Pentecost Sunday

The Beginning of the church is what Pentecost is all about. This began when each of the Disciples of Christ were given the tongues of fire. They had the power of communication given to them. The Disciples were empowered to proclaim the Resurrection of the Lord and share the power of the Holy Spirit which is all of us. We have to be at peace within ourselves to allow Him entry. We know a lot about the Father and the Son, but we don’t speak often of the Holy Spirit, Who has been mentioned numerous times in the Bible. A couple of examples are: When John the Baptist baptized Christ and a dove (Luke 3:22) and in the Book of Job which mentions that "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life" (Job 33:4). Some religious authorities think that the Holy Sprit represents the feminine side of the Holy Trinity Who complements the Son. They see the work of the Holy Spirit as comforter, intercessor and source of inspiration could be represented in the ministrations of Mary and other holy women of God. I don’t know, but is it intuition that women seem to have when they know something is up or do they have a built-in receiver? Maybe women are so much better at multi-tasking that they know how to be at peace inside when everything around them is in chaos. Whatever it is, they are more open to The Spirit than us men.

Beautiful Plus Size Women

Fine Like Cristal Champagne

I want to address a subject suggested to me from Vivian, a member of the lunch crew. I said I will try. So some, if not most of this subject, will be addressed to her. Let’s be clear from the get-go, I don’t like the term “fat” women. You can use stout, thick, healthy, plus-size or even big-boned around me, but not fat. If you use PHAT, make sure that’s what you’re saying. PHAT = Pretty Hot And Tempting. I don’t know the origin, but I did hear Chris Tucker say it in one of his movies. Look at the women in the picture from the internet, they seem extremely collected, confident, competent, and complemented! They don’t look like they have low self-esteem issues. Don’t these women look beautiful!!??? Don’t they look good!!?? Your game better be on point! You can’t help what type of body you were born with but you can help how you want to look. Why would you demean someone or hurt their feelings to boost up yours? We did that when we were children because we didn’t know any better. “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” 1 Corinthians 13:11 (King James Version). We don’t have a clue how some women feel about their appearances. We do know that they are self-conscious about how they look on the outside. There could be medical, mental, or physical problems that these beautiful women are undergoing. Some are having low self-esteem problems but they are no different than any other women. I guarantee that they are concerned about their health and if you’re willing help them achieve their goals with positive encouragement, they’ll comply. We all know as we get older our metabolism slows down. With us men, some of us act like we don’t care when we gain weight. Then again, some guys really don’t care. But, most of us are really concerned. There are great deals of health problems that can be associated with anyone being overweight but instead of criticizing we should encourage and show support. Let’s break it on down. For everything you seem to see wrong, let’s look at what’s right. Look at how smooth their skin is. Look at the face, how smooth it is with those high cheek bones. They can get by without makeup. They don’t need it! Already a plus! Look at their attitude, positive and uplifting. Some of the so-called “cuties” think they are too good to laugh out loud and let go. They don’t want to tarnish their “image.” Go to the eyes, the neck, the hands, the legs, and the feet. Thick, strong legs are already in place. I don’t want to stereotype but so many thick women are loving, kind, generous, and thoughtful. They’ll do whatever they can to make a man happy. But the man has to remember to treat a woman with respect and dignity. Accept her for who she is. Any kind of abuse is simply abusive. A loving woman will stand by her man if he’s doing the right thing. So stand by your woman. If the woman is willing and encouraged with the right support and encouragement, help her fight her low self-esteem. Build up her confidence and pride. Help her to believe in herself. Get her out of those sloppy outfits, coach uniforms, sweat skirts and onesies (thin cotton-like material with tops & bottoms that match). The clothing doesn’t need to be tight but professional and sexy. Dress to impress and make you feel good. Find things that both of you can enjoy and get to know more about each other. In the process, enjoy the positive mental and physical changes that take place. Obesity is a problem and we all can pitch in. Why pay thousands of dollars for cosmetic surgery, liposuction, and stomach staples and bands? That’s a temporary fix and not all that healthy unless the doctor ordered it. It took time for all us to gain weight and it will take time to lose it. We have to be patient and stick to our commitment. In time, it will pay off. Yes, we all have our preferences but whatever we choose, let’s be respectful and courteous. By the way, I’m not disrespecting the slender women in this article. I was asked to discuss how some women feel when they don’t meet the image of what men want. One very big point I almost forgot. Ladies, respect yourselves first! You’ll get from us when you give it to yourselves. Respect is earned before it is give. People, I hope that the next time you see or meet a plus-size woman, try to be understanding about the difficulties she might be facing. The next time you meet any woman treat her like a lady. Because no matter what size any of us are, we are all facing some type of challenge.

Stay Focus On The Will

Living is a tough and too complex for our human nature can understand. The longer we live, the more we begin to pity the world and our selves. Our disappointments last longer, our hurts are deeper, our loves are temporary, and our attitudes get aggressive. On the other hand, our patience becomes longer, we learn from our experience, and we realize by our mortality that life is too short to worry about problems we can’t handle. Some of us begin to see the Hands of God intervening and intertwining within our lives. At times, all that we see are uncontrollable events that seem to knock us two steps backwards just when we though we recovered from another problem. We are so close to our breakthrough but we just can’t seem to get it right. We question ourselves a lot and forget just how good we got it. Yes, we want more but can we handle more? Some people seem to have all of the luck. They got the money, the homes, the cars, the jobs, the right connections, and their lives are great from our perspective. We wonder why wasn’t our lives like that? The Bible says the sun shines on the good and bad. Indeed, it rains on us all, too! We wear our emotions on our sleeves and we become slaves to those emotions. Our emotions control our minds and can cloud our judgments to make the right decisions. We then make ridiculous mistakes and sometimes end up regretting what we did. What’s worse we developed this emotional slavery since childhood. We get angry when we didn’t have our way as children and we still do it now as adults. We have problems accepting criticism even when it’s positive. We can’t deal with rejections so we might not even try to progress even though we know that the next step would be good for us. We have lost our faith in ourselves. We are slaves to our emotions. We don’t want people feeling sorry for us but we welcome the sympathy. Why does it take so long for some of us to learn what our purpose in this life is? Because to me, most of the time in our early years, we left God out of the decision making process. We knew we had all of the answers or one of our friends did, so we made the grave decision of not praying to God for divine guidance. We forget that God talks to our spirit which in turn connects to His divine Will. If you thought life was complicated then what do you think about the Holy Trinity? God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit make up the Holy Trinity. I’m not even attempting to go there. My faith is strong enough to just know. The Holy Spirit came down in the form of tongues of fire on Pentecost above the heads of all that were present in the Upper Room. I believe that from that time on we all have developed an ability to communicate with the Holy Spirit who intercedes for us. If developed, your spirit can recognize a kindred spirit. It can also recognize a fake one. “He without sin let him be the first to cast the stone…” Instead, the so-called, Christian, sinless man is always quick to make the first judgment call. I digress. Remember when Jesus was praying in the garden to the Father that He be excused from death, He said it is not His will but the Father’s? The human side was very emotional to point of sweating blood-like drops. But He got back to obeying God’s Will. What I am trying to say is focus on the will not the emotion. It will take some time but I believe that it’s possible. The emotions are powerful but the will is much stronger. Add faith, patience, perseverance and love to the mix, I think we might have something going for us. May the God of peace and love always be with you.

A Salute To My Lunch Time Crew

Most of us have a favorite group of people we have lunch with. I’ve been fortunate. I’ve had a couple. Sometimes, it’s your co-workers you eat with, sometimes friends, sometimes people from other departments, and sometimes a combination. These are people that depending on the length of time you’ve had lunch with, will either grow on you or become a part of you. If you don’t like their company, you usually find excuses not to eat with them. It could even be just one person in the group that can cause this kind of disassociation. Maybe something happened between you and someone else that was connected to the lunch crew that the person chose to stop eating lunch with you. It doesn’t matter, people will come and go in all of our lives. They are there for a moment, a time, and a season. It’s up to us to learn the lesson. Then we move on either as a friend or an associate. If you’ve been eating lunch with each other for so long, you share sometimes personal information. One would think that the information would be classified only to the people privileged to hear it. Otherwise, not all that info need to be shared even with family members. If they have never met and known the people in the group personally, then they shouldn’t make judgments because of what they heard of even seen. But, we’re human, and some people are like rusty water buckets, they can’t hold water. So they take bits of info home to their spouses, friends, and whom ever will listen just to have a conversation. Their life must be boring between them. I’m digressing because I want you to know about my lunch crew. They are all middle-aged between 45-55 years old. They are all beautiful, proud, and confident women. They are also all mothers of grown children and some are proud grandmothers. In other words, they are extremely compassionate and loving women who have a deep faith in God and a sincere trust in each other. I’m the outsider who works in a different department. I found out about this compassion a couple of years ago when my mother passed. I have to say that I am still deeply moved by it and the generosity that these ladies showed me. I wasn’t used to this. I never saw this from others except from my mom. If I did, I don’t remember. These women stood by and even took a collection for me! I was taken aback. It was me witnessing a wonderful thing. These ladies were not of my immediate family. Understand that all of us have our own personal battles to fight but we’re there for each other. Lila left the table abruptly the other day and I wondered if it was something that I might have said. Those of you that know me know that I cut up when I’m around people that I’m comfortable with. In other words, run my mouth. I asked Niecy (Velma) did I hurt Lila’s feeling. She said no that it was something else. I later found out that Lila’s mom’s birthday was also the day she passed which was very close to Mother’s Day. A double whammy.  She died on the date of her birth.  She had lost her mom some years ago. Understand this.  Lila will not let anyone gossip about anybody.  She believes in respecting each other.  She takes a lot from others because of her kindness but that's Lila.  Niecy is taking care of her mom and seems to be doing a great job. All that I know is you only get one mother so do whatever it takes to make her life comfortable and return to her the love that she gave you. Please keep Queen in your prayers, she’s about to undergo surgery. I don’t know for what and don’t need to know. Just keep her in your prayers. She brings salads all the time and shares which Niecy loves. Queen acts like the mother of the table by keeping everyone in line. On the flip side, Vivian is the youngest. Vivian is in her late 40s. Viv will curse you out in a minute but she will listen to Queen. I think Vivian has the biggest heart among all of us. There isn’t anything that she wouldn’t do for you. The woman even has another fulltime job! She works all of the time!  Vivian keeps me on my toes regarding my blog.  You might have read earlier about me thanking her.  Evelyn and Beverly have been very busy to eat lunch with us lately. I just want these ladies to know how much I appreciate them and how I feel about them. Thank you, ladies. May God bless you in everything that you do!

Count Your Blessings!

Do you have all the things that you want? Or do you have all the things that you need?  Do you think things could be better? Do you think things could be worse? I’m not playing games. I’m asking you legitimate questions. How unhappy are you? Do you feel blessed at all? Do you feel grateful at all? I’ve learned with experience that no matter how bad things might be going for me at the time that there is always someone else that has worse problems than mine. My small molehill is nothing compared to their mountain. I don’t always recognize the fact that I’ve been blessed. Here’s a big example. For the past 4 months, I didn’t realize that my car horn was not working. I never used the remote to lock my car doors. I’ve always locked them whenever I get out of the car. Two days ago, I used the remote, the doors locked but the horn did not go off. I didn’t think of anything being wrong. But this morning, I tried to use the horn just in case of any emergencies, and you guessed it, it didn’t work. My blessing has been never having a need to use my horn for an emergency! God is good! I sincerely hope that I won’t, but my horn is now working since I replaced the fuse! Now did I miss my blessing even though I was still blessed? Or did I take this blessing for granted? If I overlooked this small but very important detail, how many others have I overlooked? How about you? Do you sincerely appreciate your blessings?

I Love You, Mom!

I Miss You!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

To all of you moms who sacrificed so much for your children to give them the best life you could offer, I wish you blessings and happiness on this special day!  For all of you men who have such wonderful superwomen in your lives who are loving and nurturing your children, don't make just this one day out of a year special!  Remember, there are 364 other days unless during a leap year which has 365 days to treat the mothers of your children with respect and appreciation!  And to all of you children, no matter how old you live to be, you only have one biological mother, treat her with respect and courtesy.  Listen to your mother, she guide you and support you.  Obey her and cherish her.  She will not be around forever.  Let her know how much you love her now!  Don't wait to give her flowers after she's gone!  Give them to her now!!Thank you, mothers, I pray that you will enjoy your day!!

Let's give tribute to Lena Horne who also died today.  She was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.  She believed in herself and refused to play roles that stereotyped African American women.  This wonderful woman remained true to the end.  God bless her!