Life You’ve thrown the yin-and-yang Of tears and laughter Of sorrow and joy Of downs and ups Of heartbreak and heart-whole Of sickness and health
Through it all you revealed to me My strength My vulnerability My resilience My truth My authenticity My bounce-back-ability
Trade, I would not, your offerings Accept, I have, your givings Prepared, I am, to live life wholeheartedly Accepting all there is to living In such a time as NOW
She recalled her dead mamma’s words: “Child, if you run from something you’ll run from everything. There are some things you gotta fight for. Some battles God fight for you and others He fights through you”. Her mamma’s words—palpable and empowering—stayed on replay till she found her fighting strength. Emboldened.
Bags packed in waiting Drunken footsteps approaching Today is goodbye
Today is pay day. The ritual has been the same. This started in May. May 15th to be exact. She remembers it, and each episode thereafter, as vivid as it was yesterday though it’s been three years, two months, one week, 14 days. Yes, she’s been keeping track of pay day ‘cause that’s when it happens. Today she stood. Today she fought. Today she left. Today the ritual ended.
Life is a fight. A good fight. We go through the extremes—the ascent of ups and the declivity of downs. Though we don’t choose what we go through in life, we can choose how we go through it and who we go through it with.
One thing fighters have is a corner—fighters get support—they don’t fight alone.
We are not meant to be alone.
So, who are you going through life with?
You need others to help you, and you need to help others.
Who is in your corner?
Your “corner” is your support system. And your support system is built on relationships.
Yes it’s a risk. Relationships are messy. They’re complicated. You could get hurt. But, you can minimize the risk by building a support system that is solid.
What does a solid support system look like? It’s one that is:
Based on the right or a common structure. What brought you together (sorority, same age kids)? Are you likeminded? Do you have common values and principles?
Formed before your crisis.
Built on honesty. Can you be vulnerable and not feel judged? Can you be you?
Centered on TRUST. Distinguish between who’s in your circle versus who’s in your corner. Can and will they keep you accountable?
Built around fellowship. How can one know how to support you or celebrate you if you don’t share? Bring your life into the light. However, be selective. With the right people you’ll find fellowship.
Your support system is a beautiful gift. Cherish it.
God is passionate about you because God is passionate about God.
OK … hold on. Before you think I’m saying God is egotistic, because that He is not, let me expound.
God knows who He is. In response to Moses’ question: “Who should I say you are?”, God responds with: “I Am”. I imagine Moses in that moment knitting his brow with that “Uh!?” expression, and God retorting emphatically with: “I Am that I Am”! (Exodus 3:14, KJV)
God is the I Am. But what does that mean?
God knows He is God and that besides Him there is no other. God is in a class by Himself.
Intrinsic to who and what God is as God—and that nobody else is—is His name. That is, embodied in His name is His infinite greatness, His infinite perfection, His infinite worth. And He’s fiercely protective of His name because of what is in His name.
What’s in His name? Everything!
In the name of God the sick find healing and the lame get to walking; the dead come alive and the living live to thrive; blinded eyes are made to see and demons have gotta flee; boisterous waves find calm and troubled souls find balm. In the name of God the weak are made strong and it covers all our wrongs.
God bestows His name, that powerful name, on you—God knows your name! And not just your name but your SURNAME!! He knows it because He Himself surnamed you.
In other words, God has given us His family-name—how intimate is that?! But more than intimate is the inconceivable gift that in surnaming us God has given us His identity and with that comes authority.
Now here’s the clincher: God lavishes His surname/identity on you, even if you do not know Him. He says:
I call you by your name, I surname you, though you do not know me.
God is passionate about YOU. God sees YOU. God knows YOU. God surnames you DAUGHTER. God surnames you SON. You are His. You are highly prized. You are cherished. You are loved. You are wanted. You are worthy. And, you are enough.
Now the question is: Do you know whose you are and who you are?
Not who you are by your birth-certificate name, but whose you are by your intrinsic name. With the same confidence that God knows His name and who He is, He wants you to know your name and who you are.
I will give you a good name, a name of distinction…. I, the Lord, have spoken!
Decor doesn’t have to be extravagant or gaudy to make a statement. Here’san abstemious tip to add a bit of flair to your interior decor:
Why just stack your books on a coffee table or the bookshelf?
Add a glass pot with succulent plants (a terrarium) OR add a piece like this mother and child over-ledge figurine and voila … you’ll transform the look and step up your decor!
After-word: LOVE, a denizen of the heart, is a powerful emotion! In the early stages it’s like all rational thoughts are hijacked, isn’t it?!It’s no coincidence it’s referred to as falling—it’s euphoric.
This post is influenced by this image for the “What do you see” challenge hosted by Sadje; and for Sheryl’s Your Daily Word prompt, today’s word is portend [Photo credit: Tumisu @Pixabay]
“Wickedest city on earth”, so was called the Port
Port Royal, on the Palisadoes a mere 15 miles from the center of Kingston, Jamaica
Jamaica, where back in the 17th century t’was home to the real pirates of the Caribbean—a haven
Haven to a den of buccaneers, privateers, slavers and prostitutes
Prostitutes who flavored brothels, taverns, and drinking halls
Halls of debauchery frequented by the biggest names from the age of piracy, including Calico
Calico Jack, when the black cat crossed his path knew it portended a disaster which later unfolded that fateful day in June
June 7, 1692 to be exact
Exact at 11:43 a.m. (so told by time frozen on a watch), that the earth would quake
Quake at a 7.5 magnitude
Magnitude-measured disaster so horrible, many said it was God’s
God’s hand of vengeance
Vengeance on a wicked city
City of folly, for it had been built on sand
Sand foundations that liquefied when the quake shook
Shook the earth so vehemently it sucked whole buildings, roads and people straight into the ground
Ground sucked down to the bottom of the sea
Sea that in turn churned up a tsunami
Tsunami that crashed over walls—33 acres of the city disappeared
Disappeared beneath the sea—taking 2,000 souls, and later another 3,000 perished from the population
Population of a city that had been cut in half, some say through retribution
Retribution? I do not know but 5,000 souls— transformed to letters
After-word:Port Royal—often considered the Pompeii of the sea—was designated a UNESCO Heritage Site in 1999. Today, it’s a small coastal village and bears no resemblance to the city of sin it once had been. It is hoped that a revitalization of the ruins will inspire eco-tourism and an increase in the small city’s revenue — perhaps restoring it to the wealthy glory it once knew in the 17th-century.
Thank you for journeying along on this historical recount, told through loop poetry, of my paradise home—Jamaica.
There she was—perched precariously, as squirrels often do. She was maneuvering her way across a black unevenly-spiked fence in a quaint little garden off the Brooklyn promenade.
She’s poised. Graceful in her moves. Tail elongated she floats about with seamless acrobatics atop this fence.
I stayed a non-threatening distance away to capture as much of the action without scaring her and forcing a retreat into the protective layers of the tree’s plush foliage. So, with my trusty iPhone I zoom in for a shot that will appear as though I’m in close proximity to this cute little creature of the wild.
She seemed content with me in her space and so I moved in, slow step by slow step. Camera still aimed directly at her. And that’s when she did it …
… she nestled herself between two spikes at the fence’s apex; wrapped her tail around the central/biggest spike while settling her hind legs on the narrow bar of the fence; she then raised up on her hind legs, lifted her front legs even higher and gently placed her paws inches off the rail. Once in position she stared directly into the lens with a confident and proud demeanor as if to say, “I’m all that and I’m ready for my shot”.
I was ready. Click. Got it!
Others walking by who saw this 10-seconds exhibition unfolding—which felt more like a full-length fashion shoot—joined in my exclamations of pure joy.
I have a feeling she’s done this before! Don’t you?!
This was such a splendiferous nature experience. It gave me a heart smile. Let’s be kinder to Mother Nature. She apportions her joys equally to all. Let’s appreciate her more, be gentle with her offerings for she totally rocks!!
Sabbath and tithing are two biblical principles. Both appear paradoxical or self-contradictory on the surface. And, both are associated with blessings.
Paradoxical and a blessing? How? Both are based on you giving up a portion of what you have a finite amount of on the basis of faith in a God who will bless you abundantly above what you had before you gave.
There’s no mystical hocus-pocus here. Rather, it’s one of the great paradoxes and a guiding principle in the economy of God: If you try to hold on to all of your resources, you may not have enough. When you give some of what you have over to God, you invariable end up with more than you need.
Let me give a personal take on this. When I don’t seem to have enough hours in the week and yet I set aside the Sabbath day for rest and worship, I’m still able to accomplish the tasks at hand. It’s not that more hours are added to my week, obviously not. But by virtue of deciding to honor the Sabbath—in spite of the heavy demands on my time—I’m saying to God: I’m honoring You and giving You rulership/Lordship over my time. Much the way I do with my money.
As a result, my perspective and priorities change. A rested mind generates better ideas. But more importantly, I make decisions on how to manage my time on the wisdom of God instead of being driven and informed by the stressful circumstances of life.
Tithing is the principle of setting aside a specific amount of our increase for a specific purpose. Celebrating Sabbath is an opportunity to make a conventional offering to the Lord—the offering of the most precious resource that we have in life—time.
Shabbat Shalom. May you find the blessings in setting aside/tithing a portion (24 hours) of your week-time in Sabbath rest and worship.
Delilah exhaled in exacerbation. Exhausted, and left with no more words of defense, she stomped out angrily into the court yard.
Pacing aimlessly back and forth, muttering to herself:
“How can they say these things about me?”
“I did this for my people!”
Caught up in ruminating, Delilah didn’t see the crowd growing about her in the courtyard. Her inner castigating jolted to a halt when Martha, who was always jealous of her relationship with Samson, screamed vehemently at her:
“You did this to him! You evil, conniving little witch!”
Delilah felt the extremity of Martha’s hatred and disgust.
“Out with his eyes! Out with his eyes!”
Turning in the direction of the angry mob, Delilah dashed back into the inner court, forcing her way through the crowd that had thickened around Samson. She got to Samson just as the soldier who had given her the small red drawstring purse with 30 pieces of silver, extracted his second eye.
Blinded by loyalty over love, she had blinded the man of her affections. There was no way to redeem herself from this deception. Martha was right to bring this calumny against her.
He didn’t change She fell in love With the him he wanted her to see To steal what she would not give an imposter Egregious mistake unmasked Her love knows not this man she sees
Sheryl hosts Your Daily Word Prompt. Today’s word is egregious. I published this piece in my 1st week as a blogger (Oct 4) but bringing it back because it fits so well for today’s prompt.
A collection of writing by Dominic Riccitello — intimate conversations, personal essays, and poetic reflections on relationships, loss, and self-discovery.
Poems & More 