Before You Die...

Get Up and Live!

I had no idea that the Celebration of Gospel was scheduled to air this past Sunday.  I don’t recall seeing all the hype as in past years with commercials, radio spots and such but it happened.

I try not to watch BET much for all apparent reasons.  And if you have no clue as to what those reasons could possibly be then, it's better to have folks think you're a fool than open your mouth and prove it AND...look what they've done to The Game!!!  But I did want to check out The Celebration. 

I can’t say I was overly impressed by the show but overall, it was decent.  I could definitely point out some side-eye moments but…I mean…it was the celebration of GOSPEL and I need all the positive points to be written in the Book of Life under the entry that says my name.  Let's just say that I didn’t finish the viewing experience thinking I had lost 2 valuable hours of my life.  I enjoyed the performances, the songs, the tributes and the artists.  Mr. Harvey blessed us with a classic tux (sans sparkles) instead of wearing a suit from his collection.  Thank you Sweet Baby Jesus for that blessing.

Sorry for the huge digression, but stick with me.

One person/performance who rarely, if ever, disappoints is Kirk Franklin.  I know he's not a traditionalists in the Gospel music arena and many folks frown upon his creativity (secular inspiration?) but that little man has a way with a song and performance whether it’s slow and reflective (Imagine Me) or something that is high energy.

I loved his opening act and am in great anticipation of his next project if this song and “I Smile” is any indication of how it’ll turn out.  I joked with my cousin that I would fall straight out if I saw him do any parts of "The Dougie" and by golly, I found myself ‘slayed in the spirit’ when he did!  By the way, I see you Mary Mary.  But for real though…

GET UP AND LIVE!!!!!

BET Videos

Keep Dreaming

I've loved Dr. Martin Luther, the King Jr. since I was a little girl.  Pre-kindergarten, I didn’t love him specifically because of his service to us or even because of his “I Have a Dream” speech.  I loved him because we shared a birthday and way back when, we used to get off from school on the actual day of a holiday as opposed to the Monday after the holiday occurred.  That meant, that I always had my birthday off from school.  By the way, I think pushing all Federal holidays to Monday in order to have a long weekend is kind of whack.  I mean, it is nice to have a 3 day weekend but I would enjoy having (and sometimes NEED) a random day off during the week too.  I guess that’s what PTO is for, huh?  Oh okay, I digress.

When I got a little older, and really realized the significance of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life and the impact that he had on this country, I was proud to say that we shared a birthday.  And to this day, I still am.  Make no mistake, he was a flawed man.  But he saw an injustice and DID something about it.

So in honor of him, we need to "keep dreamin’", y’all.  And don’t just dream, but let’s really honor Dr. King by putting some serious work into making those dreams a reality.

Taking Care of Business: How to Become a Fruit Tree

I’ve heard many preachers say, “If you take care of God’s business; He’ll take care of your business.” That statement is usually made in reference to giving financially to the church.

Money - which is needed to support the church (whose mission *should* be to equip and strengthen its congregation, its neighborhood and the world through spiritual enlightenment AND through alms) - is not the only way we take care of God's business. We’re admonished also to bear fruit which is a result of living His way.

Let’s take a look at what The Message Bible has to say about fruit. Incidentally, I love The Message Bible because it really breaks down Scripture in no nonsense language that sometimes makes me chuckle.

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Galatians 5:21-23 (The Message)

^19-21It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.

This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.

^22-23But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

^23-24Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.

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Good stuff, huh? Stick with me, I’m going somewhere…

I made a few declarations in this post and one statement I made has been nagging me:

I will be accountable and honor my commitments.

The New Year is only seven days old and I’m proud to say that honoring commitments has been a breeze. 2010, however, is a different story.

Take a look back at verses 22-23: “But what happens when we live God’s way…We develop a willingness to stick with things...we find ourselves involved in loyal commitments…”

Let that marinate.

I am a Christian that strives to live God’s way. And regardless of what was going on in my life that I could or could not control in 2010, I did a poor job of keeping my word (or at the very least, communicating why I couldn't) to people that I respect and care about.

Over the next week or so, I’ve got some splainin’ to do. Some folks won’t understand and others will think that I’m apologizing for small infractions. Makes no difference, I have to do this for me.

Sticking with things and loyal commitments (along with the other fruit mentioned) are an outward manifestation of a deliberate, inward spiritual relationship.

So yeah, in 2011, I’m taking care of business as best as I can. Bygones can’t be bygones because the law of reciprocity is real:

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Galatians 6:7-8 (The Message)

^7-8Don't be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he'll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God's Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.

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Anything been nagging you about 2010 that won’t allow you to fully appreciate what 2011 has to offer?

A Revelation

Dear God:

First, thanks for seeing fit to allow me to be in the land of the living one more day.

2010 was an odd year. It flew by quickly and as I look back on it, I can’t say it was fabulous. It had its positive and happy moments but it also had a bunch of negatives and sad moments. When I reflect on the year, the things that immediately come to mind are anxiety, sadness, worry and stress. I’m pretty sure I experienced at least one real anxiety attack, epic amounts of stress and if I had had enough courage to go to a doctor, I’m certain I would have been diagnosed with depression. It was a rough year.

But…I made it! And I know for certain it was because of you that I did. I may not have had good sense enough to acknowledge it (or thank you profusely), but it was certainly you that got me through. Of course there were a few key people that you put in my life that I could vent and cry to, but it was you that placed those people in my life. You saw fit to take care of me in spite of myself and it was because of your providence that I have to say that 2010 was ultimately, a blessing. Thank you again!

Now on to 2011…

I’m 3 days in and I must say that some of the stressors and problems that were in 2010 are still with me in the New Year. But that’s OK. You didn’t promise a stressor free life, but you did promise that you’d help:

I Corinthians 10:13 (The Message Bible)

No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.

Because of your word, I declare:

· I will not allow stressors to dictate my performance at home, at work or in my relationships.

· I will take deliberate steps to reduce and/or eliminate the stressors that are in my life.

· I will CONFRONT all problems and not pretend that they will magically take care of themselves.

· I will be accountable and honor my commitments.

· I will not be anxious, stressed to the limit or allow worry to debilitate me.

· I will continue to remind myself that “No” is a complete sentence.

· I will set goals and work towards accomplishing accomplish them.

· I will not stray from my 2011 plan

These are not my resolutions, but this is my revelation.

God, you know the desires of my heart and I’m going to trust and believe that if I put in the work on the above I won’t have to pray for tangible/material things because that will be the fruit of my labor.

Here’s to a fab New Year!

The best is yet to come…

Amen

Running Towards a Goal

Let me be clear, I am NOT a fan of running. So ask me why I’m going to run my first 5k in November?

Go ahead…ask!

Well, I’m going to run a 5k because I can. Plain and simple. Actually, it’s not really all about the race. This race is a symbol, if you will. I have another goal in mind and I’m conditioning myself and training myself over the next few months so I can reach it. And since running has been known to be a thorn in my side and something I never thought I could do with success, I’m using this race to prove to myself that

I.CAN.DO.ANYTHING!

I’ve been online and read a few beginner running plans and have pretty much taken what they said and modified it a little. My goal is to run the entire race in November and not walk. But if I should walk, the goal is to finish in less than an hour. I know I should just choose one, but in life, sometimes you have to switch gears a bit to reach the ultimate goal.

Right.

So this morning, The Kirk texts me at 5:15AM asking are we running today. My first thought was NO. You see, I have a problem with getting up in the morning when it is pitch black outside. Darkness equates to night in my mind and night means sleep. But I knew better. It’s no time like the present and if I shrugged it off today, I’d certainly shrug it off tomorrow. So I sent him a return text (he’s only upstairs, mind you) and tell him that I’ll be ready in 15 minutes and to wake up The Last , since he wanted to run too.

Fifteen minutes later, I’m still in bed and I get a knock at my door.

“We’re ready”.

*deep sigh*

I tell them I’m coming and hop out of bed, throw on my yoga pants, sports bra, t-shirt and shoes and walk upstairs.

We stretch.

I knew in my mind what my goal was: run/walk – 5 minute warm up, walk briskly for 90 seconds and run for 60 seconds. I didn’t know what my distance would be.

We started. The Last told me to “JUST RUN”. And I quickly let them know that unless they wanted to carry me home, I need to go at my pace to avoid injury and frustration. He then says, “Well when you get tired, just push through it”. Sounds good, in theory, but I had a plan and I didn’t want to deviate from it too much. As long as I reach my goal, I’m good. I told him to go on and I’d catch up at some point. Their goal was to run 1.5 miles to our local convenience store and back – 3 miles. I knew better and figured I’d run/walk about 1.5 miles total.

I start with the walk and quickly nix the idea of walking for 90 seconds. Seemed too long. I start jogging…but, slowly. I do this for one block because it’s too dark to be looking down at my watch and I can’t lose my pace. I don’t know much, but I do know that when you run, pace and rhythm are key. The boys had their iPods. I wasn’t smart enough to remember that so guess what song I ran to in my head: The Bedroom Intruder Song…”he’s climbing in yo windows, he’s snatching yo peepo up…” Thank God for Antoine. LOL

There was only one major snafu on today’s walk/run. Leg itching.

Oh.my.gawd!

I have experienced this feeling before during brisk walks. It is the most awefulest, irritatingest feeling in the world. Feels like I could scratch my legs to the white meat. I’ve consulted Google about this matter and well, it’s not an unusual occurrence.

Basically:

If you exercise consistently, you have healthy arteries and capillaries that allow for maximum blood passage. If you are unfit, or have not exercised in awhile, then the capillaries can start to collapse. So when you start exercising again, the capillaries basically struggle to open back up which cause the nerves to create an itching sensation. This usually goes away once your body gets used to exercising. (Contributor, caramel825)

This makes sense to me. And when I think back to when I was really consistent with my exercise routine I remember the itching in the beginning but after a couple weeks of consistent exercise, it did disappear.

But let me tell you that today, I wanted to stop at the first sign of the itch. Because the last time it happened, I scratched my legs so much until red streaks appeared. Not cute! But then I remembered reading this blog post yesterday about a woman who just finished running the Chicago marathon. A good ways into the race, she felt soreness in her IT Band and what she did was recognize the pain and then leave it. She said, “…if we dwell on the pain in a race, we won’t get passed it and then we let our mind WIN!” So I acknowledged the itch and I moved on.

It worked!

All in all, I ran/walked about 2 miles today in 30 minutes. I felt great! I stretched afterwards and started my day.

Easy-peasy-bo-breezy.

Let’s just pray it remains this way.

I Love Me!

Even when I find things that are wrong with me, I realize that there are a lot more things that are right. I’m far from perfect but thank God I’m not what I used to be.

Positive affirmations are important and dare I say…necessary. And for someone who used to be really insecure, complimenting yourself can seem selfish and wrong. But do it anyway. Write your affirmations down, say them in your head or shout them out loud. Be your biggest cheerleader and your #1 fan. You can do it, you can be it, and you can live it.

Give yourself a pep talk every day - several times a day, if need be.

Side Part, Under

I know it’s still the year 2009, but the New Year came early for me. My New Year’s Day came some time around the second week in November.

Over the last few months, I have been uncomfortable with myself. I really can’t put a finger on just how to explain it, but something was not quite right. That nagging feeling, coupled with a very eye-opening incident, left me wondering about myself. So I began to take steps to get to the root of my comfort, or lack thereof, with me. I first started a prayer/self-reflection journal. In it, I deliberately didn’t ask for anything for myself. I petitioned God to move in the lives of those who I felt were affecting me. You see, I tend to carry the burden of others unbeknownst to them. I stress and fret and try to figure out their life’s problems and strategize how I can fix them without them knowing it. Sounds crazy as I type it, but it’s the God’s honest truth. I can’t carry that burden anymore and I needed God to move on their behalf so that I could focus putting me first. That’s so passive-aggressive but…baby steps.

Let me tell you something, journaling is.the.biz-ness! Writing all of my random thoughts coupled with some of my favorite praise and worship songs, ending with my thanks was the remedy for many a RESTFUL sleep-filled, worry-free nights. I felt great, but…

How was I going to start being the star of my own show? Because I realized that if I wasn’t happy and productive – doing what I want to do with my life, then my interactions with the people I love was not going to be “colored sprinkles on top of soft serve vanilla ice cream”. And then…

One afternoon I watched a marathon of The Game and…screech – halt…I saw the “Side Part Under” episode. The scene below, reached out, grabbed me and took a hold of my attention.

Freaky, sessy-time drama aside (because that is not what this post is about) it’s time to live my life! I need to dust off those dreams and move the stuff that’s in my way to attain them. Now I ain’t about to drop my kids off at the nearest police station because I don’t want them no more and move to another state to start my life over, what I’m saying is…

Y’all better get in where you fit in because Lisa is doing what makes her happy not now, but right.now! I’m not starting January 1, 2010, not once the kids are off to college, not once everybody else’s needs (wants) are met first. Some folks ain’t gonna like the brand new me but, oh well.

Are you a side part, under?