All one has to do is to turn on the television news at any given moment to see how we human beings hurt one another…Whether one has lied to another, stolen from another, killed their fellow man…It’s astounding the ways we find and the depths we go to hurt each other…And although I’ve been living in this world for 39 years, I am still saddened by it all…
Since I am a Christian and am committed to demonstrating God’s love to my fellows around me, I honestly do try to treat people as I would like to be treated…I sometimes fall short…Sometimes I often fall short, but in my mind, heart and soul, I try to love my neighbor as myself…And so this is why I am so disappointed this morning…I am owed some money that I gave to someone in good faith and instead of being refunded the money after I requested the money back, I’ve been lied to and dodged…I’ve owed money before…I still owe money…Ask the U.S. Department of Education! But I have tried to be honest in my dealings with creditors over the years…And as I’ve gotten more financially responsible in recent years, I’ve become even better with this…
So this morning, I am disappointed…but it’s all good…the Lord is my provider, and I trust that He will bring a resolution to this issue one way or another…But I want my $600 back! (Insert temper tantrum here LOL)…I know there are worse things to be upset about and worse things that can happen…but this is my blog and I will whine if I want to 🙂
My fiance’ thinks I need to be more tough, and he is right, I guess…How have you experienced disappointment in your life, and how have you handled it?
Editor’s Note: I originally wrote this post in 2011, but I still feel the same way today…Thank God for my beautiful mother…
Hell World,
Mom had da bomb Jheri curl back in the day…(Mom, me and my brother)
You know what it is…It’s that special day each year that is set aside to honor the women who not only gave birth us but give their lives for us if we’re lucky and blessed…I am…and so today, I must honor Alice May, my mama!
I’ve been thinking for the last few weeks what should be the focus of today’s post…Yesterday, I went to Southwest Regional Library on Cascade Road to see Atlanta’s Georgia Peach Authors which includes Dwan Abrams, Kendra Norman-Bellamy, Jean Holloway, Gail McFarland, Marisa Monteilh and Electa Rome Parks. It was the first stop on their 2011 tour. Anyway, McFarland, a romance novelist, talked about her blog named Mamaknology which is dedicated to the wise sayings that her mama told her. One of her wise sayings was, “Don’t show the best of what you have to the worst of the world.” Translation: Don’t wear a skirt so short that any and everybody can see your stuff…Wise stuff fo sho…I thought about writing a post about my own my mamaknology, but my mama doesn’t really deliver one-liners like that so I decided not to attempt to bite McFarland’s wonderful idea…
But as is the case for much of my life (and since this is a primarily a religious blog), I found inspiration within the pages of The Holy Bible…You have probably heard of the Proverbs 31 woman, the bout it bout it wife and mother who is so accomplished from her business to her home life that she must be a myth…Well, I know it’s true because it describes my mother…So indulge me as I rewrite its words, Proverbs 31: 10-31, to describe my mother…
10 A wife of noble character who can find?
Look no further than Alice May Holness. She is worth far more than the fattest platinum diamond ring. 11 Her husband, Dr. Denzil D. Holness, has full confidence in her
and has anything that a husband could ever want… 12 She brings out the best in him and supports him
all the days of her life. 13 She is an old school mama that knows how to sew and works with eager hands to make her home a sanctuary. 14 She is like the semi-trailer trucks that crisscross the nation,
bringing her food from afar from from the DeKalb Farmers Market to her network of Jamaican friends. 15 She goes to bed late and gets up early;
she provides home-cooked food for her family almost nearly every day
and has enough left over to give to her friends. 16 She has been selling Avon for decades;
out of her side hustle she provides extra money for her household. 17 She relishes working hard even though she is retired now,
her arms are strong for her tasks. 18 She knows that she is working for her family and the Lord,
and she stays up working later than anyone in her house. 19 She can sew an outfit as easily
and as she knits together her family. 20 She is always ready to give away something to somebody
and the trunk of her car is where she stores much of her impromptu inventory . 21 When it snows in Atlanta (which is rare) or the weather is just bad, she has no fear for her household; because her shelves are well stocked and she even has a kerosene lamp 22 She has clean bed linens always ready to be used;
she is clothed in her best on Sundays. 23 Dr. Holness is respected among men at church,
where he takes his seat among the deacons and other leaders at the church. 24 She volunteers in Jamaica every summer teaching children at a Vacation Bible School,
and supplies all the children with arts and crafts, clothing and other items she lovingly collects and brings from the United States. 25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come. 26 She tells it like it is so if you don’t want to hear the truth, don’t step to her. 27 She manages her household
and even takes care of her grandchildren nearly every weekend. 28 My brothers and I arise and call my mother blessed;
Dr. Holness, my father, does too, and he praises her: 29 “Many women have it going on,
but you surpass them all Mama.” 30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. 31 Give it up for Alice May because today is her day…
Any thoughts?
P.S. I love this Boyz II Men Song “A Song For Mama”…
(Editor’s Note: As Election Tuesday is coming up, I decided to repost my entry from Election Tuesday 2008. On that night in 2008, I was elated after centuries of dreams of black men and women being thwarted, one dream came true in grand fashion…If I live to be a 100 years old, I hope I never forget how I felt that night…Read and remember the joy, the elation and the wonder of it all…)
Hello World!!!
Obviously, the news of the day, maybe even the century, is that Senator Barack Obama is now President-Elect Barack Obama…I can scarcely take it in…Thankfully, I don’t expect that anyone will be calling me at 3 a.m. tonight as I am blogging away and unprepared to think about anything except for the magnitude of this moment! (Get it? Let me know.)
I, like many other Atlantans, felt the urge to usher in this historical occasion at church, specifically Ebenezer Baptist Church, the home church of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I wanted to ponder the dream and the dreamer!
So because it is late, and I actually do have to do some work tomorrow, I will attempt to share some of the memorable moments of the election prayer rally. Again, this is not a journalistic masterpiece, just some snippets that I happened to write down. (Be nice:)
Like any good service, the choir ignited the crowd by singing songs well known in the black church including, “Victory is Mine,” “This is the Day That the Lord has Made,” and “He Has Made Me Glad.” After the therapeutic praise session, Rev. Raphael G. Warnock, senior pastor of Ebenezer said to all of us, “Why of all the places we can be tonight, why would we be in church? Because we know how we got here. We’ve come this far by faith! We’ve come tonight to thank God for this moment, to thank our ancestors for this moment, to thank God for the life and memory…of Rev. Martin Luther King.” Warnock invoked the names of Fannie Lou Hamer, Schwerner, Chaney & Goodman and John Lewis. Finally, he said that we’ve gone from “Bloody Sunday to Triumphant Tuesday!”
Throughout the night, spontaneous chants of “Yes, We Can!” threatened to stop and did stop many of the speeches from the pulpit.
Rev. Al Sharpton asked Martin Luther King III and Bernice King to come to the pulpit as he spoke in an effort to “honor our mother and father so that our days will be long.” He referenced Mrs. Coretta Scott King and Dr. King as a mother and father in the Civil Rights Movement, and said their work made it possible for Obama to be judged by the content of his character rather than the color of his skin. He led the crowd in a rendition of “Amen” – you know that song when the soloist says something like “Amen. Let the church say…” And the crowd responds “Amen.” One of his verses of was “Yes, We can y’all.” Finally, he said, “We started at the outhouse and now we going to the White House.” (Let the church say, “Amen!”)
John Lewis relieved some moments from the Selma to Montgomery march, but one of those spontaneous chants interrupted him. Oh yeah, let me not forget that two humungous screen TVs were set up at the front of the church for everyone to watch the results on CNN.
Bernice King shared a now remarkable memory with the audience. She recalled a conversation she had with her mother following the Democratic National Convention at which Obama was first introduced to the country. Mrs. King told her daughter via phone, “I think we’ve got somebody.”
Bishop Eddie Long said we “wouldn’t have jack” without the Civil Rights Movement. (He was referencing the ‘palatial palace’ that is the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church campus.)
Judge Greg Mathis, who got more applause than some of the pastors, said Obama’s greatest victory in the whole change campaign was the change he inspired “in the hearts and minds of those who once oppressed us.” “We must now do our part by dropping our guns and picking up our books and joining the movement of justice.” He asked the sisters to “demand respect” from men, and he asked the men to “Stand Up, Man Up or Shut Up.” (I didn’t say it. He did.) He said that he could say that because he has street cred. If I heard him correctly, he said he was once in jail and 15 years after leaving jail, he became the youngest judge in the country.
I must have heard that song, “Never Would Have Made It,” at least three times during the night. Me and the funny man sitting next to me don’t care if we hear that song again for at least a few days, ha,ha! He would probably say longer, but I like the song actually.
Byron Cage sang “The Presence of the Lord is Here.” It was like a rock concert with black people.
Dorothy Norwood said she sang a remix of “Victory is Mine” just for Obama. Someone from the crowd yelled “REMIX” like they were Puffy (P. Diddy or Diddy or whatever he calls himself now) or something as she started to sing. Can y’all believe that Dorothy Norwood said, “Remix?” She said the new version is in stores as of today.
When CNN reporters announced that Obama won the election, I alternated between jumping up and down like I was on “The Price is Right” and falling to my knees. Consequently, I stopped taking notes.
Other dignitaries at the rally included: Dottie Peoples, Deanna Brown (daughter of James Brown), SCLC officials, Andrew Young, Rev. Joseph Lowery and Christine Farris (Dr.King’s sister). Rev. Warnock said Jennifer Holiday would be performing later in the evening, but that did not happen by the end of the rally.
America’s first black president… “my soul looks back in wonder…”
