Happy kNew...

INcouraging
http://www.prevailmagazine.org/gods-diamond-in-the-rough/
and more jewels

Here



"I knew you were coming. ... I'd like the chance to tell you something. Will you [bear with me]?

Then make up your mind. ... God will begin... It's time!"

Welcome June, or as a Twitter trend I noticed earlier would say, #BienvenidosJunio!

The week leading to this place was, like any, a dynamic one. Some personal transitions aside, sadly derailed trains, revisiting singer/actress Kelly Rowland's "Dirty Laundry" on the pop culture front, a new round of politically-charged ricin letter attacks and wild, destructive weather were among the movements of U.S. news. 

Change is inevitable. After all, people seldom stay in one place forever. Metals as well as the mechanisms they form and help function eventually wear down. Resentment and familiarity make an odd but popular couple. Power corrupts, or interrupts, and counting on mundane weather is 'vain'.

That last word can also be true of third-party perceptions and interpretations chosen to convey a subjective experience in any given moment. All that came to mind was a wish for an instrumental to Teena Marie's groovy "Portuguese Love" when another Twitter trend used said language. I couldn't tell you a thing about the Turkish and some unrecognizable tongues I've seen. Besides intuition, silence or perhaps the most powerful of instrumental music, does a universal version of the colloquial "real talk" even exist?

Of course, unduly speaking or acting out of turn is another conversation. But, if the man or woman next to you looks towards your partner coming from across the street (where, incidentally, the street light is counting down the seconds before cross-traffic makes casualties of peace), what are you inclined to perceive? Does it say more about the stranger or one's self? In those times, do we bother to meet minds or continue to build an internal lexicon lacking Love and self-control?

Just as there is some confusion out there about whether Kelly's candor was more about healing from an abusive relationship, the friend/fellow vocalist she was allegedly encouraged to doubt or the "Talk" album due out later this month, there are many phrases in foreign languages without exact English translation (read: ?@Ü! We who are not Ms. Rowland may never really know, as the Heart doesn't have a definitive dictionary for others to casually thumb through). To a certain degree, however, unless the Holy Spirit truly reveals the matter, it's likely that we need not know or judge. We need only meet it where, as it is and let it be.

Taken from the movie "Belly," that was the above approach Dr. Ben Chavis' Rev. Saviour character used toward the 'Buns' character played by DMX―whose life in 'reality' shows similar fire and desire for positive change mixed with a brazen habit for blame and entitlement when his actions do appear all wrong. I believe this Is God's daily approach to us all, in our flaws and at our finest. At the very least, that's what God did for my yesterday's cigars, preference for studying the stars instead of some elder "Christians'" mean ways and scars from a cystic medical history that attracted ridicule, rumor and their intended feelings of worthlessness. I learned that the energetics of undue holding (on or back) could also lead to cancers of the soul. That was then.

It is said that we are now among the early stages of what the world considers the age of Aquarius, not necessarily for the importance placed on the associated areas of electricity, telecommunications, esoteric knowledge and radicalism in this era. I draw instead from a revised water bearer aesthetic to better experience the True and Living Water: God-in-Christ Who met a woman and men in need of fixing at the well, the same Christ Who offers clarity and refreshment to all.

To put it simply, in our weakness, God Is Strength. In times of darkness, Light. In even hidden anger, Peace. Amidst hatred, Love. And Love is what's spoken and lived here, within me, despite whatever contrasts I may notice while reading English content, witnessing the temperance of my tongue, engaging deeper study interests requiring translation software and the occasional survival terms accrued during physical travels. Rechts or links fur zie toiletten... and thanks!

That Love, in God's Will, is where I all-ways hope to live, move and have Being. If and wherever you find yourself among places that are not-quite-right, please seek The Lord Who never left. It's Time.

Soul Stitch

Of knits and (k)nots, consider p(er)URL Won, too and t'ree...

“Lord, give us weak eyes for things which are of
             no account and clear eyes for all Your truth.” ~ Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

“Almighty God who has sent the Spirit of truth unto us to guide us into all truth: so rule our lives by Thy power that we may be truthful in thought and word and deed. May no fear or hope ever make us false in act or speech; cast out from us whatsoever loveth or maketh a lie, and bring us all into the perfect freedom of Thy truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord.” ~ Brooke Foss Westcott (1825-1901)

“Lord, I have time,
            I have plenty of time,
            All the time that You give me,
            The years of my life,
            The days of my years,
            The hours of my days,
            They are all mine.
            Mine to fill, quietly, calmly,
            But to fill completely, up to the brim,
            To offer them to You, that of their insipid water
            You may make a rich wine such
            As You made once in Cana of Galilee.” ~ Michel Quoist     

Yellow No. 2

I recently noticed for the first time two things that could have gotten my attention much sooner. One was an impromptu, first glimpse at the TV One series, "Black Men Revealed". The second was the Charlize Theron film, "Young Adult". (Actually, the movie "Tower Heist" made three and its key element of gold might fit as you read on; just not enough for these primary purposes.) From the outside, the two appear to have nothing in common. Removing the varied s(k)ins from the surface, however, I was surprised to find the themes of unrequited love and miscarriage at the heart of both.

In BMR's case, the random episode from the first of two seasons featured five celebrities discussing their run-ins with emotionally and/or mentally unstable women who took great lengths to bring confusion and displaced anger to their lives and those of anyone even remotely involved with them. Vandalism of property, phone/e-mail tampering and suicidal or homicidal threats were among the suffering the men chose to speak of. Who knows what pain they might have encouraged in and/or suffered under those women?

Incidentally, Theron's Mavis Gray character spent a bit more than the movie's first hour wreaking havoc in an old flame's happily married-with-child life due to her disappointment with the high-rise living, ghostwriting success story she'd drafted for herself. Divorcing her adolescent 'mean girl' ways, hometown (less than an hour away in the same state) and eventual husband for the exciting comeuppance of the "mini Apple" also known as Minneapolis were not enough. To ask her, any entity other than her liver had to pay.

Unknown to each other, the TV episode and movie showed how secrets or the lack of knowledge otherwise led to damaged relationships. Possibly without realizing how shamefully little he knew or cared about women's health, one gentleman on the show seemed self-justified in breaking up with a young lady he "really liked" for what he deemed lying because she answered his question of ever having had children or an abortion with an honest "no" but told him of a miscarriage she endured. I can only imagine the insult his ignorance added to her injuries. The movie's climax, on the other hand, featured Ms. Gray's shameless, hard liquor-infused attempts to gain company for her misery at the couple's party by revealing the tragedy she and the high school ex experienced so many years prior. While their unborn child's death had nothing to do with SIDS or the abortion procedure Mr. TV Show Guest (and possibly thousands of other people lump into one type of the various judgment balls we dodge daily), the script's context suggests it was sudden and painful enough for Mavis to consciously harm and disregard the existence of a bond outside of her own fixation.

Had the confused panelist not been emotionally abandoned early on by his mother as he shared in the episode, he might have been less inclined to pursue those really deceptive and unavailable women he gravitated to instead of allowing himself to grow and better know the one he accused. Had Gray or anyone else besides the object of her greatest hatred realized her heart's stagnation in the early stages of grief, she might have accepted that said object and her greatest desire were actually one in the same; the former simply wanting for another what wellness she wanted for herself, despite the painful self-hatred dressed as disrespect she'd received. There really is no place for dark spirits to linger too long in the light of Truth.

I once read a line somewhere to the effect of points being futile, because erasers exist. Although it was worded and presented in a much cuter package than what I've just offered, it was and still is false. For better or worse, everyone knows that some things can never be erased—especially not with temporary reversals of fortune based only on what we tell ourselves. Can those things be excused or embraced? If it's not out of one's place or enabling of flaws but healthy and wise to do so, yes. I also believe patience, transparency and understanding will assist that process.

Come to think of it, those three would work well in solving most math problems or for standardized exams of any subject. These days, iPads and other technology that can get touched in classes eliminates yesteryear's convenient but easily compromised dry erase boards and clear film. For those utilizing good ol' No. 2 pencils, exam tips are the same. Know what you're doing, take your time, avoid erasing so as not to jeopardize your score but, if you must, do so thoroughly enough to clearly state your answer while keeping the sheet intact.

Will we see yellow as a sign of fear and an opposing, unfiltered jaundice of sorts or expand our sights to include the color as an expression of joy, the ripeness of Earth and a centered will balanced with caution? Something tells me the second option is a good idea. All the best in your tests.