What Are You Willing To Die For?

Written on November 16, 2015

This question bothers me. Not because I don’t know the answer – the Sunday School answer or my ‘real’ answer/s. It plagues me because, from what is evidenced by most Americanized/Westernized people is a lack of conviction – a moral center – that willingness to die for belief – and this is a problem in today’s immediacy.

The world has a common enemy in ISIS or as our President says, ISIL. The truest danger of that organization is conviction. Their deeply held religious convictions that hold precedence over all else in life. Nothing holds greater weight for them than their belief system and their lives are governed in worshipful acts of training, service, and violence. To them, what they are committing across the world is tribute to Allah. This is why they hold grave danger – it is ideology that the world stands up against. Strong ideology. The kind that men and women are willing to die to preserve. Join or die, basically.

Watching the news this weekend and the tragedy in Paris unfold, this question bounced around in my head … what are we, here in these United States, willing to die for? We have our military men and women who lay their lives on the line – and to them, we are grateful- and glad to sit in our safe, cozy homes and cry tears over their welcome home videos. Our police forces lay their lives on the line – though they face such degradation even at our own mouths and hands. What is it that the United States holds great conviction in? Possibly we are too great a whole to hold one unified purpose … but, individually, the question needs consideration.

What is the driving force of your life? What is the belief that drives you? Grounds you? That you would forsake the entirety of your measly few years left on planet earth to sustain? What is that which you would martyr yourself for?

It is weighty to consider. It is a must. We will not defeat an organization such as these terror groups unless we match levels of conviction and moral center – and not just leave it to a handful of military men and women. Understand … A man/group fighting for their way of life has the fight-like-a-tiger advantage. Maybe we need to truly understand the danger facing our way of life to grasp the threat … our borders are unsecured, refugees flood into nations even ours … it would not take much for everything we know and believe to change while we fuss and fight over republican vs. democrat ideas. Not that those are not important … they all have their place. But … the greater reality is … What are you willing to die for? Freedom? What is freedom to you? What does it look like? Will you fight to keep it? You may have to.

John 15:13 … Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Religion is Not God

Written on November 21, 2015

It is naïve to think that only now through Syrian refugees might #Daesh enter into the inner sanctum of these our United States of America. It is foolish to assume terror does not already lurk at the door. It also is ignorant to state that the world stands worse now than ever beyond as if it were beyond repair. There was a time in history when only one righteous man existed on a planet conceivably as populous as it is now.

The Bible states “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was greatly troubled.” Many of the world’s religions hold within their histories an account of the great flood which wiped out the wickedness of humanity, leaving that man, Noah, alone with his family to repopulate the earth, to start anew … and not long after the waters receded, Noah planted a vineyard, took to drink, became drunk and passed out naked. His son Ham discovered him, laughed, told his brothers, and was cursed … and so the human saga wore on. Hate. Jealousy. Immorality. Debauchery. Idolatry. Discord. Selfish Ambition. Fits of Rage. Dissensions. Factions. Envy.

Evil exists. Sin exists. Not to over-simply the current situation, but this world comprised of human beings created in the image of God though given freedom of choice and will to choose to love God or not, to believe on Him or not, to accept His grace or not, is a fallen place. God’s design is not for it to be so, but He also is not a puppet master bending those He has created to His will. His love allows humanity to choose … and so often in blindness, in hatred, in self-indulgent behavior, in quests for control and domination, humanity succumbs, even leaps, to the choice to live outside of the profundity of the simplicity of that which is the Golden Rule … Treat others the way you want to be treated.

Therein lies the recipe for peace. Not wanting to give the credit for His design or attribute to God the glory He deserves for His omnipotence and omnipresence, humanity chooses to turn on one another in strivings for power, passions, desires, conceit, and domination and so often in the name of Religion.

Religion is not God. It does not encompass or contain God. God is love. God’s recipe is simple. Love Him. Love each other. Against such things, there is no law.

Rules, regulations, by-laws, doctrines, catechisms … these are of man. These are Religion … These are not of God. Jesus said when questioned by the Pharisees, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” … see, they were looking for a reason to kill him, to get him to blaspheme, to say something wrong …. Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ this is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’” … I particularly enjoy the final verse in this chapter, after this conversation and Jesus’s apt response to another query from the Pharisees, Matthew 22 rounds out with this verse, “No one could say a word in reply, and from that day no one dared to ask him any more questions.”

No one could say a word in reply.

What can be said to … Love? Nothing.

So, I struggle with the concept of love by God’s definition in the face of the Refugee crisis … only because I see and hear so many who profess to follow Christ, to ascribe to this great love, to voice the opposite. Rejection, hate, suspicion. Yes, there is cause for earthly concern … we exist in a fallen world. It is full of violence, anger, deception … but is not the greater thing at play here a humanitarian crisis in which the CHURCH holds the responsibility to show love despite potential outcomes? Aren’t we to be concerned that in the face of the hatred in the world that we are to be that LIGHT of love that draws mankind to God? Aren’t we to not fear personal harm in light of God’s greater plan for eternity? What of the martyrs? Those who gave themselves for greater causes … who chose …

If #Daesh wants to come to the United States of American, they already have and they lie waiting. It is not the Syrian refugee crisis that will bring them across the sea. Might a few come in said manner? Yes.

I heard this analogy … if you had 100 grapes and you knew that 2 were lethally poisoned and you did not know which ones, would you eat any of your grapes? Many folks would say, No. And I get that. I do. But people are not grapes. People have the potential for evil … all of them. For all have fallen short of the glory of God … says Romans 3:23. Danger lies in the hearts and minds of the masses – as wholes and as individuals. Danger lies within you. It lies within me. A spark is all it needs … a fuse.

Destruction potential. Just like that.

And then I ask, What is Danger to one who loves God? Is not life simply a conduit to a greater reward in Heaven? Is not time on this earth to be spent only in serving and loving? Are we not to consider ourselves as ALIENS and STRANGERS here on this ground? To see a higher purpose than earthly safety … for what does this time on earth matter in comparison to the greatness and awe of that who is GOD? Why is it that we do not live like we do not belong here when that is what we are called to!?!? I’m going to ruffle feathers with this … and that cannot be a concern for me … I have to state that I do not care if my words are accepted or not.

I get why the feathers would ruffle … I do. There are things I want out of this life … my kids to grow up and enjoy themselves, find earthly successes, be loved by another person. My self to fulfill my fleshly dreams. To hold in my arms the desires of my heart. To have things. To drive a certain car. To grow old with the one I love. To be a grandmother. BUT in lieu of TRUTH and existence … what do these things matter in comparison with the Spiritual Realms and Realities that are more real than any one thing that I can own or experience on this earth! What is 65/85 years? What is retirement? What is life – when there is living on a higher plane of knowledge and understanding that I am here as a servant of love, kindness, compassion … not to please myself, but to please God, the creator of life and humanity, who wants nothing more than for all of us to open our ignorant, stubborn eyes and see that HIS prescribed way is the ONLY way to peace …. love your neighbor. To seek peace and pursue it. To live today as if it were the last.

See, this is where the distinction between #Daesh and the rest of the world … belief. Conviction. Spiritual living … seeing self as a vehicle for espousing the ideals and beliefs one ascribes to!

If only Christians, we lived in this way!

To refer back to the grapes … If you had 100 and 2 were poisoned would you eat any? Consider the parable of the Shepherd who left the 99 on the hill to go in search of the 1 who was lost. He risked everything. He risked stepping out and away from the sanctity and safety of the fold. He risked the meeting of a lion or a wolf. He stepped into the danger to save the one alone, needy, lost, without safety of a fold or a nation.

As a citizen of the great nation of the United States of America, I get and understand that to maintain our way of life, we must put into place rules and regulations … and we vote for the leaders we choose to lead us in the decisions. That is the beauty of democracy. I just do not sit well, as a follower of Christ, with the idea of rejecting Syrian refugees be they women, children, or men. This, my belief, is outside of what my governor chooses to do and what comes as a result of government decisions, and I will determine thus and then how to act as God would have me in love. To act justly. To love mercy. To walk humbly with Him. Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. This is personal choice; perspective based on reading and research and faith … a spiritual struggle … How then to proceed is the question posed to myself and to you if you also find yourself in this space. Take up arms like the Machine Gun Preacher? Go to prison like Miriam Ibrahim? Run into the face of danger headlong? Write articles? This? That?

Show love.

Be where God designs.

Love on the people He has cross the path.

Do not be afraid. What can mere man do to you? Send you home early? So be it. Amen and Maranatha Lord.

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” Galatians 5:13-15

So … Syrian refugees … I can say this with all certainty, God loves them too. I will not join fear-mongering. I will choose instead to live each day as if it were my last this side of Heaven.

Call me naïve.

It’s okay.

That’s the beauty of humanity – choice, perspectives, differences. You do you. I’ll do me … as long as we do what we do in light of the greater purposes at play and we seek peace and pursue it.

Thankful for Immigration & Fenik

Written on November 25, 2015

Thanksgiving and immigration – these two go hand in hand. After all, it was the Pilgrims who immigrated across the ocean to a new land in pursuit of a better life, for an opportunity to live as they chose … just as so many do still today. Leave their nation of oppression for an opportunity to live with choice, free of persecution and constraints and violence. This immigration is the very foundation of the nation we call the United States of America. Europeans immigrated in droves to the land across the sea, taking what they saw without regard for the inhabitants of the land.

The numbers of Native Americans destroyed by the European immigrants counted in the millions – with those remaining after 300 years of European immigration relegated to particular tracts of lands referred to as reservations. Speak with Native peoples today and their feelings on Thanksgiving are much different from the majority of American households. Those who remain, that is, after years of names being stricken from census records, families separated and destroyed, children placed into English boarding schools to strip their culture and language from existence. Entire tribes slipping into extinction.

Immigration. Tricky situation … the Europeans immigrated to a land already populated. Most of us descend from those defectors from other lands, who came here for a better life – though destroying what others had held dear on these shores for thousands of years. And we still see immigration today … though the current residents feel it is encroachment on the American way of life. Was it not before? 300-400 years ago? I just go round with this topic.

It is a difficult thing for me to cheerlead America on Thanksgiving, celebrating the Pilgrims, because of the underlying current of the narrative – the greater picture of the destruction of millions of peoples – the genocide that goes unspoken … Though today, what was done is done, and on this Thanksgiving day, I choose to focus solely on thankfulness – not in relation to living in the “best” land in the world, but thankfulness that God loves us all, no matter the ugly, no matter the choice … though He does prescribe how folks are to live … treat others the way you want to be treated.

How do I feel about immigration today? It concerns me, sure. Maybe that’s because I watch so much national news. It’s conceivable that #Da’esh will send ‘warriors’ through with refugees. It’s just as much possible that they’re already here. We have large and long borders in the United States. Some means of regulation has to happen. Vetting – it’s a must. Verifying folks and where they come from and why. There is a prescribed process. This I do not have an issue with. The more the merrier – right? Maybe – it serves to make our cultures all the more that rich from sea to shining sea. And I can tell you this …

One of my most favorite of people in St. Louis is a Kurdish immigrant, now an American citizen. Her name is Fenik. At the age of 15, she and also her family walked across the border of Iraq into Turkey – to the safety of a non-profit organization. From there, they came to the United States … appropriately. Fenik speaks better English now than multitudes of American born folks I know, though there are times she’ll say, “How do you say?” and that makes me smile.

She’s no terrorist, though she is Iraqi-born. Hearing her perspective on relations between Arab nations and the United States gives me much food for thought, and I pray for her and her family members who still reside in the Kurdish areas of Iraq. There are times Fenik feels guilty to live here in the sanctity of the United States while family suffers in the throes of ISIS and other terror extremists in those regions. I told her once, God wants you here. What is it He has for you to do?

I am thankful for Fenik this Thanksgiving.

I am thankful that she lives here in St. Louis.

I am thankful that through knowing her, I have the opportunity to broaden my understanding of sociology and cultures and peoples.

I am thankful for the vast variety of people on this planet – the many beautiful ways God saw fit to create us.

I am thankful.

I am also prayerful – for this world bent on destroying itself – so full of hate for who and what is different. Fear and hate. It’s sad; I can only imagine how we ALL break the heart of God.

So, this Thanksgiving, consider how God loves everyone – even our enemies … be thankful for those you love, eat good food, and look for ways to be kind to each and every person who crosses your path.

Adjust Your Resume in 3 Easy Steps

Written on December 2, 2015

Go.

That’s the assignment. My “poor” … don’t feel sorry for them, it was splendid! … students just sat through a three-hour lecture on Comparison/Contrast Essays, Process Essays, Interview Skills, and Resume/Cover Letter Writing. Three hours – that’s condensed for me. Tight is what it was. Lots of information tossed at them and all invaluable. Speed talking I did. My materials stretch for hours … but in lieu of time and in keeping with the evening’s themes for essays, I clipped, chopped, dissected, made on-the-spot decisions of what from my arsenal of amazingness to share and after it all … the topic for tonight’s in-class writing … How to adjust my resume in 3 easy steps.

These are the subjects I tend to become most passionate about – anything within the realm of interpersonal communications. Getting and keeping jobs. Small tweaks to create giant results. How to manipulate for reception. How to become hard to replace instead of simply replaceable. How to be more than an employee with a bag for a face. Remembered. Valued. How to pay attention to Body language. Visuals. White space. Language choices. All of which I word vomited on them for over three hours. To be truthful, it was a three and a half hour lecture. Three hours sounded less extreme. Not a stitch of it boring. Not tooting my own horn there … just saying when the topic is relevant and the speaker is passionate, pens keep taking notes and ideas birth where they’d not been before and people’s lives change.

The student’s responses:

Your name should be the biggest font on the page and should suit your personality.
Never use the same action verb twice
Limit the resume to one page
Use order of importance in the flow of your resume – what makes you look best, put first: education, experience, etc.
Have the heading on both the resume and the cover letter match
Exclude all personal information
Have it look visually pleasing. Use white space.
Reflect information found on the company website on the cover letter
Highlight achievements and accomplishments over duties
Let them know I love to work and to work hard
Ensure it is to the point
Take out the objective unless it’s needed as space filler
Delete high school information
Place the things about you that are most port ant first – catch the reader’s eye
Six to ten years of work history is all that’s necessary
Make sure duties/achievements are relevant to company applying for
Be aware and accurate of all information you use – interviews are often based off of this
Do not overuse terms – this will help me look intelligent and creative
I am 100% guilty of having a cookie cutter resume … I must tailor it to each employee/customize it to the job
This. What they took from this evening. I’m pleased. So much more hit them all square between the eyes in my verbal assault of information this evening … I’m hopeful it all sinks in over time and my “minions” will move on to bigger and better opportunities in their lives! What fun!

Be as difficult to replace as you can be! Soft skills. Get some.

God Isn’t Fixing This!

Written on December 3, 2015

Byline: “As latest batch of innocent Americans are left lying in pools of blood, cowards who could truly end gun scourge continue to hide behind meaningless platitudes,” the paper writes under its headline – indicating that prayer is meaningless platitudes and that those who pray must also be cowards with gun fever.

It’s a nasty thing to say and the writer/s and editors know it. It’s the kind of thing bullies say. So why be surprised at the ignorance of those who are small minded and do not recognize larger picture realms? It is what it is. Like when Noah built the Ark over a more than a hundred year period. The Bible tells the tale. Can you imagine how folks jeered at him, poked fun, were nasty. Still he followed what he knew God commanded him to do. Then … the waters came.

It’s similar. There are those who will not accept that God is. For them, I have a form of compassion – because it is commanded. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Jesus said that. Remember he was bruised, beaten, crucified by his enemies and still he asked God to forgive them … for they know not what they do.

Ignorance. It abounds.

So … right. God isn’t fixing this … from a small-minded and un-informed perspective.

And there are reasons. Not saying that He isn’t actively involved, actively caring, actively listening, actively waiting … We, finite creatures of humanity, forget that God is Omnipotent, Omniscient, outside of time, beyond human comprehension .. and we want to put him in a box and say what He is doing and what He is not … and we are nothing in the scope of God and all that He is and commands and controls – infinitesimal. This that we do here on this earth is but a blip in the universe and the concentration of time and space and God’s spirit which encompasses it all beyond wildest dreams or imagination.

Considering “God Isn’t Fixing This” and the New York Daily News … these verses came to mind. Specifically verse 14.

11 Chronicles 7:13-22 states:

When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. As for me, if you walk before me faithfully as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to rule over Israel.’ But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them–that is why he brought all this disaster on them.”

This is spiritual warfare. #Daesh, Al-Queda, they fight a holy war against humanity, against all who do not claim their belief structure to be true and right …. All of humanity. We are involved in spiritual warfare and when that is not recognized and God called upon by the leaders of mankind, then He does not intervene. The passage above rings as true right now as it did in those days long gone by. It is not just about Israel – it is about humanity, for God loves all of His creation. Yes, Israel is at the heart of it all … but God grafts in those who call on Him in this war-torn world. History is full of war … secular and Bible history alike, align with one another, and tell tales over and over of religious wars, holy wars, the hatred and greed of mankind in rush for power and domination. To lead. To hold. To be the greatest of all. To make all created beings succumb to the dominion of one set function of belief. And somehow, we are still shocked that these things exist in the world today.

So here we are and humanity, who wants to deny God, finds itself thrust into a holy war that it doesn’t want to recognize as a holy war and will fuss and fight and destroy itself from within while the enemy bombs, wars, kills here and there, and editors and writers, politicians and President will mock that which they are blinded to.

Remember … It was God who allowed Pharoah’s heart to harden. There was a greater play beyond what Moses could understand. He fussed. He tried to refuse God. But … God’s plan pushed forward regardless. Big picture – it always is that All will come to knowledge of Him and we are a stubborn race … History repeats that it is so often only through suffering, that humanity turns, admits frailty and looks up. Big picture. The thread of humanity through history. God wants that ALL will turn to Him … He says above in verse 14 … Turn to Him and He will heal the land!

Tragically, history repeatedly shows it takes tragedy for people to call out to God. Not what God wants, but He is no puppet master and allows choice. We are given choice to believe in Him or not. To turn to Him or not. To recognize the supernatural reality we live inside … One of the deceiver’s greatest tools is human complacency along with …. Greed. Self. Power. Lust. And oh how humanity is so easily lured away from God who stands with outstretched arms, waiting. Waiting to be chosen.

Big picture, folks. It’s Heaven or Hell stuff. End of the world stuff. Not gun control. Not Republican vs Democrat. Not right to speech. Not racism. Not any of these. It’s Heaven or Hell. Believe or don’t. Bind together, call out to God as One, and watch Him move! Or don’t.

Believers, continue. Seek Him. Love your neighbor as yourself. Understand folks who don’t understand, don’t understand. Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. Keep perspective that this world is not our home. We are heavenly citizens. Let those who belittle do so. Let them fuss. Let them mock and say in ignorance of supernatural realities, “God isn’t fixing this” … You keep doing what you know is right. See this thing for what it is … A Holy War. From multiple angles. Live with this as reality in your heart, soul, and mind. Be prepared for persecution. Understand this world is rampant with sin and sickness and death and dying. These things are inescapable. It is how we navigate through them. Show kindness. Show love. How we pray as we know that God loves us – He loves ALL of humanity – and allows the most amazingness of freedom to choose Him – that that is all that matters.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Where the Author Hides

There’s something about Elle King’s lyric “What do you want from me? I’m not America’s Sweetheart.” It resonates with me … except for the bad tattoos part. At least yet. I have the tattoos in my mind … dark ones of blackbirds and the silhouettes of Catherine and Heathcliff standing apart from one another – eternally besotted but ever apart … with “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine they are the same” scrolled across my skin. Gothic tattoos – gargoyles, scrollwork, heart-wrenching. Surprised? Don’t be. My internal self lies hidden in imaginary worlds – it creeps into words scrawled on the pages of my writings. In those places – I break hearts, swear, dress to kill, and laugh because “you love me anyway.” Not the main character, but the supporting players – the ones to tease the story, push it forward, drive the reader bat-crazy – “oh, no she didn’t” responses. That one. Yes, that one … I know her. I write her because she is me … Jackie. Morrison. Veronica.

The lines between fiction and reality blur for me and I find myself caught, not recognizing myself, spinning and wondering who am I today … what is real? Stories fill my mind. The characters talk to me … we share secrets and they laugh when I tell them what I’d do if I were them … Wait, oh, that’s right.

In “A Kiss in the Rain” I toyed with the character of Jackie. I knit her together to be nasty. Mean. Walking wounded and wearing it on her sleeve. She cuts to the quick with her tongue. Drives her husband to distraction, though he won’t leave her. He knows what no one else sees – the woman inside. That she holds the past for security. Afraid to let anyone close. Wants no more pain. He knows her heart holds great capacity for love.

Morrison. Oh, Morrison. In “For Love of Words,” she is my exploration into a freed me – a me allowed by me to be me. Long crazy hair, flowy dresses, poetry written on walls, crazy talking to plants, surrounding herself in beauty – creating a world of fantasy and reveling in it. Loving a man – but kept from him by her own pride and insecurities – carrying that weight with her … using her angst to propel those in her life to beautiful things. Oh, Morrison.

Tossed Veronica at the reader in “The American Queen.” Buxom bombshell – outrageous flirt … have no idea where the flirtatious characteristics came from (insert a wink here, along with a raised eyebrow). She’s ruthless. Takes what she wants – and that’s everything. Ambitious. Determined. Strong. But is she really? I’m leaving it there because her story is not done.

It’s not always in the main character where the author hides.

She Stole My Banana

Written on January 16, 2016

Right off my desk.

We’ve laughed about it for months. She walked into the office, took the banana from my desk, moved back to a chair on the other side of the room, sat down, and proceeded to peel and eat that banana. All this while I was not in the room. The two ladies I share said space with both sat agog as the event transpired.

I returned, all too fortuitously, at that moment whence the second bite of taken banana entered her mouth.

“Is that your banana?” my co-worker said to me. I turned to look at her, to answer her … and her face – her face was a meld of horror and shock. Her hand pointed toward where the young woman sat posting the second bite to her mouth. Back to my desk I looked. No banana. Now, I know I had one. Brought it to work intentionally – going to be healthy.

“Yes, I believe it is my banana,” said I.

My co-worker’s head tilted to the side as a mother to a child who’s just told a whopper of a lie and mom’s caught him red-handed with hand-in-cookie-jar. ‘Did you take the cookie?’ and little Johnny with smeared in chocolate hand and face says, ‘No’ whilst fingering loosely another cookie just within his reach. Almost. Mom-head snap.

“You … you … you … you … you don’t take someone’s banana. You don’t do that,” my co-worker now co-worker-Mom-has-come-to-work said. “You … you … you … you don’t take someone’s banana.”

At this, all eyes were on the banana thief. With the third bite in her mouth, she looked at me wide-eyed and said, “I’ll get you another banana.”

To this, I replied, “No, thank you,” and continued to just look at her, while the two ladies in the office also sat … just looking at her. We watched her stand, turn, and leave the office. With my banana.

(Pre-story … seconds before I walked into the room, the banana thief had been asked, “Is that your banana?” because my office mates knew I had a banana and it was no longer on my desk. The banana thief had answered them, “Yes, it’s my banana.” Cue my entrance.)

Since that day, the banana thief has tried to repay said stolen banana with giftings of fruit snacks. While appreciated, not accepted. And I know this girl/woman has a name, but to me, she will ever and only be the banana thief.

Moral … Don’t leave your banana on the desk unattended. Bananas are a hot commodity up in here. We have since installed banana-cam in the office … no … just kidding. But we do giggle profusely about it – even wrote warning labels on another set of bananas in the office to entertain ourselves.

“You … you … you … don’t take someone’s banana!”

Oy. Life.

You just never know.

Hopeless Romantic Am I

Written on January 20, 2016

I’ve come to terms with it. No more denying what everyone sees but me … No more lying that I don’t see it too. I do. Oh, I see it. I know what is true about me … I know that I am in love with love. With being in love. With romance and need. With flirtation and kisses. With surprises and whispered words. With the drama of romance.

So … Hello, I’m a hopeless romantic. My favorite book is Wuthering Heights and I am in love with Heathcliff from now through eternity. He embodies in that dark, Moorish landscape the anti-hero of my dreams. Tortured. Lost. Intense. Handsome beyond understanding ….

I am bereft that he is but a character on a page … “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine they are the same.” Cathy, I am. Haunted by my romantic ideals …and the moors, the ghosts, the unrequited love, the ocean crashing at the shore, the beauty of the words Emily Bronte crafted to capture my soul and imagination forever. I am hopelessly lost to the romance.

I smile too wide, laugh too loud, wink too often, look for romantic scenarios in every situation. And not just love involved romance, but beauty and beauty in everything that swirls and surrounds my life. The poetry in words, in movements, in the interactions of people – in smiles, kindnesses, flirtations. I romanticize everything and yes, I laugh with heart and often and cry just as much. In seeing romance all around me, I become a player on every stage, appreciating, wrapping myself up into the stories my mind creates all through each day. I feel everything and in that, my imagination inflames and I create private worlds and stories – living, laughing, loving, only letting some words fall from my fingers onto a page.

My greatest weakness is the strength of my empathy. So often I face ridicule for feeling too deep, for inserting my heart, my face, and my mind into the words and stories of others. My heart involves itself into the business of all without my approval or even best discretion … Seeing beauty, focusing on heart, wanting resolution, happiness, and romance to come forward the winner at all cost. I love love. Drape me in flowery dresses, crown my hair with clover flower wreaths, and let my candle burn. I’m warm. Emotive. Necessary. I deny it no more.

Hopeless romantic am I. ❤️

And you need me.

Nobody Can Be That Happy

Written on January 22, 2016

With a smile spread wide across his face, he gently opened the office door only just far enough to stick his head through the opening. “Good morning!” came the words from his lips. Glancing from one lady to the next, each of the three looking up to find that grin sitting there, lighting his eyes. Two ladies smiled in return, grateful for the kindness of his morning greeting which they’d come to look forward to more than expect. The other lady spoke. “Nobody can be that happy all the time.”

The smiled remained firm there – his attention given then to the lady who spoke as the two ladies across the room sat still, waiting and watching. He stepped into the room about a foot and said, “With Jesus in their heart, anyone can.”

Amen. And Amen. Again and again. Amen.

The Joy of the Lord is the strength of the believer. Nehemiah 8:10 proclaims this as do many other references throughout Scripture. And what is Joy? Merriam-Webster states that Joy is “the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires.” Possessing what one desires in the context of faith … a relationship with the Creator of the Universe as that which is most coveted and once possessed and understood – Joy comes to the believer.

And Joy is not happiness. Happiness is a fleeting emotion. It comes and it goes. Joy is knowledge and understanding of the goodness of that which one possesses. So for the one whose heart is full of the Goodness of God … Joy wells. It comes forward in smiles. It comes forward in kindness. The fruit of the Spirit is the result of a life given in relationship to God through Jesus Christ his Son. Galatians 5:22-25 shares this amazingness, “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things, there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

Gaining the Fruit of the Spirit is not something to be done by achieving one at a time. This is impossible. Failure abounds. To find this love, joy, peace, forgiveness, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, the mind, heart, and soul must be given over in faith and love to a relationship with God. And in that, the understanding of the simplicity of what that means.

Jesus stated the greatest commandments are to 1) Love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, and your strength … meaning there is to be nothing higher than God in your heart, mind, soul, or strength. And 2) to Love our Neighbors as Ourselves – and as the Golden Rule puts it … Treat others the way you want to be treated. In this is the key. Love God. Love each other.

How do we love God?

Recognize that He exists. Acknowledge Him daily. Commune with Him through the day in internal and external conversation – another way of understanding prayer which does not have to be sitting at a table with hands folded and eyes closed. On the contrary – it is an all-day conversation. God knows your heart, so speak with Him. Share, yell, fist fight, laugh … acknowledge the Creator and His love for you.

Love each other? Oh … there it is. That which shows the fruit. If we LOVE God, the outflow of that true relationship will cause love to shower on others. It becomes part of the soul of the believer and they find they can’t not show kindness to others. Seeing the world through the eyes of the Father of all … recognizing His greatness and humbling understanding He loves all the same … all of humanity He loves. All. We are none above the other … and therefore called because of Him and His love for the world, for us as individuals, to love each other. To let our little lights shine.

So … yes, a body can be that happy all the time … because it’s Joy in the Lord. It is what drives. It is an understanding that this World is not our home. We are but passersby on our way to a Heavenly home. Only here for a little while to spread the love of God on the world. To be his physical arms, hands, feet. Isaiah 52:7 states,

“How beautiful upon the mountains

Are the feet of him who brings good news,

Who proclaims peace,

Who brings glad tidings of goodthings,

Who proclaims salvation,

Who says to Zion,

“Your God reigns!”

Amen. Keep on smiling, Sir. Bring the light of life. Let it shine. And thank you for the smile you brought to me today. Remember the Parable of the Sower. The seeds will fall, some on good soil, some on rocky, some on weedy … We are but to sow – to show love – to continue in the way we know to be right and true. You encouraged me today. Right on. Right on. I’ve not been caring for my relationship with God as I should of late … this post and this one smile today have set me to a recognition of what’s missing in my day to- day … my relationship with the Most High. Every day, to be in love with the Father of Light. To think on His Power, His Creation, His Beauty, His Gifts. To live my life in wonder at His goodness – in all the world around me, to continue to seek to know Him and watch the opportunities to shine His light just roll to me at His arrangement. What a King!

The P.S. … Another blogger’s perspective on Joy vs. Happiness. Patheos – Christian Crier

“Doesn’t everyone want to be happy? The truth is the Bible never promises happiness, however, it does promise joy. There is a difference. You can have joy and be happy but you can’t really be happy without joy; at least lasting happiness. It’s easy to be happy when you have freedom from suffering, you’re financially secure, and all your relationships are good, but then you have trouble with one or more of these, what happens to the “happiness?” It’s probably gone but if you’ve trusted in Jesus and know you are secure in His hands (John 10:28-29) you’ve still got joy. Happiness is based upon “happenings,” meaning if things happen to go well, you’re happy, but if it happens that something bad occurs then you’re happiness is likely gone. Not so with joy.

Joy is…
As I wrote before, you can be happy and have joy but happiness is dependent upon circumstances; joy is not. Here’s why. Before Jesus went to Calvary He said: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11). You will have “sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (John 16:22). Jesus promises the disciples that their joy will be full or complete. Filling a glass of water to the brim makes it full or complete. Jesus went to the cross to make sure that joy would be complete. Next, Jesus reassures them that no one’s going to take their joy away. That is a permanent possession, not a fleeting moment like happiness is. Jesus says to them and He says to us, today you might “be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy” even though it is still today. I presided over a funeral where sorrow and joy were felt at the same time. The departed woman was born again and we were joyful knowing where she was at, but we were all still sorrowful about losing her. Happiness is not much help under these circumstances but joy is! Some of those standing at her grave know they’ll be seeing this woman again and that gives them great joy, a joy that no one can take from them. And even though mixed with grief, the joy remains.”

What Value Do You Bring?

Written on January 27, 2016

Example essay night. And the topic is this … Using three examples of what value you bring to the workplace table, convince me in a 5 paragraph essay to hire you. This being a great answer, once edited, to the dreaded “Tell me about yourself.” I look forward to these papers … and the red marks to follow. My suggestions will all come in the guise of “So what?” to their examples with the goal being crafting specific and detailed examples to flesh out each ‘candidates’ true, verifiable character and value. Love it. My red pen loves it. Plan … to share a few examples here for those interested … let’s sharpen our specific detail-abilities and make ourselves come across like the only candidates possible for the jobs we seek.

In class we each shared one … mine? Laughter. I bring laughter to the work environment and not to detract from the serious nature of the work, but every soul needs to laugh. It is a gift to read people and recognize the need for moments to be lightened, for smiles to spread, for laughter to ease, and kickstart profitable behavior again. This is where I come in. In all circumstances, I can find the funny. The funny exists in everything – even the saddest funeral.

My friend Velma passed away a few years ago. My colleagues and I went to the viewing and we cried together as we sat crowded in a pew just feet from the coffin. In a moment of wiping tears, I looked up and saw who had to be her brother walk by … and I about fell out. Yes, I did. He looked just like her … but with longer hair. Undone. The emotion of it all and I suppressed a laugh. It was like watching her walk by and I smiled through my tears. Loved that moment. The incredible complexity of DNA and mirror images in siblings at times. Wow. Even in my sorrow … there was a funny.

This, I bring to the table. And though not the example I might share in a job interview, as I would want it to be directly related to the position I applied for, it is still one that encompasses my character and who I am and how I can affect company progress, teamwork, environment, and profitability – to be a lighter side, though my diligence outweighs the fun.

And there, another example tosses itself into the mix … Diligence. There was this time … 🙂 And I could tell you several … always have more than you need. Make quick decisions based upon impressions and interactions which example to use. Diligence … just today my supervisor requested a rather cumbersome – all school encompassing – project from me – he wanted it by Friday. Explained the imperative need and set me free to determine how best to pursue it. I knuckled down and hammered it out on Excel in just over an hour. The response to my endeavor … “Perfect!” And … ah, yes. I’m diligent to listen, learn, and exceed expectation in my work. It’s my competitive nature. That felt good today.

As students finish their work, I gather papers and look forward to the red-pinning of them all … Muhuhahaha.

In this space, below on the post – once they are graded/reviewed, I will share tidbits … looking for specific details in their examples. Exciting! In the meantime, I pose the question to you readers as well …

What value do you bring to the work table? Be specific. Three examples. Nail it. Don’t use language other folks use like “hard worker” – be creative. Tell stories; talk of events. Be descriptive. Never hurts to practice and be prepared. One never knows what situation has the potential to be a job interview.