The Shadow Knows

Psalm 27:13 (NIV) I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

Writing for myself…

These days I’m writing for myself. If by chance you pass on by, lucky you but I’m no longer promoting my blog on facebook, so if I’m not one of your bookmarks, you more than likely miss what I’m writing. I might on occasions share a poem on facebook or maybe my quotations but no, facebook isn’t working out for me these days. Maybe with the New Year as I take hold of doing new things, new classes, writing, remaining sane in an insane world, I will write to inspire.

I’m distancing myself from all things that bring a negative energy into my life. While facebook is okay, there is a negativity that cannot be cleansed simply by bathing. I visit, click a few likes, thank the two people who still remember me and sometimes think of me, then I’m on my way with the busyness of my day.

Here lately my household has been taken over by what I feel is dark negative force. So eliminating facebook and all its false images and negativity has driven me to take a deeper look at my surroundings physically. I see a collapse in view. Crumbling of walls where only rubble is left to pick through and I feel a pain in knowing this and the inability to stop the movement that has begun.

My son loves The Walking Dead and now Steven has found it on a site where he can watch TV shows with listings from A-Z. I understand that people are fascinated with Zombie’s and wanting to watch people eat people but where do you draw the line? Steven’s list started with the innocent watching of Gotham then Agents of Shield but now includes Fringe, Falling Skies, Walking Dead, Sleepy Hollow and Hemlock Grove, which he lost interest in, I think. Hemlock Grove looks like a soft-porn show with demons, vampires, lesbians and nudity on Netflix, but I could be wrong about the soft-porn. (Too judgmental?) Sometimes I do judge a show too harshly but it is only by MY moral standards, apparently.

People crave these dark shows because just as when they sought God and the Light, they feel they are protected in some way and can walk with the dark being for a bit uninfected. How wrong is THAT assumption? Yes, it’s just TV shows but again, where do you draw the line in what you allow to seep into your conscious? How can the dark shadows be in your outer conscious awakening, without leaking in bits and pieces to your sub-conscious to your very consciousness of being?

What comes over people to make them take steps toward the evil calling them? Well I just answered my own question. Evil comes over people. Satan licks his finger and touches a person and you can hear him joyfully boasting, “Tssssssss, gotcha.”

What starts out as innocently watching a few dark shows, grabs a hold of you and pulls you in a direction you no longer have control of. You can pretend to have control but darkness is nothing to control, it is something to push away, something to obliterate from your life.

From the very first man, a woman smote Adam, and they began their lust-filled adventure, one that we as humans cannot get control of in this lifetime. We can pretend, we can ask forgiveness and be forgiven a thousand million times, so we feel the sin is worth it because hey, we’ll be forgiven.

I understand it is our human nature to sin. It is impossible to live a sinless life but we can strive to be better humans and walk with the Lord, who IS sinless, and maybe just maybe His traits will rub off on you.

I am so thankful every day that the Lord is my breath and life sustaining virtue. That He carries me through the darkness whether by His side, or in His arms, He’s there to see me through all the darkness that tries to grab hold of things in my life. That’s one thing I can say, not boastingly but rather confidently; I am a beacon of Light in a household that succumbs to dark shadows lurking. Praise the Lord, Amen!

The Myth Factor

Acts 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

I hear over and over again that the Bible is a myth. Why would some people believe this is beyond me but I do see why they’re misguided. After all, the book does have dragons and giants, Behemoth’s and rising dead people along with a virgin giving birth. That can all seem too ‘out there’ and a fabled myth for some folk.

I can go through hundreds of comments in a day and over and over when God is brought up, the unbeliever shoots him down quickly. The recent conversation of comments was on the subject of the Church denying gays and placing them outside as sinners condemned. The church tries to ‘change’ them and oftentimes they feel so left out that suicide is better than living.

One commenter states:

“It always amazes me how much hate people practice because they found it in a thousands year old book and insist on calling it love.”

Another Comment:

“Christianity has been peer reviewed for two thousand years and has done far more good if followed in spirit. Religion is merely a formalized moral position on various subjects that is voluntarily followed by a group of people. The same definition could be made regarding politics. And no, religion does not need a God, it simply needs a moral lawgiver. Something the world is in dire need of.”

I do believe that the world is conflicted because since the beginning of time there has been the war of good and evil and it looks to me like this day and age, evil is winning out in record numbers. The everyday news reports of killings, bombings, slaughtering makes the news but I wonder if what is going on and IS reported, what is seriously going on and NOT being reported?

I often read/hear, “Where was your God when [such and such] was happening?”

“Where’s your proof of this ‘God’?”

I’m so sick of people blaming God for bad things happening. Who can forget 9-11? Was that God who flew the plane into those buildings? No, it was evil that struck the nation and God saw the heartache and tried salvaging what evil had done.

When a plane crashes and kills four of five of those aboard, was it God who so heartlessly killed those people? No, it was HUMAN error! When God saw that one seven-year old child alive, His child, He led her to a safe house where she could receive assistance. Braving a rough terrain, almost freezing temperatures, and walking over a quarter of a mile, barefoot and in summer-like clothing, this child became the sole survivor of a devastating plane wreck.

Miracles happen and people will still blame God for the things He ‘didn’t’ do. I can see why the world is so confused. We have people claiming to be Christians but not acting like Christians; we have a ‘politically correct’ nation so hung up on technical jargon; we have a nation that hates God, and will spew anything against Him because He hasn’t shown Himself physically in many-a-year or done anything for ‘them’; we also have an entire group of people claiming to be Christians but needing scientific proof to be sure where exactly they stand. An extremely confused world we are.

Well people, I don’t have proof of anything; don't need it. All I have is my testimony, just as the men in the bible preach and write about. You see, the Bible is just a testimony, albeit divine, from man handed down through centuries. The Bible is comprised of them documenting certain events. They documented what THEY saw/heard and thus you have all the testimony in one book for you to discern as fact or fiction.

I CHOOSE to see it as fact only because of what God has shown ME. Whether He has shown YOU anything is up to you. If He’s shown you nothing, of course you’re going to doubt and need some sort of PROOF of this God.

Just today I was reading about ‘Scientific Proof’ of Jesus teaching in a synagogue. Scientific proof, that’s cute. One commenter said that WE people only believe this stuff because of a “mythological” story we read.

Let me tell you straight up, I don’t believe in God because of something I read. I do not base my faith on a book written and documented by men thousands of years ago. My faith comes from God himself. Sure, my moral compass was guided by the Word of the Bible; Yes I live a moral code set by the Bible but my faith is not just because I read a book called The Holy Bible.

Can you honestly say you have faith then seek out PROOF? I, in good conscience cannot. Faith is seeing and believing in the unknown; no proof needed. I don’t need scientific proof that the sea was parted. I need no documentation of Jesus’ footprints being found in the sand. I don’t need to know the exact spot the Ark was grounded and I sure don’t need a man (or woman) telling me what I’m doing right or wrong in MY belief.

I’ve been struggling a lot lately with religious division. It seems like what so many of the non-believers feel is that if the Bible is so true and proof-worthy, why are so many religions divided? If we all believe the same bible, the same Word, why are we so divided? Because we’re human! Humans have egos and a person with an ego always needs to be right; thus, a divided religious system.

I think I’ve figured it out. There will be debates on the proof, the non-proof, the truth and the non-truth until the end of time, until He comes back and wipes the smirk and ego right off your shoulders. I’ll keep MY faith tightly wrapped in the arms of the Holy Spirit.   

Poetry Sunday ~ I Bare My Soul

I Bare My Soul

I bare my soul for all to see

My heartstrings on display

To strum and pluck as you like

Now fill me with dismay.

You threw my soul onto the floor

I’ll strive to rise above

Fighting with all that’s left in me

My heart consumed by love.

You try your best to stuff my face

With brutal basted hate

Stringing me along in time

No longer can I wait.

Life is precious, as you’ll see

When you awaken to the truth

We are not meant to bathe in lies

Or struggle with being couth.

I bare my soul for all to see

One day you’ll understand.

That I’m not misled by earthly guise

I’m ushered by a Heavenly Hand.

 

 

 

Quotation Saturday II

POPULAR

“Christ has not called us to be popular, but to be faithful. We are not saved to be relevant to the crowds; we are saved to reflect Christ.”
~ Dillon Burroughs

“If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the government is inefficient, top-heavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it. Peace, Montag. Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely 'brilliant' with information. Then they'll feel they're thinking, they'll get a sense of motion without moving. And they'll be happy, because facts of that sort don't change.”
~ Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

“Popular culture is a place where pity is called compassion, flattery is called love, propaganda is called knowledge, tension is called peace, gossip is called news, and auto-tune is called singing.”
~ Criss Jami

“As individuals die every moment, how insensitive and fabricated a love it is to set aside a day from selfish routine in prideful, patriotic commemoration of tragedy. Just as God is provoked by those who tithe simply because they feel that they must tithe, I am provoked by those who commemorate simply because they feel that they must commemorate.”
~ Criss Jami

UNPOPULAR

“Hanging with people who make you feel unappreciated, for the mere sake of appearing to be popular, is the loneliest place to be.”
~ Ellen J. Barrier

“Your crown is in the place that has the least crowd”
~ Constance Chuks Friday

“Stark truth, is seldom met with open arms.”
~ Justin K. McFarlane Beau

“Sometimes broken hearts are needed, that way you will appreciate the one that handles it with care.”
~ Lilly Ghalichi

ARROGANCE

“Women have served all these centuries as looking glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size.”
~ Virginia Woolf

“Be careful not to mistake insecurity and inadequacy for humility! Humility has nothing to do with the insecure and inadequate! Just like arrogance has nothing to do with greatness!”
~ C. JoyBell

“When you think yours is the only true path you forever chain yourself to judging others and narrow the vision of God. The road to righteousness and arrogance is a parallel road that can intersect each other several times throughout a person's life. It’s often hard to recognize one road from another. What makes them different is the road to righteousness is paved with the love of humanity. The road to arrogance is paved with the love of self.”
~ Shannon L. Alder

“Patriotism ... is a superstition artificially created and maintained through a network of lies and falsehoods; a superstition that robs man of his self-respect and dignity, and increases his arrogance and conceit.”
~ Emma Goldman

CONCEIT

“Arrogance is perhaps the most socially acceptable form of sin in the church today. In this culture of abundance, one of the only ways Satan can keep Christians neutralized is to wrap us up in pride. Conceit slips in like drafts of cold air in the winter. We don't see it, but outsiders can sense it.”
~ David Kinnaman

“Time and time again does the pride of man influence his very own fall. While denying it, one gradually starts to believe that he is the authority, or that he possesses great moral dominion over others, yet it is spiritually unwarranted. By that point he loses steam; in result, he falsely begins trying to prove that unwarranted dominion by seizing the role of a condemner.”
~ Criss Jami

“He thinks the sun comes up just to hear him crow.”
~ Charles Martin

“Social media has infected the world with a sickening virus called vanity.”
~ Kellie Elmore

 

 

 

Quotation Saturday

RESOLUTIONS

“People don't want their lives fixed. Nobody wants their problems solved. Their dramas. Their distractions. Their stories resolved. Their messes cleaned up. Because what would they have left? Just the big scary unknown.”
~ Chuck Palahniuk

“The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective.”
~ G.K. Chesterton

“The problem with people that ignore people they dislike is they can’t ignore them. Anger carries a person in your mind forever, whether you choose to speak to them or not. Therefore, don’t mistake prosperity or accomplishments as resolution. You can’t escape what you will not deal with. The day you can stand in the room with someone and not be affected is the day you truly moved on.”
~ Shannon L. Alder

“The first day of the brand new calendar year is an empowered time to psychologically unwind to mentally find own life charged emotionally with a refined energy & enthusiasm to create a beautiful growth paradigm within the physically defined laws of nature and the rules of the game called life.”
~ Anuj Somany

STARTING OVER

“There are no coincidences in life. What person that wandered in and out of your life was there for some purpose, even if they caused you harm. Sometimes, it doesn’t make sense the short periods of time we get with people, or the outcomes from their choices. However, if you turn it over to God he promises that you will see the big picture in the hereafter. Nothing is too small to be a mistake.”
~ Shannon L. Alder

“We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come. -”
~ Joseph Campbell

“Hearts rebuilt from hope resurrect dreams killed by hate.”
~ Aberjhani

“The death of a dream can in fact serve as the vehicle that endows it with new form, with reinvigorated substance, a fresh flow of ideas, and splendidly revitalized color. In short, the power of a certain kind of dream is such that death need not indicate finality at all but rather signify a metaphysical and metaphorical leap forward.”
~ Aberjhani, The River of Winged Dreams

DREAMS

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
~ H. Jackson Brown Jr.

“Yes: I am a dreamer. For a dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.”
~ Oscar Wilde

“Hold fast to dreams,
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird,
That cannot fly.”
~ Langston Hughes

“Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Naked New Year

Acts 5:20 Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.

Well as many spent their New Year’s Day sitting on facebook, tweeting on twitter, wasting a new day and the beginning of a new year, I was being productive and dismantling Christmas.

New calendars were hung and the first picture of the New Year? A Cardinal. That glorious red bird that visits me when he can is now on my wall for at least a month. That brought a smile to my face.

I sure get a lot done working with my disabled body. As I wrapped ornaments, snowmen and all, to be put away while Adam was unstringing lights from the tree and Christmas was slowly being sucked out of the house. By the end of the day my body was screaming in pain, not because Christmas was melting into the boxes not to be seen for another year, but because I try to do too much in a crippled body.

I woke thinking the day was going to be something special; that all the revelers knew something that I didn’t. I realized that I’m alone in the world of zombies. I woke to find it was a new day, the same as the day before, just a new calendar. The only thing that is going to change is me. I have to make some changes this year. This is not a resolution, this is a part of my continued soul searching and where it is leading me. There sure isn’t anyone going to do it for me.

1 Peter 4: 16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

The scripture above says a lot to me. While I’m not ashamed of my Christian beliefs, what I am ashamed of is how loosely based the term Christian is used. People who fear Christ, fear salvation, fear being born again call themselves Christians. I have to laugh out loud when I hear/read “Christians fear Christ” in the same sentence.

The reasons people fear Christ is because they haven’t opened themselves up to the POWER of the Holy SPIRIT of Christ. They call themselves Christians without even knowing what spirituality is because that’s some far flung belief from old.

My path is leading me away. Not that I sit in judgment of man because I know full well I am not one to judge people for misunderstanding, I’m just done with justifying and excusing them for not having the strength to seek out and find the spirit within them. For all intents and purposes, they seek what is on the outside. They will have to answer to their god one day, too.

Life after death. My new calendar year, as so many others in the past, will have me seeking. What will become of me in my life after death has drawn interest in me. I am not focusing on the here and now because all of this will be gone in a blink of the eye. What will be left of us? Our bare naked souls.

I’ve opened a wounded soul and seek out healing. I cannot pretend that my popularity and friendships will walk me through the gates of heaven. I will not put on a show of wondrous works to walk me through the Pearly Gates because I KNOW, nothing of this earth is going with me when I come face to face with God Himself! The only thing that will be exposed is my conscience.

I will walk with no guilt or shame when the portal opens. My clothes will be peeled from me, my skin shed and I must stand in front of God exposed. You know, I try to live every single day as if I’m standing exposed in front of God. Maybe if more people believed in God, and more people took the seriousness of their life after death, the world would not live in fear of Christ or His words, they would fear their eternal life.

No scientist is going to verify any fact that hasn’t been granted to me by knowing the Spirit of Christ. When we walk in the Spirit, there is no room for doubts and fears. And when people wake up and realize that being a Christian is MORE than just a name to call yourself, more than just a religious faith, more than any human mind can comprehend, then and only then will they be justified in calling themselves a Christian. A Christian is a disciple of CHRIST. Nothing more and nothing less.

May the Spirit of God be with you all!

Acts 11:23 Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.
[24] For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord.
[25] Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul:
[26] And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

 

 

 

It is finished...the year that is

Baltimore's Inner Harbor

Gen. 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

The year has come and gone in a whirlwind of speed.

As I rip the last calendar month off, I reflect on the year it was. T’was a year of uncertainty, the loss of a dear cousin-in-law and a facebook friend to colon cancer. I think of the sad months and the joyous months also, that I leave behind in a heap of dried leaves left for springtime removal.

I end the year in uncertainty too as I’m not quite sure where I fit into this life anymore. I’m sure my days as an inspirational writer are over. How can I write to inspire when I have nothing to inspire people with? We'll see.

As the New Year rings in at midnight and people will either be glued to their television watching the bane of society dancing and gyrating across their screens, tucked away at some bar chugging in the new year, or huddled in coats and blankets watching the firework shows going off in many cities (like Baltimore) across America. I myself will be fast asleep and won’t wake until six in the morning to see just what went on while I slept.

While horns will be blaring, guns will be shot in the air, pots and pans will be banged on, tooters will be tooting and again, I will be fast asleep as the world rings in a New Year. Do I resent people partying and ringing in a New Year in a fashion that I once, in my youthful years, was an active participant in? Not at all. We all need to celebrate SOMEthing in life and if a New Year beginning is what works for you, don’t you dare judge me for not finding excitement in just another day and night.

As I’ve said earlier, I don’t do resolutions, I no longer party, and as I get older I no longer stay up past midnight for ANY reason. Some people use a holiday, any holiday as an excuse to drink and party it up. In my day, I was one of those zombies. Not any more and I’m grateful for that. I no longer allow alcohol and partying to rule my world.

I guess I grew up somewhere along the line. I became a fuddy-duddy when I was out seeking my soul. I’m still seeking my soul purpose as I’ve always done and it will never end until my time here on earth ends. We’re not born to just diddle and dawdle away our lives, we’re placed here to SEEK. From the very first book in the Holy Bible, Genesis, we were created to be pure and knowing of no evil.

We faltered and fell and it has always been our destiny to seek out and become like the Adam God created, knowing of no evil. While some will linger in evil for their lives, banking on the forgiveness that Christ gives, we are not to be sinners as a rule because of forgiveness, we are to be sinners and know better before sinning again! After begging for forgiveness for a sin committed, we are to turn from that sin, we’re not to commit it over and over again thinking our forgiveness is a get out of jail FREE card.

The soul seeker in me seeks to purify my soul by any means and if that means giving up the wages of sin, if that means walking in the Light instead of the dark, if that means to be the best person God created me to be, then so be it.

Tomorrow I will wake and a new calendar will be in place. A new day will be here for me to embrace and my soul will rejoice in seeking out all that is good in the world. My heart will be light and as fluffy as the newly fallen snow and I will strive to be everything God intended me to be when I was formed. I will not try to be who people expect me to be, I will Be. I will be ME!

Happy New Year to all who celebrate! May blessings abound in this new calendar shift. 

BE SAFE!!!

The Year Ends

1 Thess. 5:4-6  But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

Well another year has come and gone. I posted more this year than last year but less than the year before. Just in case you were interested. Has my year been great? Not really, it’s been about the same as the other years.

I am happy to report that my son graduated high school this year and that was a highlight I’ll not soon forget! The rest of this year whooshed by so quick I can’t remember too much excitement. But I’m okay with that, I’m a quiet gal that doesn’t like the outside world barging into my life, and I’m okay with that too.

While many people are out making resolutions before the New Year begins, I save my new beginnings for the reflective Lenten season that *I* celebrate that culminates in MY New Year.

I know you’re thinking that I reflect a lot and you’re right. You can’t expect God to move you to change if you don’t reflect on what might need changing now, can you? I’m still enjoying the Essay course that I’m taking and I’m still enjoying my position at WVU as a handy-dandy-help mate.

The next couple of months I’ll be reflecting on life, truth and me. Not some truth that man begs for or a truth that man tries shoving down my throat but truth and what it means to me. I’m not going to seek out this truth online or in some storage place that man has formed for himself and wants others to believe in his opinion. No, truth cannot be found in some book of the month. Yes I read the Bible but my faith is not based on just the bible or anything some scientist throws at me as fact. My faith is based on Him and Him who dwells within ME.

Mark 8:18 Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?

I understand opinions are like eyeballs, everybody has them but not everyone uses them (and some can’t) but I like to use my inner eyes for my opinions, not a man made opinion accepted because that’s the flavor the month. Nope, my inner eyes are solely my opinions and rarely accepted or believed as anything BUT my opinion.

I’m very vocal with my opinion because I like to write, so I write my opinion down. I understand that people are human and that they base their opinions on what they SEE and read, can touch and feel but my opinion comes from something greater than what I see with my naked eye. My opinion is grounded in faith and what I FEEL. Maybe this is what God meant with the sleeping man will wake. Maybe he’ll begin seeing with his inner eyes instead of clinging to all the false opinions (not facts) of what others say or write.

Rom. 13:11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.

Imagine a world where people are not so opinionated because of something they read whether in a book, in the news, the entertainment section, on some website, social or otherwise. We would need our inner eyes to see what was right in front of us. Our opinions would then be based on a reality of all we see with our inner eyes manifested into the physical world. I know I’m a rarity and I know this could never happen to ALL men. We just have to all hold on and wait for the day we’re called off this planet into a realm unknown to us. Our opinions won’t matter, all that we read won’t matter and all our human ways won’t be a part of what we become.

Maybe my New Year will be looking inside towards Heaven, because God knows, there is no Heaven here on earth. Earth is but a place for opinions to be formed not a place to shape a soul. A soul can only be formed from the INSIDE.

So while you’re here basking in all the prosperity, in all that you acquired or didn’t acquire, running barefoot and blind through the fields of life, remember it will all be gone in an instant and all you have to hold onto is your soul!

1 Cor. 15: 51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

 

 

 

The 'Year in Review' goes over bad

2 Pet. 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

In the facebook world everyone knows everything about you, especially what you post and LIKE. Some people don’t know that what you LIKE or COMMENT on is showing up in your friends’ news feed. You know like all those Bible pages you LIKE and comment on? Or maybe your thing is LIKing HOT BABES and not realizing all your friends see you for who you really are.

Needless to say, facebook has taken it upon themselves for people to glorify their productive and bountiful year and has an APP for showcasing your year in review. While it seemed like a good idea at the time, facebook is now being slapped in the face with the folks who DIDN’T have a good year.

Facebook is a place to share your pains and sorrows as much as your joys but since there is no dislike button, when someone dies, people show their support by clicking LIKE! The APP is compiled of your activity on facebook in way of posts that people LIKED.

I’m wondering if the like button isn’t a measure of popularity.

When people post meme’s they get less likes than someone pouring out their heart of pain which gets all 800 of your friends in a LIKING frenzy. To a person (and I know many) who have had a bad year, the APP will glorify the painful posts because they got the most likes.

The APP. does ask if you want to share your year in review; I myself only having 90 friends tops, chose NOT INTERESTED. Of the ninety friends, I’m lucky if five people like ANYTHING I post and that’s in a week, so I am kinda curious how facebook would handle an unpopular person’s year in review. Showcasing what OTHER people have posted on my wall? Boy, that should make me feel real good.

While I think the whole thing was well intentioned, the APP. has caused a lot of heartache to people who have lost children and parents or pets and siblings. It just brings up the worst part of your year. Haunting reminders that your year wasn’t really all that good.

I’m sure the boasting people that bought new houses and cars, new dogs and new this and that like showcasing all the good that has happened to them in the year, the only people who are hurt by the APP. are the people who have been HURT throughout the year; by the looks of it, it’s the majority of people on facebook.

Yeah, as you can tell facebook has worn off for me. No more joy, no more idle chit chat and fun banter, it has become a ‘Popularity Contest’; one that I’ve never been a participant in. Sorry, that’s just me. I’ve never been like everyone else and I guess God made me that way.

To those that have hurt this year, my heart goes out to you. I totally understand that nobody’s life is perfect and having it displayed hurts. May you all find a peace wash over you in the coming New Year. Toss this old year in the garbage where it belongs. Make the best of what you have – be yourself! That’s what works FOR ME!

Quotation Saturday

^from the net ^

RELIGION

“The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also.”
~ Mark Twain

“All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It's just that the translations have gone wrong.”
~ John Lennon

“In truth, there was only one Christian and he died on the cross.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

GOD

“The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us.”
~ C.S. Lewis

“God has no religion.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi

“I sought to hear the voice of God and climbed the topmost steeple, but God declared: "Go down again - I dwell among the people.”
~ John Henry Newman

“I don't stand for black man's side, I don't stand for white man's side, I stand for God's side.”
~ Bob Marley

FAITH

“I have faith that God will show you the answer. But you have to understand that sometimes it takes a while to be able to recognize what God wants you to do. That's how it often is. God's voice is usually nothing more than a whisper, and you have to listen very carefully to hear it. But other times, in those rarest of moments, the answer is obvious and rings as loud as a church bell.”
~ Nicholas Sparks

“Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.”
~ J.R.R. Tolkien

“I have great faith in fools - self-confidence my friends will call it.”
~ Edgar Allan Poe

“Sometimes beautiful things come into our lives out of nowhere. We can't always understand them, but we have to trust in them. I know you want to question everything, but sometimes it pays to just have a little faith.”
~ Lauren Kate

“Faith is not the belief that God will do what you want. It is the belief that God will do what is right.”
~ Max Lucado

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi

NEW YEAR

“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.
Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.
So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.
Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it.
Make your mistakes, next year and forever.”
~ Neil Gaiman

“For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.”
~ T.S. Eliot

“May Light always surround you;
Hope kindle and rebound you.
May your Hurts turn to Healing;
Your Heart embrace Feeling.
May Wounds become Wisdom;
Every Kindness a Prism.
May Laughter infect you;
Your Passion resurrect you.
May Goodness inspire
your Deepest Desires.
Through all that you Reach For,
May your arms Never Tire.”
~ D. Simone

“Tomorrow, is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.”
~ Brad Paisley

HAPPY NEW YEAR

A Perfect Day?

Romans 12:2 (NIV)

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

A Perfect Day…

Yesterday was as close to perfect as I can ever remember. We rose early in the morning, anticipation was high and excitement filled the house; it was Christmas day. I won’t go into detail of what a glorious day it was by not waking and running right to facebook to see people sharing love pics and well wishes.

After my day of relishing the LOVE of God, spending the day with such an endearing family who actually knows what the meaning of LOVE is, then coming home, stuffed full of some good home-made eating and relaxed with some tea and a movie. The camaraderie of family and stories and just idle loving banter made my heart swell three times bigger yesterday.

I rose today feeling good and refreshed only to peek in on facebook and saw what was LOVE sharing days ago, turned into a pile of hate filled people calling people names and acting like two year olds instead of the mature men and women they claim to be. I guess when popularity and loneliness rules your world, you have nothing better to do than call people names and wholeheartedly agree with those other folk calling names. A sad day.

Pss. 34:1 I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

I’m living in a world full of hate. They try to dress it up with cute pictures but dig not so deep the surface of their skin, they’re bitter souls lashing out at whoever will listen and from the looks of it, hundreds of similar people (they call friends) LIKE it.

The month of reflection has led me to believe that this world is a lost cause. I try to see the good in everything but here lately the negative hating is turning me against all the love I seek to see in the world. I cannot and will not be a part of the evil that is slithering into lives and being accepted. After-all, the laws of the Lord only apply to a select few while others fashion the law and candy coat the Word to suit them when they need it. Dress it up and call yourself a Christian. To be honest, if this is the way Christians behave, I sincerely don’t want to be a part of that religion.

Do you know the word I’m defining here below?

Psychology: (no longer in technical use; considered offensive) a person of the lowest order in a former and discarded classification of mental retardation, having a mental age of less than three years old and an intelligence quotient under 25??? The word is idiot.

The word offends me just as calling a person a retard offends me. It offends me when prejudice and racism collide, just as religion and all those so-called Christians collide.

So are you telling me, people, that YOUR I.Q. is higher than that of the person you called an idiot? Seriously? Look in the mirror. Judge YOUR life before judging someone’s life.

I’ve been offended by one too many people of the supposed intelligent stature who uses this word like dipping their cookies in milk. Tastes good, might was well use it while the going is good. Jump on the bandwagon and wee, wee, wee all the way home.

I’m obviously not worried about offending these people who name call because it is quite evident they have a scholastic degree, make thousands upon thousands of dollars and are productive people of society. No?

I’m tired of all the hate, I’m tired of surrounding myself with people who live and thrive off of negative lashings to feel good. I’m tired, just so tired of trying to be turned into something I’m not. I think I need a new outlet for being alone, filled with love and wonder, in a world full of hate.

Isolating myself is an option; one I don’t look forward to but I’m just so tired of negativity affecting my being that it is my only choice. There is no place else left for me in this sinister world unless I want to be conformed to this world and in my heart and soul I don’t feel that is what God has in mind for me. I'll let all the scholastic, hard-working, higher people enjoy it.

People have taken this Icy Palace I have built for myself and melted it into a puddle for them to stomp through; they have taken my High-horse and set him free to roam unleashing him to a society that would rather see him dead and on their plate for dinner. As long as they feel good, let go and let live. Maybe I’ll have something positive to write about in the New Year.

So much for the Perfect Day…

Jer. 5: 28 They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.

Change

1 Cor. 15: 51 "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,"

I’m sitting here in the safety of my home warmed by heat as the snow passes outside my window. It’s making me think of the last minute shoppers that need to take a chance with life and to get out on the slippery roads.

I think of the older folk who flee to Florida to be in a warmer climate because the cold is too much for them to bear. I myself enjoy the cold winter air. I embrace four seasons, none of which I got when living in Texas where it felt like summer and spring year round.

We need change to appreciate living a life of blessings. If we stay the same year after year, continually living the same thing day after day, there doesn’t seem to be much room for growth. We can tell ourselves we’re changing, we can try to change but the mundane becomes normal and sometimes we see no need for change.

I hear quite a few Nebraskans wishing winter was already over but they remain in Nebraska knowing full well the winter and its harshness, so why stay? They stay because of home. People plant themselves in a home and stay for generations never leaving no matter how unbearable the space around them makes them cringe.

I’ve told the story many of times of my life back in Baltimore where I yearned deep in my soul to branch out and leave. Leave I did. I left all of my worldly possessions, and not so worldly possessions. I left behind years of memorable collections that then became junkyard fodder.

A lot of time has passed and I still miss certain things that meant a lot to me, stupid things to you but to me, cherished. I miss my very first Teddy Bear – Bith that I held onto thinking he’d journey with me in life. I miss my jewelry box filled with trinkets and stuff that my parents had given me over a span of my lifetime. I miss nic-nacs that I left behind. I miss, I miss, I miss but I let it all go. No longer mine, just memories of what was and will never be again.

While I see the world around me uncomfortable with change, I see a few who are willing to take the leap and give it all up for the love of God. While this year was and still is in the changing phases of my life, I have loving memories of what was and what will never be and what was not meant to be and what is to come.

I’ll end this blessed year with a changing of the calendar and a change within me. I’ll continue to grow and learn from all this craziness in the world, I’ll share my life as it unfolds if for no ones eyes but my own. Change to me is shedding of the old ways and making new and loving paths, my ways.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good write…

Quotation Saturday ~ Christmas

Luke 2:13-14 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

CHRISTMAS

“And when we give each other Christmas gifts in His name, let us remember that He has given us the sun and the moon and the stars, and the earth with its forests and mountains and oceans--and all that lives and move upon them. He has given us all green things and everything that blossoms and bears fruit and all that we quarrel about and all that we have misused--and to save us from our foolishness, from all our sins, He came down to earth and gave us Himself.”
~ Sigrid Undset

“How many observe Christ's birthday! How few, His precepts!”
~ Benjamin Franklin

“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”
~ Charles Dickens

“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

“Don’t spoil Christmas Day by anticipating how it will be. Let is unfold as it does, and be grateful for whatever comes.”
~ Toni Sorenson

“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!”
~ Dr. Seuss

“Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.”
~ Laura Ingalls Wilder

“Christmas can be celebrated in the school room with pine trees, tinsel and reindeers, but there must be no mention of the man whose birthday is being celebrated. One wonders how a teacher would answer if a student asked why it was called Christmas.”
~ Ronald Reagan

“Want to keep Christ in Christmas? Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, forgive the guilty, welcome the unwanted, care for the ill, love your enemies, and do unto others as you would have done unto you.”
~ Steve Maraboli

“I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“As Christmas day unfolds in strips of ribbons and bows, I’m reminded of Christ and His birth, when the Glorious King came to earth wrapped in swaddling clothes.”

~ Joni Zipp

“And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
the Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!”
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I'm Alive!

Num. 23: 8 How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied?

The season of JOY is in full swing and I’m so happy to be alive.

We went to see the movie Exodus Tuesday night and it was the first time that we’ve been out alone in a very long time, nine or ten years? Yeah that’s about right. We don’t get out much not only because of funds but because seriously there is nothing out there that I so desperately need to see.

Exodus was an exception. I had heard it was a good movie and when someone says it’s good we usually wait for it to come out on DVD to see the product of what people are talking about.

The movie Noah had some pretty bad reviews so we didn’t waste our time on it. God’s Not Dead received pretty good reviews and we’re thinking about purchasing and now Exodus? A lot of excitement surrounds the Moses story so we wanted to see for ourselves what Hollywood is doing or not doing for our Lord.

Christian Bale was chosen for the role and I would have much rather had Jim Caviezel, who played Christ in Passion of Christ in the role, but Bale would have to suffice. Although Bale lost his English accent quite a few times, he didn’t do a bad job of Moses and bringing him to life for me. (English accent, really?)

To me the movie Exodus was a darker version of the all time favorite version with Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments. The images were not as colorful and vibrant but then again, do we really believe the Bible stories are all about Rainbows and Unicorns? No, the Bible can be pretty dark at times and I think Hollywood pulled this one off. Is it biblically sound? Well you’ll just have to see for yourself. I didn’t leave the movie laughing at the fabled lies like the Noah movie drew; I left feeling… ALIVE!

Then the drive home -- I despise nighttime driving no matter who is behind the wheel and Tuesday night was no exception. The roads have no streetlights so basically you’re driving blind down a narrow dirt road until high beams are spotted. With what felt like a never ending constant swerving at a high-speed journey home, (the speed limit is 60 MPH) my prayers were being said the entire time and you guessed it, we made it home ALIVE!

Three times this month we had a near miss car collision – once when Steven was driving north into Gibbon and a white pickup was heading east. He had a stop sign and Steven had the right of way but the truck just kept coming through the stop sign. Steven pressed hard on his brakes to avoid a collision, leaving a nice skid mark on the road and the man driving the pickup looked at us like WE had done something wrong. The incident almost put us toppled in a ditch but the Lord was just not ready for us yet.

Adam had three incidents in his learning to drive so far. Once when a lady was backing up out of her driveway, again not looking to see if any cars were coming. A good horn-honking stopped her abruptly. Then a red light runner almost hit us. Then yesterday a company van was trying to hurriedly get through a stop sign to beat an oncoming truck as an 18 wheeler passed. He didn’t see us because he was waiting for the cattle truck to pass, then speed up and make it to the other side of the crossing only WE were there on the other side of the cattle truck. He came within less than a foot of ramming Adam in the driver’s side. Adam had the right of way and the van was just in a hurry to get across the road.

Here lately, it seems like the world is in a state of defiance where they don’t feel the need to obey traffic laws or any laws for that matter. Very similar to the days when Moses was trying to free the Hebrews and they became restless and tired of ‘waiting’ for God.

People are taking the Law into their own hands and it looks like their trying to wipe my family out but my patience of waiting on the Lord is my saving grace and we were spared death.

Thank you Sweet Jesus!

Rom. 6:11 “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

A Dislike Button?

Well we know THAT won’t happen because of the state the nation is in right now. We’re divided, we’re colorized and we’re full of DISLIKE for more than we LIKE.

I was thinking of writing to Mr. Zuckerburg to offer some suggestions for a ‘possible’ dislike button. While the Like button, introduced in February 2009, is used up to 4.5 billion times each day, I’m sure I have a few friends who have used half of those millions in one week.

I personally think the LIKE button is as demeaning as Mr. Zuckerburg feels the DISLIKE button would be. Maybe the like button was for you to feel good about yourself, but not much unlike being in a schoolyard with surrounding friends, when one child is left in the corner with NO ONE liking them, it can begin to feel very isolating; intentional or unintentional.

Here’s my ideas:

Instead of a like/dislike button, why not have a like button with options? It hurts (yes truly hurts my heart) to see people announce the death of a loved one and people LIKE it? I think they’re trying to express emotion without actually using WORDS of condolences. Emoticons can only do so much. A heart symbol means love, it doesn’t mean an offering of sympathy, empathy, prayer or agreement. Simply put emoticons display emotions of love, happy, sad, angry and so on.

When I purchase an item online I’m often asked when giving a review of the product--

Do you: LIKE, NOT SO MUCH, AGREE, or DISAGREE. I think the like button on facebook should be upgraded with the changing trends of this world. Give us options.

Just like those questions on products, facebook offers a place to ‘leave a message’; many choose not to express emotions and click the LIKE button for no apparent reason other than clicking to acknowledge that they saw the post.

When a review is left for a product, again we’re given options:

Was this review helpful yes or no.

Quite simple. We’re given options!

I think Mr. Z is apprehensive for fear of it affecting advertisements, trolls, and bullies. We have options whether we want to SEE the ads, or choices of what we DON’T MIND seeing, so why can’t the LIKE button express more emotion. Facebook is an emotionally driven site. We need more than emoticons, again, they just don’t cover it all! We need choices!

If Mr. Z is afraid of the downside of a DISLIKE button, why not take the LIKE button away completely and replace it with the silly emoticons? Then when someone dies, the emoticon with tears can express what the person wants to say. If someone disagrees with a post, the angry face emoticon, smiley will replace LIKE, and a heart will signify LOVE. THEN a person can actually feel free to use WORDS to convey their joy, sadness, sympathy or love for a post in the message box.

An example: Joni received – 5 smiley faces, five angry faces, 1 million hearts. Okay I exaggerated the hearts a bit.

Here’s another suggestion for FRIENDS. Have you ever seen a person with over 300 – 800 or even a thousand friends? What is up with THAT? Do they seriously know these people or are they friend thieving? Jumping on the grab-a-friend-of-a-friend bandwagon?

I love the LISTS. We can name them and then click on what we see in our feed. I have a WRITER list and view what my writing friends are posting. My suggestion is this, what can people see on my wall? That option is FRIENDS ONLY which kind of stinks if you have a bandwagon of friends. I would LOVE to see OPTIONS of who can see this! FAMILY, friends, close friends, etc. Not too hard but apparently Mr. Z wants us sharing with total, possibly stalking strangers! Just because a friend APPEARS nice, is not always the case when he begins stalking you now is it?

We live in a techno text world, one I am not accustomed to in any way. If I go to a page and see a bunch of txt lingo I click away from it quicker than you can blink an eye. I will not be dragged into trying to interpret what people are TRYING to say. Can’t people write WORDS anymore? Can’t people express themselves like normal people? I have one or two friends who actually uses words, it’s comforting to know out of millions of people caught up in this age of technology, I can find two or even three that still use words to express their emotions.

Mr. Z, something needs to change. The site is no longer a social friendly service for teens, it is a community of adults overwhelmed by not being able to express themselves. If the emoticons do it for people, give them what they want. Me, I’ll just keep writing for myself. “Better to write for myself and have no public, than to write (and be a showcase) and have no SELF!”

Here! Here!