Today is workday. I am finally organizing my office/sewing center/guess room. I am setting up to continue my self-care. I’ll explain in my next post. My soil is blacker now. So many nutrients were added to it these last two weeks.
TODAY is the BEST day of my life🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾
God is leaning in my direction❣
God keeps His word. I praise Him for His faithfulness. Because of His righteous character, if He was faithful to me, He will be faithful to you.
Do you remember nursery school? Today they call it preschool. I do. The place: McKenzie Courts Center. The administrator/teacher: Mrs. Henderson. The first lovingly, strong academia influence in my life. She and her staff taught us skills to prepare us for elementary school. It wasn’t just the a,b,c’s, colors and numbers. When I left there I could read and write legibily. They taught us how to behave in social settings outside our home. They required our best in all areas. I never thought of that place as a place for poor, black kids. I never felt the sting of “separate but equal” unequal segregation. Jim Crow overshadowed this sanctuary, but I didn’t know it. I felt safe. Mrs. Henderson and company did that for us. I remember we ate, we slept, we played, we learned. But most of all we were respected and loved. You can’t get much richer than that:My Black Soil. My roots got stronger every day. I was a little kid enjoying life. I believe Mrs Henderson is enjoying a well-deserved rest in heaven. Thank you.
Forty-two years ago today I married my best friend who became my lover, my confident, my spiritual leader and the father of my children. We have had our experiences for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. We even had a “til death do we part’ moment followed by a resurrection. We enjoyed the mundane and the miracleous. We have had it all. A glorious ride.
Now we are entering year 43. I love you Carl Wiggins III. The ride continues. ♥♥♥♥♥
What did Y’shua mean?
Matthew 22:35-40 (KJV)
35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
This word is used so freely to describe such a wide range of emotions. We say “I love you” just to be nice sometimes without thinking of the depth of feelings the other person may believe it to mean. In the scripture above the word is translated from the Greek word agapeo which is defined in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance as “to love in a social and moral sense.” What does that mean? Comparing it to brotherly love, phileo, agapeo is an deliberate, intellectual act of the will that embraces duty, propriety and principle. In other words, it is not based on feelings but is a choice. As Y’shua states above, we are to love God with all our heart, our soul and our mind. Love the Lord your God with all your thoughts and feelings, your breath, and your deep thought (understanding).
That makes clear HOW I am to love but what does the word love mean?Going back to Deuteronomy 6:5 that Y’shua was quoting the word love is defined as ‘to have affection for.” That seems easy. I can have affection for God and for you. However, it goes so much deeper than that. It has to be an “all” kind of love. My entire being expresses love for my God. It’s ALL encompassing; my very lifestyle. That my friend affects how I love you or myself. Paul, a scholar of the Law, summarizes Yahweh’s instructions on the lifestyle of the Israelites and Y’shua’s teachings in the following text.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (ESV)
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant
5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. …….1
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
I deliberately, and intellectually choose to LOVE.
3 little words
Hold so much power.
We all desire to hear
3 little words
That can birth or destroy.
We use them so glibly.
Why are we so careless?
Disingenuous use hurt and anger us.
Why do we do it to others?
You say you mean them
But your actions portray something else.
Think
Are you there when needed
If only a smile
Or encouraging word?
Do you even know the depth they carry?
Think about them before you say
Those 3 little words.
I LOVE YOU!
She stood on the street corner in her skimpy clothes, waiting. Waiting for that person to give her a moments attention. Waiting. Ah, yes. We knew who and what she was. Why did she choose this lifestyle? Why doesn’t she get a good job? Why is she selling herself? Girl, put on some clothes and get off the block.
He hangs around bars and gyms, waiting. Waiting for that person to notice him or accept his advances. Thoughts of “Am I buff enough?”, “Am I soft enough?”, “Am I enough?” running through his head. The viewing public only sees a sleazy, annoying, lying creep. “Move on” expressed in their looks of contempt.
We make these judgments based on what we see. But, could we be wrong? I know there are those of “low, moral character.” But, sometimes, the reasons are not so clear.
Could these choices or behaviors be outward expressions of the inner emotions of feeling unloved?
We have all done some pretty dumb things when we believed no one loved us. Some of us end up in situations because seeking that love made us vulnerable to those who took advantage of our need. I know there are many reasons people turn to prostitution, drug addiction, etc. I believe the root of them all is feeling or being unloved.
Looking through the eyes of Y’shua, my thoughts should be of giving a kind word not contempt. Sometimes, a listening ear is all that is needed. If I choose a smile rather than a frown or look of condemnation, just maybe that person would feel a moment of value, a moment of love.
Remember when you felt Unloved.
Have we laid aside the commandments of God for the traditions of men? This was Y’shua’s main complaint against the Pharisees. Do we care more about what our particular denomination says rather than what God says? Even the non-denominational churches have traditions. Do we care more about our evangelical conservative view than the views of God? What are we teaching the world about the God we say we serve? Have we become like the Pharisees of old? Are we the Pharisees of the present? What would God say about us? I challenge you to examine yourselves to determine if you have laid aside God’s commandments or maybe are selective in the one’s you obey for the traditions of men.
Mark 6
6 He answered and said to them,
“Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.
7 And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
8 “For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men–the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.”
9 He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.”
Just something to think about.
The bold is mine.
My heart hurts. I went to bed last night hurt and angry about the continued killings of black men. I watched the videos to make my own assessment and I found no justification for shooting Alton Sterling multiple times in the chest. He was already subdued. Philando Castile did not appear to pose a threat, yet he was shot with his child in the back seat. I felt like I was back in the Jim Crow south where lynchings could happen just because …. Then there was the white kid lying on the ground and then was shot. Why?
I awaken this morning to the information that a peaceful protest turned violent because someone decided to take their anger out by shooting several policemen. There was no reason for that anymore than there was for shooting those men.
America what are we becoming? We might as well be in Afghanistan or Syria. We worry about ISIS but it is us who are destroying this country. We are terrorizing ourselves. If they just wait a little while we will self destruct and they won’t have to do anything. We cannot continue like this.
Ignorance opens the door for Fear. Fear makes it easy to Hate. Hatred breeds Hatred.
Let’s try reasoning with each other.
Let’s try understanding each other.
Let’s try not repeating the negative past.
Let’s try living out what we say we believe as a nation.
Let’s admit we have a systemic problem. The rest of the world already knows it.
Let’s try loving each other even when we disagree.
Let’s stop killing each other.
My heart hurts for us.
I threw myself away
But you Found me.
I did not see the God created value in me
You pushed through the garbage
Because you Saw Me.
I am so very blessed that 39 years ago
You Found ME!
As I looked at my husband sleeping this morning, I was overwhelmed by the love and joy he has given me for 39 eventful years.
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"Black Soil" Living 