Enjoy Your Blessings!

Thanksgiving Day is coming up, but the focus from the media is on the day after, Black Friday! This is one of the most important days in retail to settle the year in the black. So, let’s be prepared to get up early Friday morning for the some of the best sales that stores can offer! It’s the best time to get some inexpensive Christmas presents, if you are willing to sacrifice your sleep time and deal with hundreds of other people over the same item. If you have a family and some love ones, it wouldn’t hurt to take an extra minute to be thankful for sharing a moment with them. Material things are wonderful to show our accomplishments and successes. But I can guarantee you that they mean nothing when the people you want around you to share them with you are not there. Thanksgiving can put your priorities in order. Those things that you thought were more important to you physical are nothing compared to the things that mean so much emotionally. Even if it’s just the two of you, enjoy life’s best! The more, the merrier, just as long as it is not a drama-filled day! If it’s just you, get out of the house, go walking, go to church, but celebrate life for yourself and joy for your past loved ones. I am asking that you do not give up and lose the meaning. We already have a problem for losing the true meaning of Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Veterans Day! I wish you all a happy and blessed day of thankfulness. Offer it to God first and appreciate the loved ones that He gave you! Do something special for someone, share your joy, and most importantly enjoy God’s blessings! If you can even read this, you are so much blessed than some. If you have access to the web, another blessing you might take for granted. All that we have are blessings, large and small, they are all gifts from God! Remember, when praises go up, blessings come down!

Hometown Celebration

Jesus is always on call and the doctor is always in. You don’t need any tickets to wait, He already knows you there, don’t worry, He’s never late. Heaven is rejoicing that another soul has come back home. One by one we are all returning home. It’s not any different than visiting a foreign land. This time you already know the people there, rest in His divine plan.

God Bless You, Mrs. Small

Another mother has moved on to her heavenly reward. Mrs. Louise Small, 85 years of age, left yesterday morning, November 16, 2009. One year later after Mrs Anna Sabb left, eighteen months after my mother and aunts, twenty months after Mrs Corine Burke. I'm not going to dwell on this. To my friends and me, these were wonderful, caring mothers who gave up so much for us. I don't need to tell you how much they are loved. The holidays are tough without them but we'll get through with the grace and mercy of God. I just want to take this time to recognize them and all the mothers that I have not mentioned and never knew. I'm not talking about the fathers this time, no disrespect. Some of them have played a very important part in our lives. But the mothers , they are on a different level. What more can I say?

1 Corinthians 13 (It's About Love) click here

True love doesn’t steal your joy, it enhances it! Real love fertilizes, it gives life. God gives us joy because of the unconditional love He has for us. It is amazing how much we don’t seem to appreciate it. Being taken for granted doesn’t make anybody feel good. So you can imagine what betrayal can do to a relationship. Christ had his last supper with Judas. How can person tell you how much they love you when they are able to betray you? Has the relationship gone that bad or have they grown so tired of you that they didn’t bother to even try to tell you. Even strong men and women get tired. Love can be unappreciated and we tend to neglect its real meaning. Agape love doesn’t take you to bed. It doesn’t have to sleep with you. It is the genuine acceptance of the person that you want in your life. Agape love goes deeper than face value. It looks deep inside and finds the good and appreciates that good which goes beyond the physical needs. It is God’s love. The physical sharing is only a part of the expression of giving that genuine joy. It is an unselfish way of giving that joy. We should be ourselves and not worry about changing to impress someone or fit their requirements. I don’t mean act a fool or be stupid. Try to make something positive of yourself. If you feel like singing or dancing around them, do it. If you feel like laughing, go ahead. They should enjoy the way you are. Looks and the perfect body will not last forever. We lose our joy because the love we think we have for someone is not returned or rejected. Don’t deny yourself because they deny you. The problem is not with you but with them! While they are trying to keep you down they can't see that no one is rising to the top. We think that our lives are over because that special someone doesn’t show us the love we expected. Yes, we have a pity party and bring old baggage so that when we meet someone else, we have new baggage with us in a space already crowded. It’s like bringing two people to meet one person. Shameful, but true, it’s not unusual. It happens to all of us. It is hard to grow up, but we have to.

The Wizard Revisited

Recently, I blogged about the Wizard of Oz & its symbolisms. I also said that whatever God has to tell me, I’ll be listening. Well, it was advertised on TV that the Wizard of Oz is playing on TBS this weekend! I don’t know what this is supposed to mean but it is coincidental. Maybe it’s a confirmation, or maybe it was meant for me to look at the show in a different perspective. Whatever, it is, I will be paying attention!

Dishonorable Mention

I couldn’t mention these veterans on Veterans’ Day with those that hold a place of honor. They have taken the lives of fellow vets and civilians and have paid the consequences with their own lives. John Allen Muhammad/John Williams, The DC Killer, was recently executed the day before Veterans’ Day by lethal injection. Major Nidal Malik Hasan is still in the hospital after murdering fellow soldiers and civilians. He committed this horrific crime at Ft. Hood, Texas. He was a psychiatrist! Both of these men are Muslims. I’m not stereotyping or giving an opinion, just facts. I’m sure that Muslims in the military are concerned how their fellow soldiers will wonder if they have their back in battle. Howard Unruh, a WWII veteran, died at 88 in a prison hospital. He committed his crime in Camden, NJ, in 1949. Let’s not forget Timothy McVeigh, a decorated Army veteran of the Persian Gulf War, who bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City, in 1995. He, too, was executed in 2001. I had the opportunity to visit that hallowed site this year in 2009. It is so surreal. Just walking on that battlefield and scanning the area, created in my mind scenes that are too intense to describe. No different than the ones that the innocents went through. There are many other veterans that have gone a dishonorable way. Whatever happened to these men and others that caused them to take the low road, we will never know. Many of these people have gone through some type of pressure, whether in childhood, battle or whatever, that they couldn’t handle it. Whatever it was, I could not mention them on the same day as being honorable with those that sincerely deserves it. I’m not a prophet so I don’t know what will happen the next minute. I do know that I can’t spend my time worrying about it.

Veterans' Day

I’ll keep this simple. Today is Veterans’ Day, a day set aside to remember the heroic efforts of our men and women in the military whom have given their own lives and freedoms in defense of our country. We honor all veterans; some of them have lost parts of their bodies, mental capabilities, and loved ones. These soldiers and sailors have risked their all for freedom. Whether they were in combat or not, they took the oath to defend this country from its enemies. Let’s never forget the sacrifices they have made. Say a prayer for our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, and sons and daughters that wherever they are and wherever they go the prayers and support of the people of the United States are forever with them. We want them all to return safely home. We shall never forget you! Happy Veterans’ Day!