and didn’t need to wait for four hours so I handed her my number.

It was a humbling experience sitting in that office and I thought of all the people who condemn and put down welfare recipients. “Nobody pays for my food,” they taunt, “Get a job!” they scream, but I assure you, if those same people lost their jobs, had no means for food, and family wasn’t forthcoming in the ‘help’ department, I can guarantee you, they would HUMBLE themselves, get into that office, and have a means for feeding their family!

Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a savings. Not everyone has the ability to help themselves, and not everyone can rely on so called ‘friends’ because they will be the first to say, “I really don’t have it this week.” This circumstance is merely a stepping stone for most people, people who have worked all their lives, paid their taxes and have fallen on hard times. You judge them because of your ignorance. Have you ever been in a welfare office to be able to actually give a proper judgment? “I wouldn’t be caught dead there!” you say, then YOU have NO RIGHT TO JUDGE!

Humbling yourselves is what God wants us to do, maybe so all the taunters can see how ‘non Christian’ they have become? Maybe God just wants you to see His handiwork at work. Not everyone in those offices are drug dealing, boozers, or multiple time pregnant women, sucking the system for all it’s worth; many are there because of NEED. They NEED food, they NEED shelter! THEY NEED COMPASSION!!! And all you people on the outside looking in are just that, looking from your glass houses. Judge not...lest YOU be judged.

James 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

Amazing Grace

I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises. I will boast only in the Lord; let all who are helpless take heart. Ps 34:1-2 (NLT)

Are you there God? It’s me, Joni.

Have you ever felt like your voice is echoing in a tunnel and no one is hearing? I’ve never really felt like that because I always knew God was listening, as He was talking to me along the journey of Stevens blindness, He spoke, I listened. I never really asked anything of myself, I just kept praying for everyone else in need.

The power of prayer is simply amazing. When I send out a prayer for someone or say to a person, I’ll pray for you, those are not empty words that stop at just words, I really sincerely pray for that person. I won’t go into the amount of prayers I’ve said or for who, but I can say that the persons prayed for come back to me and say, “I FELT your prayers.” All Glory to God.

So when I send a prayer into the tunnel, it doesn’t have an echo, because of all the prayers it is bumping into. The tunnel is full of prayers and when I say, “Are you there God, it’s me, Joni,” I know God will hear my prayer. He forgets no one.

People think I’m crazy because when they ask or tell me to do something, I have a tendency to say, “I’ll see what God says,” or I’ll wait to hear what God wants me to do.” and if He says wait, I wait, patiently, sometimes in deep pain, struggling, gasping for air, but I wait, and God answers in a resounding brilliance of rainbow colors.

I don’t mean He puts a rainbow in the sky for me, (although sometimes he has done that.) But He layers his answer in a colorful rainbow that only I hear, and obey. ROYGBIV
Red-- “REST my child for you are weary”, Orange-- “OPEN your heart and let the Light shine through.” Yellow -- “YOU are my child and never forgotten.”, Green -- “GRACE from your Lord and Savior surrounds you.” Blue -- “BE one with all that I AM.” Indigo -- “I am the Lord your God.”, Violet -- “ VALUE all that you are!”

Then He adds... “You are not alone.” And then gives me a hug that is like no other warmth of the universe surrounding me.

How can you ignore that? Maybe you don’t hear Him? Maybe you’ve been so busy with reading the scripture, you never really gave it a chance when it came to actually living the scripture. I am not perfect by no means, I am a sinner like each and every one of you and think myself nothing more, but I strive, every day I wake up, and listen for the rainbow, I strive to make my day full of Glory to God.

I rose today, along with the glorious sun and felt, His Amazing Grace...
...was blind...but now... I SEE!!!

Thank you Lord, for prayers answered! Praise be your name!

NOTE: We are nearing a holiday, where people are lonely and need our prayer. Thanksgiving and Christmas should be a time for celebration and giving thanks. This weeks posts will be for the needy, the less fortunate, the ones no one cares for, but Jesus.

Matt. 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

Poetry Sunday ~ Autumn Beauty ~

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

***

~ Autumn Beauty ~

The leaves have fallen on the ground
they whisper at night moving ‘round.
Climbing tendrils of circular motion
the autumn leaves are colorful potion.

Autumn is the season in our lives,
laying to rest where Summer thrives.
Crunching colors under your feet
stomping the sound to ear does it meet.

Playful swooshing with a flurry,
leaves are there to hide and bury.
Put to rest the years vocation
find yourself in Winters elation.

Autumn is full of screaming fans
blustery days for months it spans.
it creeps right in you’ll hear the footfall,
the sound of chimes and noisy football!

Rest you now as in Winter you go
early evenings and Halloween snow.
Fill these moments as cherished with time
find your heart into which I will climb.

Quotation Saturday

“Rise and shine. Greet the new day with warmth and kindness. Live and learn and learn to live. Love yourself and love to give! Your journey into today awaits...”
~ Joni Zipp

Often people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want.
~Margaret Young

Friends really do come and go. Some come back. Some don't and that's okay!!
~author unknown

People may forget what you said, and they may forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
~ author unknown

"What the mind can conceive and believe the body will achieve."
~Unknown

"The same fence that shuts others out shuts you in."  
~ Bill Copeland

If you have wronged someone -- sincerely apologized and tried your best to make ...amends -- but forgiveness was denied, do not carry the burden of guilt with you. Forgive yourself, and create a better person from the experience. 
~ Dodinsky

‎In life, you can never do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Stay around those who makes you feel yourself. If not, then you are wasting your time & energy with those kind of people & they will surely hamper your growth.
~ Tejas Patel

"You should lower your expectations of other people, and raise them for yourself." 
~ Harry H. Harrison, Jr.

Do you always have an opinion and stand by it or are you the neutral kind? If you cannot take a Moral stand on an issue that you are passionate about, then, you are not much of a Man or Woman. Here is something inspirational for you. The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.
~Martin Luther King, Jr.

Life is one big road with many signs. So when your riding through the ruts, don’t complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don’t bury your thoughts, instead put your vision to reality. Wake up and live.
~ Unknown

Life is a ticket to the greatest show on earth.
~Martin H. Fischer

“Expecting life to treat you well just because you’re a good person is like expecting an angry bull not to charge you because you’re a vegetarian.”  
~ Unknown

I don’t normally like to post by authors unknown, but there are some pretty thought provoking quotes out there by this person, ~unknown~

May you all find a word in your heart to share with someone, as long as it’s good, you will feel good! ~Joni

ACTION!!!

"A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom." ~ Robert Frost
***

You’ve heard those words I’m sure, LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

Do you know why they say that, because that is the time the cameras are going to roll and everything all the producers had envisioned is going to come into play now. All their hard work, will be put into action.

Even the good Lord, in the Holy Bible tells us, faith without works is dead. Do you know why? Because even God wants you to ACT upon your vision. Say we have a talent and don’t use it, we don’t make proper use or any use of it, it has its own plan of going dormant and without action behind it, the force that once drove it, will surely die.

Action, speaks louder than words. You’ve heard that one too? Well when you’re just a word person, no one can really take you seriously because in all honesty, people have heard the gab before, and without action in your WORDS, they are no different than “faith without works”. ACTION propels. Words are just that...words.

Without action we writers are just tap dancing through life, going through the motions, but to ACT is to force you to move forward. Say you’ve written a novel. Have you done everything in your power to move it forward to the chopping block then to the submitting table for a publisher to look at?

Listen to me, I have a completed novel, a memoir in the works, hundreds of poems all just sitting there because I am not moving them forward. I don’t know why, I think I use the excuse; let me get to this first, and that first, and and and, I become a procrastinating frenzy, and get nothing but other people moving forward.

Since I’ve taken on a new mission to think of myself, and please don’t hand me ‘the selfish little wench’ bit, I NEED to take care of myself. I’ve neglected me for far too long and as my mouth is still in pain, it will have to remain that way until I get some money, to get it looked at, in the meantime, I’m searching markets and before I jump feet first into the care for others pool, I am going to take a little time to care for me.

My body is just beginning to feel normal after two weeks of feeling numb. I think I had a pinched nerve somewhere, still might, because I’m not completely healed, my mouth now feels like a train has rammed into the side of my face and has docked for permanent residency. I hope this gets taken care of soon because I have so much to do, so much in the house to do, so much to write! And no funds to do it.

Pray for me because in my mission to care for others, others have prayed for me, and healing has taken place. I have been in a writing frenzy and am acting upon the God given talent to move ME forward. I may leave a few behind, but then again, those that are left behind, really were not there wholeheartedly to begin with.

James 2:20  But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

Baby Steps...

Follow your passion, and success will follow you. 

~Terri Guillemets

Baby Steps ...
 
...into the world of writing

I remember watching a movie, quite a few years back titled, What About Bob, starring Billy Murray, and who cares who else was in it, it had Bill Murray. (I’m kidding, I’m sure it had quite a few other good named actors in it) Veering off topic there. In the movie (which I own and watch over and over again) Bob fears everything, so he goes to a doctor who basically forwards him to a specialist.

Long story short. The doctor tells Bob to take baby steps, every second of the day, so that he can get to where he is going, and eventually in the end (after a long hilarious bout of driving his doctor insane) Bob is healed, sorta, kinda, somewhat. teeheehee! Are any of us ever really healed, come on now, be honest.

I have a knack for shamelessly calling writers insane, but I’m telling you, you’ll be hard pressed to find writers themselves saying otherwise. They’ve gathered in their cubby holes, tapped on the keys for days at a time, expounded on the threshold of many words, (eww, that sounds gross) and have all come to the conclusion that they are sane. A sane writer? Now that is some funny stuff.

What is needed is baby steps. You can’t just think that you can write because you see a bunch of other writers hammering at the book, don’t believe for a minute that you can knowledge yourself into writing, by that I mean, you can study until you’re blue in the face, if you don’t have what it takes, it isn’t going to happen for you.

I’ve seen so many come into the Village, (wvu) WANTING to be writers and they quickly gave up when they realized, they were not cut out to be a writer. They crammed, purchased, shelled out time and money, but still in the end, they missed the passion of a writer. They had the will to write, but without the drive and nerve ending passion that it takes to wait, years and years before an ounce of effort pays off, they quickly dissolved from the radar screen.

They actively pursued someone else's writing dream, just to fit in. That is seriously not the way to do it. I have been writing since I was a baby and learned HOW to write the alphabet. I took baby step after baby step, and grew to write poetry, for my English classes, for holidays, and actually I saved money. I entered free contest (vanity) only to be let down but still, I persisted. (I did win honorable mention, but wondered how many others won that title also.)

It wasn’t until about 10 years ago when a computer magically walked into my house, free of charge, that my entire life and writing dream took a turn around. I diligently sought out writing groups where I could feel a part of something.

After taking a two year writing course with Christian Writers Guild came to a close, the fire was lit and my passion burned inside as I grew as a writer. And I’m still taking baby steps but now, I feel as if they are strides, strides in the right direction after cutting out the insanity and moving forward.

My baby steps have led to a full gaping walk. How about you?

Joni Zipp's : https://apps.facebook.com/yourlifecontest/content/see-again

World of Words

"Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all."
~ Winston Churchill ~

Our Words create Worlds...

Imagine a life without words. We’d be all running around in silence hoping for some swishing sound to fly by our ear. Maybe a fluttering leaf, the waves in the ocean? The downpour of a mid-summers rain?

Without words there would be no books, no imaginative writers and no creator! A writers life is a World of Words. We take one word at a time and shape it into a sentence, then we link those sentences together to form a paragraph; and before you know it, our one paragraph leads to another and the deluge happens; you’re sitting atop a mountain of words called... a novel!

Is that possible, for real? Can you make a mountain out of a molehill? With words, you can create worlds of life, death, light and dark, joy, sorrow, grief, pain and happiness. You are the artist but instead of paint you dip your fingers into the word pool and drip onto the paper the world that you have imagined.

Also your words are going to be splattered on the page and as your reader picks them up they can either lift them to new heights or drop them a few feet below the soil. As the creator of these tales you are the master of the world you create. I think it takes some form of ego to think you are God and can create something out of nothing, but that is basically what writers do; we create something out of nothing and see what can happen allowing the world free reign of all that you created. A God given talent, surely not something acquired through training. All the studying in the world will not make you a writer.

Think of your tale as Earth being formed out of a void of emptiness; breathed into existence. Now think of the readers as Adam and Eve, the ones who will make or break the world you brought into existence. Well, we know how earth turned out, right? So be prepared for not all readers to accept what you write, think it utter foolishness, or think it is divinely inspired by truth.

Let the reader then breathe into your novel their own world. Allow them to create what they want from your words, whether they get what you had intended, or walk away with a totally different aspect of your intentions. Either way you have all filled the world with light and rainbows. You have walked through the forest, taken misguided paths, but in the end, if all goes as planned, you’ll all wind up in the same place, or maybe not.

Have faith...the world was not created over night and as you, a writer, knows success in your novel will not blink into existence. Remain calm, take deep breaths, think yourself the potter, and mold the clay into something everyone will stand in awe of, and most importantly...godspeed. :)

Joni Zipp's : https://apps.facebook.com/yourlifecontest/content/see-again

NaNo WriMo

Today starts the big NaNo WriMo.  Say that ten times why don’t ya. NaNo is the writers dream. It is where they hunker down and commit to writing 1670 words a day for thirty days (really it is 1666.6 but hey, I rounded it off for good reason). The point being that you will have a 45,000 word, rough draft of a novel and you as a writer can shout out a YEEHAAA!!!

NaNo is a no no for me. I don’t like to make plans and commit to something as big as a thirty day writing frenzy. I don’t like cliques and clubs, and I’m trying to free myself from some negative things right now, so nano would only bring me down and not UP. Just think, if I choose to write a novel, I can sit here and belt out 2000 words a day for two months and not feel one bit like a pressure cooker about to blow!

National Novel Writing Month is a well respected force of nature in the writing world. I’m just wondering if any well known artists will claim that their published novel was a product of NaNo? Come on Mr. King, you know you want to tell the world you’re a NaNo fan!

From wikipedia:

National Novel Writing Month - also known as NaNoWriMo is an annual internet-based creative writing  project which challenges participants to write 50,000 words of a new novel between November 1 and November 30. Its sister event is a script-writing challenge taking place in April called Script Frenzy. The project started in July 1999 with just 21 participants, but by the 2010 event over 200,000 people took part - writing a total of over 2.8 billion words.

Writers wishing to participate first register on the project's website, where they can post profiles and information about their novels, including synopsis and excerpts. Word counts are validated on the site, with writers submitting a copy of their novel for automatic counting. Municipal leaders and regional forums help connect local writers with one another for holding writing events and to provide encouragement.
______________________________

Who would be crazy enough to sign up, commit to, and want to be a part of NANO? Well, writers of course, because as I’ve said in numerous previous posts, writers are a crazy bunch. And apparently over 200,000 people are plum crazy!

I mean that in the kindest way. A lot of my friends and some who are friends no more are registering and going into the battle with eyes wide open. They’ve got their outlines, character plots, their atmosphere and all the scents (not sense) about them. They will hurl words into space and come out the other end of November with a completed first draft.

So, as I sit in WVU alone, catering to the few that remain left behind. I will write close to a thousand words a day for my blog, under no pressure to achieve anything except a  good post, and I’ll be getting ready for Turkey Day, in Joni fashion, as I look forward to a Christmas day with sleigh bells and lights and music to string me along into the New Year.

Please don’t tell me I just mentioned Christmas. I holler at the TV for showing me Christmas commercials BEFORE Halloween and here I am mentioning it too? Ugh...

Let the writing frenzy begin. Good luck to you all!

All Hallows Evil

I did not become a Christian to be like YOU.
I do not follow Christ, so I can do what YOU do.
I do not owe my life to God, so I can give thanks to YOU!
I do not like the things YOU like, I like what Jesus likes,
And I’M okay with that! ARE YOU?

I will respect our differences...all I ask is that YOU, RESPECT ME.


"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?" 1 Corinthians 3:16

Remember...what YOU do, affects your temple.

****

Have you ever noticed that people use God and their religion, whatever it may be, as a mask. They say things like, “I’m a Christian.” But then their actions say they are in cahoots with the dark one. They drink, they lie, cheat, steal, lust, revel in anarchy and I think to myself, “Where is Jesus in that picture?”

Then I hear people say, “I went to church as a kid. I was raised on God.” And? Your point being? Because your mother made you go to church as a kid, now, 40 years later entitles you to call yourself a Christian? Living the title: Christian, entitles you to suffering, persecution and the gates being opened to Heaven when you pass on in death.

As you swig the beer are you thinking of dying? Or are you just covering up a hidden pain? Are you justifying your actions? That’s my favorite, the justifiers. “God won’t mind. He said I can drink, lust, look at pornographic images, be a pervert among society without ramifications.”  He did? Where did He say that? And it is YOU who call yourself a Christian?

No, our society justifies everything they do, never thinks about dying, death or WHERE they are going to wind up at deaths door. They have this idea, that they’ll sin now until their dying day, THEN ask God for forgiveness and get into heaven. Yeah, I think that’s what Satan tried to pull; and he was given his very OWN heaven! In the accolades of Hell!

Halloween to me is reminiscent of the Hell people will endure. Everyone justifies lies, deceit, masks, all in good fun. Christmas even mocks the Lords birthday with Santa and his reindeer.  But I’m going a bit far there because all of the liars will come down on me. Hey, don’t come down on me, I chose NOT to lie about Santa, the Easter bunny, and all the other hoaxes society tried to push me to do. Nope, I’m a follower of Christ, not a follower of society.

As tomorrow rears its head and many celebrate what is deemed All Saints Day. (I was raised Catholic; converted to Christianity at 14) Remember this...we don’t need to be Saints in this world; we don’t need to be perfect to be Christians. What we need to be is respectful of the God who created us. And that means...being One with Him, and cherishing the temple within. Desire to be Christlike.

Did you know that WE are in the Holy Bible? Yup, a story about US!

We are all sinners! (Yup! Me too!)

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.

I may be a sinner, but I strive each and every day...to be a saint! With all glory to God!