Oh My Maya (For Maya Angelou)

I wrote this piece a year ago. It came in a sudden flash of inspiration. I wasn't reading any of her work at the time, Nor had I seen her on any program or in any speaking engagement in proximity of the time I wrote it. Her love is so, that she is in your heart like a "kin" that you think of often even though you don't always get to see. And the love you have for her just shows up needing to be expressed. That is the place this came from. I offer it tonight to her... for the journey, and to us... for the solace. She stands among the ancestors now. Ashe' and Blessed Be...

Oh My Maya (For Maya Angelou)

She’s every ebony woman’s mother
An elder stateswoman of the noblest kind
She is the joy that lives in our hearts,
And the black beauty of our mind
She is the courage of our convictions
And the voice of our resolve
The singer of our afflictions
With word whispered from above
She is the phenomenon that ignited us
To live beyond the cage
A voice of black womanhood
In this present age
She has been our bright and shining star
Through many a dark night
And in our glories and triumphs
She’s been there to write
Those things that fill our hearts
But we cannot find words to say
Painting vivid pictures
Of our brightest days
Oh Dear Mother Maya
I am grateful you walked this mortal plain
Your presence has lifted our soul a little higher
May it be said of us the same.

Love's Lesson

At the end of 2012 I was forced to face the meaning of love, as it applied to me. That process was not rose colored nor candy coated. However, on the other side of it I did find an answer. Love, for me, began... with me. It started with the understanding that I was lovable, to God if no one else. Then expanded with the embrace of the concept that how and who I love was a choice that only I was entitled to make. Lastly,  there was the grasping of the notion that love is not always saccharine covered, but it's bitter sweet texture though stark on the tongue,just like dark chocolate, is so much better for your health, mental and physical. From that journey of self discovery that pulled me half way through 2013 this poem emerged. I offer it to you, an early Valentine. And I send you all... Love

Promise to my Unborn Daughter

I will never tell you gilded tales of happily ever after.
Love is splendid work,
And happy is a choice.

I will teach you to love your desire
And be independent of necessity;
That Prince Charming is just a fallible man with good manners.
So, don't paint him with rose colored expectation
that will always cause him to fall short in your eyes
and you to be disappointed.

I will teach you that imperfection does not equal defect
And that broken hearts don't equal broken spirits.
I will  tell you that self love is prerequisite for all that is to follow
And show you that it's true by the way I treat myself.

I know I can not spare you the pitfalls and growing pains of life.
Because even if my lessons afford you opportunity to sidestep some,
Others will thrive in their place
to teach some unknown lesson
I couldn't have predicted.

I just want to make the way clear
For you to discover new obstacles to overcome.
So that you can make the way clearer still
For our daughters yet to come.

Freedom

"Freedom is not something that anybody can be given. Freedom is something people take, and people are as free as they want to be." ~James Baldwin

I have always sung. It is where my “voice” has always lived. Not just the melodic retelling of others stories in others words. I sing because in it I have always been able to tell my truth. It is my gift from Spirit by which to obtain my freedom. I was 7 when I realized that anyone other than me wanted to hear me sing. I was 9 when I realized that my voice could inspire others. I was 12 when I wrote my first song and realized my voice could be used to tell MY truth. I was 16 when I wrote a song about apartheid on MLK’s holiday weekend and sang it to my mother. I was changed when she looked at me with eyes that said “You are SO much more than the little girl I birthed.” 

This gift of song has carried me through my greatest loss and toughest times in life. However, it wasn’t until this past year that I realized that this gift of song was so much more than a gift. It was my salvation. We all face challenges in life and I truly believe that Spirit allows us challenges knowing that we are fully equipped to overcome them. The Most Beloved is sure of our success because of the divine preparation put into all of us. We are all provided with that talent, that gift that will not only sustain us through the tough times but propel us to the other side of the darkness. (1 Cor 10:13)

During my personal and health challenges at the end of 2012 and through 2013 it was the ability to write my feelings that allowed me to overcome. And that day in late July 2013 when I bust out in spontaneous song for the first time in months, the cloud lifted and I could see the coming of day. It was in that moment that the reflection of all my difficult times came rushing to mind and I was able to see that whenever I was at the brink of complete annihilation or self-destruction the love of Spirit, through this gift of song I was given, lifted me.

The only thing in life that is free is choice. The rest we will have to work for. That includes freedom itself. The wonderful part is that we’ve already been provided with the tools needed to free ourselves. Incidentally, those are the same tools given to each of us to play our part in freeing the planet. We often hear the old adage “We won’t have world peace until there is inner peace.” And though its use is cliché, the truth of the statement remains. As we each use our personal talents to free ourselves from the tyranny of fear, doubt and limitation, we will inspire others to discover and use theirs as well. The more of us that are free, the more of us available to devote our time and energy to inspire and guide others to personal freedom. Personal freedom is the key to equality and freedom reigning in the world. For the personally free among us will not be able to accept less than all of us being free. As I prepare to release my first musical offering in the form of an EP to the world this year, my hope is that this gift of song that frees me a little more each time I open my mouth, will lead others to discover their own gift to the road of freedom and in doing so inch us all a little closer to when we:

 “will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Divine, On Purpose

For the last few days at work I've had to repeat myself several times to customers for them to FULLY comprehend what I'm telling them. With each repeated statement I became more firm and assertive in my delivery; With each day more frustrated. But I didn't stop until they got it because I know if I did it would only lead to them calling back with the same question. Then today it hit me like a ton of bricks. This process is similar to the one Source takes when working to get us to that next place in life and to our "expected end" (Jeremiah 29:11).

Our initial promptings from the Divine are gentle nudges guiding us down the path to our destiny. Inevitably we veer off course and have to get slightly less subtle reminders to get back on track. And with each sidestep there are more 'prominent' reminders to redirect, until ultimately we are struck by the cosmic 2x4 in hopes that it will be the catalyst that brings the clarity needed to manifest our divine purpose. The Most Beloved never stops pointing us in the direction of purpose, no matter how many times it appears that we JUST DON'T GET IT. That's because the entire earth knows that it's success lies in the fulfilling of our success. For every person living their purpose, the planet and all of humanity is one step closer to the fulfilling of the intention of the Divine when it was stated "...I'll make them in my image and likeness" (Genesis 1:26).

It is true, we are meant to be like the Divine... Because We ARE ALL Divine. Our recognition of this is what the planet is waiting for.  All of creation is waiting with great expectation on the manifestations of the offspring of the Most High (Rom 8:19). Let's make 2014 a Divine Family Reunion by deciding to walk in purpose this year!

Love and Thanksgiving! Happy New Year!

What Gift?!

 

"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God...concerning you." ~1 Thessalonians 5:18

 

Today I recognized a deep personal truth & became immediately grateful! It was more like a remembering, that even in some of the most trying experiences in our lives there is usually a wonderful gift inside. However, we usually don't see it until the initial point of hardship/injury has passed. I realized today that diabetes has given me the true gift of mindfulness about my body.

In the pass I would ignore the signals my body gave and just keep plowing through to complete whatever task I was working on at any given moment, most times, for something or someone other than myself. Now however, I notice every little sign because to ignore them now could cause me so much more than before. I'm becoming quite adept at interpreting the meanings of each one. This "dis-ease" diabetes has allowed me to see that "ease" is my preferred state of being and helped me to understand that the task of taking care of me is primary in order for me to take care of the people, places & things entrusted to me by Spirit to care for. 

 

I truly believe that compassion is the key to healing all the worlds ills... And I believe that compassion must be turned inward first. It is our guilt and quest to be "better than" that drives humanity to create "us/them" paradigms that keep us separate. If we can see ourselves through the eyes of compassion we'd understand that we are each fearfully and wonderful made to contribute our own gifts to the planet. We'd know that who we are is sufficient and the need to "one up" each other would eventually dissolve. Then, compassion for others could much more easily be achieved.
 

What I recognized today while I sat at work listening to my body tell me to "take a break, drink some water, take a deep breath and eat an apple," is that Self care is not selfish, it is possibly the most important gift we each can give to the planet and each other. Healthy, whole people cause less internal and external damage. I'm very grateful for this revelation... And so are my co-workers, though they probably have no idea just how much. Lol.

This is the gift I eventually got from my challenge with diabetes... It is truly my most cherished this holiday season.

Now you, Take a break. Take a breath. Listen...I bet you'll find a gift to cherish this season too.

Wishing you all the hope this first week of Advent offers!

Blessings!

Sitting Under Gideon's Tree

I look around at the world today and think as Gideon did, "if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of...” Surely we can do better than this?! Then I hear that voice that says "You do better and surely it will be better." In that moment I am reminded just as Gideon before me that change begins with me, That looking outside of ones self rarely produces answers and that hope is an eternal spring to be accessed by the diligent.

It is real easy to default to despair when the chaos of the world is broadcast on an endless stream of mainline media platters advising that their only goal is to keep us informed. The war, hunger, deceit & greed that permeate the airwaves is enough to make one throw hands up in surrender to the anarchy and just give up. But we must be mindful that the state the world is in didn't happen in one year, 10 years or 20. We must remember that generations spent centuries shape this world into the image we see today. This is no coincidence. What we witness is the direct effect of years of causes that leave us scratching our heads at where to go now. The beauty is that right in the midst of this apparently gloomy picture is the very answer that we seek. If what we are living now is the result of deeds, thoughts & intentions started generations back, then we are the generations that will shape the future. (While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest... shall not cease. ~Genesis 8:22)

Our diligent, faithful, heartfelt work are the begin of the wave of positive change that will crash righteously on the shore of the future washing away the vices of our present. As someone in my early forties I understand the wave truly began generations before mine, but in the perspective of millennial living my generation is still just at the trough of this wave. It now falls to us to keep the swell growing.

Every genuine act of kindness plants a seed for a world of loving kindness. Every present act of integrity lays the ground work for a future where truth not deceit is the norm. Our present generosity will spawn a world where few, if any, lack the basic necessities. And everyone of these creative acts of empowerment will empower a future that give thanks for our effort.
Now clearer is the sentiment: If in this life only we have hope... we are of all men most miserable. (1 Corinthians 15:19)

Surely we CAN do better! We are the ones we are waiting for! Are we up to the challenge? I say yes! Start today with one creative act of empowerment!... Your great, great, great, great grandchildren will thank you!

Rainy Day Rumination

To Live, To Breath, is to be the expression of the divine in this plane of existence. If you believe that in the beginning "God" breathe the breath of life into us all. If you believe that "in his image created he them." Then you must treat each and every person as if you are dealing directly with God himself, regardless their behavior. By seeing the divine in all humanity, you display your own divinity. I truly believe this is why Jesus said "By this shall all men know you are mine, if you have love..." Love is the motive and the answer. Love is the Divine. Blessings on this rainy ATL Saturday Fam! OneLove