2015 Purposeful Positive Action Challenge

In 2014 I found myself complaining quite a bit more than usual... Not to say there weren't many complaint worthy moments. However, I was taught by my father a long time ago that "in the history of man complaining has never changed anything! If you don't like something... CHANGE IT!" In more contemporary verbiage my dad was saying "Don't talk about it. Be about it!"

I am committed to making 2015 a year of positive actions that make my own life and the planet better. I'm starting with this 30 day challenge:
For the next 30 days when I feel the urge to complain I will stop and ask "what can I do to positively influence this situation even in the smallest way?" More times than not we have the power to shift our situations. If I find that it is a situation that requires the spirit of Ujimaa (collective work) I will do what's necessary to gather the needed forces. As the song goes "The world won't get no better if we just let it be..."

I am working to make 2015 as good a year as it can be for us all! Won't you join me? If you a willing to take the challenge please repost and tag at least 2 people. Together "we can change the world! Yes you and me!"

Love's In Need...

I was a militant teen, mainly because I experienced racism daily in the white suburb my daddy moved us to when I was eight. I was militant in my thinking all through college. Then I embarked on a truly spiritual path at 23 and worked to transform myself and access the spirit essence/divinity within. I became ordained in a couple different spiritual expressions. During this path I shook off militancy for a broader view that divine order takes care of things & that the law of reciprocity eventually catches up with everyone.

However, Since the execution of Troy Davis I've been feeling a new direction to my call. Though the law of reciprocity is real, it works when we all play our part in the grand design. Sometime Justice doesn't come until you call for it. In light of the recent event in #Ferguson I find myself working to balance feelings within that would draw me back to militancy. I am then reminded by the spirit within that love is the strongest force on the planet and will defeat hate in the end. I do believe it to be true but "what about this genocide happening right before my very eyes?! Surely, Something has to be done about it right?!" I ask Spirit.
"Indeed something has to be done, but mind your motivation," Spirit says. It was the change of perspective I needed.

So, I move forward in love, today. Love & value for the lives of Troy Davis, Trayvon Martin, Renisha McBride, Rekia Boyd, Michael Brown and all of the other black and brown babies who are being disposed of by a society that does not see their worth. Love for their mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers who are robbed of their presence. Love for a community that will never know and benefit from the potential of their contribution because their lives were cut short. My love for them and all the black and brown babies and their mothers who deserve to walk the streets in their own country and not worry about making it back home at night, will be my motivation as I move forward in my call for the end of this American genocide!

If Love IS the greatest force on the planet and I believe that it is, then I will use it to make a change.

Changed

I am tender, raw, torn open,
Pushed passed my numbness into a deep sense of urgency.
SOMETHING has to be done about this genocide happening in America.

When 3 decades of prison industrial complex incarcerations seemed challenged to end,
They threw off facades and took to old school lynching with new tools.
Now they call it "Standing Ground," and "Appropriate force for resisting arrest."
But the fruit is still so very strange,
Picked and left to spoil in the street
Instead of hanging on the trees.

I am different today, changed.
One too many brown baby's face etched in my mind
Who will never feel his or her mama's embrace again.
How can I be unchanged by it all?
How can I not see in their lost lives
Systemic design meant to eradicate me and mine from the planet?
It's the helplessness that hurts so.

Where does one begin to insist that their life matters?
I mean, shouldn't humans just already know
That all human life is precious?
And if that is not the case,
What is the state of their humanity who thinks otherwise?
I have very few answers now.
All I know in this moment is:

I am tender, raw, torn open,
Pushed passed my numbness into a deep since of urgency.
SOMETHING has to be done about this genocide happening in America.

Unlikely Heroes

I am extremely excited about two new biopcs that are about to be shared with us, the viewing public. The stories of James Brown and Jimi Hendrix appeal to me as a musician, of course. Their influence on American music was so integral, that we would not have Rock, R&B, hip hop or Dance music of all sorts without it. But the appeal of these gentlemen’s stories goes far beyond their valuable contribution to American music and Pop Culture. Their stories appeal to me for the complexity of humanity that they both displayed. 

We are a society that CRAVES heroes. However, we want them pristine and without blemish. We leave no place for humanity with our iconography. The moment they show the slightest bit of human frailty we are ready to cast them aside and forget their many contributions. Don’t get me wrong, I’m in no way implying that poor decisions should not be accompanied by the appropriate consequences for those decision. Neither am I saying that people should not be called to task for some of the decisions they make in life by others who might productively show them the error of their ways. I’m just saying that one, two or even three poor decisions should not define the totality of a person existence. And even if the decisions they make bring about their eventual demise it does not negate the contributions they make to the big picture of humanity's progression. It is hard to determine what people are providing to the world in the present tense. We usually only realize the part people play in the grand plan once we are looking back on them in the context of history.

These gentlemen’s stories remind me of the biblical account of King David. In all accounts he was a murder and adulterer. There is no denying that. However he was also a valiant warrior and his presence united a nation.

Similarly these men whose lives were problematic and riddled with questionable or downright poor decisions were able to unit a nation, if but for a moment, under the universal language of music. Not only did they effect the space in time in which they inhabited, they each provided a body of work that inspired every generation of musicians that followed them. Their lives are inspirational to me, not because they were flawless, no. I am inspired by the story of flawed humans like these who show us that we can be both imperfect and impactful; People whose stories, rife with slips, falls and short comings, are still able to show that there are contributions to be made even if we don’t have it all together. And THIS is the reason I am excited about these as well as most honest biographical movies. If done with true perspective they allow the viewer to see that these people they idolize are no better than they are. And hopefully it excites in the viewer an understanding that they too, in all their humanness, has the ability to do great things. 

We ARE a society that craves heroes. It is my belief that when we start allowing them to be the flawed, imperfect humans that we all are, more will arise to fulfill their part in the grand design. We are all in some way, unlikely heroes.

To Be Lesbian, Christian and Black (With My Soul Intact)

Some of the most dedicated disciples of the heart and principles of Christ that I know are also queer. This is not a statement I would have dreamed could be made as a Pentecostal girl growing up. The interpretation of scripture that was presented to me in my youth allowed very little room for deviation from the accepted religious norms. There was a dogmatic enforcement of perceived understanding that left me often both wanting and isolated in my pursuit to understand Spirit in relation to myself. 

I have always desired to understand and experience the oneness of a connection to Divinity. Even as a teenager I develop a practice of private daily prayer in an attempt at intimacy with the Divine Creative Source of the universe. It was the first personal decision I feel I made in my spiritual life. This practice was different from the bedtime prayers required by my parents, pre-adolescence. It was a conversation with the Source of the universe in a quest for clarity and connection. And it provided me a vehicle to sustain myself as I navigated my way through the religions of the world.

Yes, I experimented with religions in my twenties like most people do with drugs. LOL I wanted a relationship with the Divine but felt that who I understood myself to be was in direct opposition with what I was told God was. You see, I’ve known with more than a little certainty that I was same gender loving since I was 16 and coming from the tradition I had been raised in, being Christian and Queer could not coexist. As the daughter, granddaughter, niece & sister of several Pentecostal preachers, for me “Gay” wasn’t an option. 

At first I tried to deny the truth of who I was in hopes that it was ”just a phase” that would pass. It did not. So for a while I conceded to being a "sinner." That didn’t work for me either, because even in the midst of my attempts at debauchery I continued my evening “conversations” with who/what I understood as God. I mean how unruly can you really be when you have a standing bedtime appointment with God. (SMILE) So, I decided to “sample” some other religious expressions. Surely I could find one that would help me achieve the oneness I was looking for and allow me to live authentically and embrace myself completely. 

After investigating both traditional and NOI/Black Islam, Buddhism, Shintoism and Christ consciousness. I studied New World Yoruba expressions like Santeria and Candomble. With my DEEP Christian roots I saw them all through the lens of Christian scripture and was brought to a very real and universal understanding. At the heart of every practice there were 2 consistent truths 1) Love the creator (whatever it was called) with all that you have and 2) show that love of him/her/it by being compassionate to your fellow humans. Love & compassion were the key to that oneness I was seeking. In this I saw the clarity of Jesus’ Statement: ‘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.” (Matt 22:37-40 NIV) This was a liberating concept that would send me on a journey to freedom. That journey is how I learned that freedom is TRULY a process! I get a little freer every day.

My path to freedom took me through finding a love that forced me to confront my demons and work more diligently to truly understand scripture in relation to cultural and historical context, then to releasing that love because she had done her service and played her part according to divine plan. It took me through 2 ordination with 2 different spiritual expressions so that I could learn to relate, honor, respect and embrace all people’s paths. It lead me to finding the love of my life who saw the God in me and encouraged me to share what I had learned in a lifetime of seeking with her at the very least, though she felt (and feels) what I’ve gained is for the world and tells me so almost every day. I crossed paths with other pilgrims to freedom that crushed my notions that all Christian queer folk (if there were any) were either in the closet about their queerness or their Christianity.

Now, I understand Divinity as the Life Force Energy that flows through the entire universe. It expresses as Humanity, the Animal Kingdom, Plant Life and the very Cosmos itself. I believe that through the course of human history that Life Force Energy has expressed itself in human form of varied gender identities as examples of what connection to that Source Life Force Energy looks like, to remind the rest of us. I connect most with the expression recognized by the planet as Jesus, known to some as the Christ but acknowledge there are many who have and do walk among us who others may connect to/with more closely. It is a Christianity that allows me to bridge the gap between the little girl who grew up longing to connect to that God of her youth and the Adult that understand connecting to the Source begins with compassion for self and others. And I am enjoying the privilege of sharing one on one inspiration with others whose brush with Christianity fell short of accomplishing the great commission: to spread the good news that Jesus is the expressed image of Love, and the understanding that Love can offer rest from the toils and pressures of this human experience we are having.

And though it seems contradictory to what we see expressed in American society today, My Christian upbringing provided me a lens to see the universality of all spiritual expressions. And understanding THAT… saved my soul.