Global warming is the #1 environmental problem today, but everyone can effectively fight it by offsetting the greenhouse gas emissions they are responsible for, essentially erasing their carbon footprint and ‘undoing’ the damage.
-- DrivingGreen.com

Glaciers are receding and ice shelves are breaking off into the sea. Sea levels, rising and getting warmer, are flooding coastal communities, killing marine life, and producing catastrophic storms that cause sizable damage, loss of life, and rampant homelessness. A third of our country is experiencing drought; another third is flooded; and the last third is on fire. All of this is causing crop failures and some of us are starving. Much of our energy comes from fossil fuels – coal, oil, and natural gas that formed underground from the remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago. But they release heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. This, coupled with the carbon dioxide that the 6,000,000,000 of us around the world release daily, is causing global warming, and it is this warming that breaks the glaciers and causes the errant weather conditions.

Perhaps that’s why we’re visiting other planets. Ours is becoming extinct.

Maybe humans did so much damage to some other planet millions of years ago that we had to explore earth and move here before we burned up or used up all its resources. Hmmm...

So what can we really do to save ourselves and the planet from what some call a natural and inevitable occurrence?

We can all ride bicycles, live in solar houses, raise our own food and cattle, and have no more children.

Okay, realistically, there’re a lot of simpler and more practical things we can do to preserve the earth we’ve got, and if each of us does these things, we can reduce the greenhouse gas emissions, the stuff that clogs up the air and makes it warmer, by a large percentage.

First of all, we can keep our mouths shut more often. The more we talk the more energy we expend into the universe. Think about all the hot air you spread each day... Okay, that may not be a documented way to decrease gas emissions, but, less talk gives you more time to listen, and listening increases thinking, thinking you can do to take seriously the issue of global warming and formulate solid plans to reduce it. So, shut your mouth.

Next time you brush your teeth, turn the water off, you’ll save gallons of water. Or, better yet, brush your teeth in the shower as you shower which, by the way, uses less water than taking a bath. Kill two birds with one stone. Speaking of birds, don’t kill any real ones; they eat moths and flies, the flies that land on your food that was expensive because of the drought and flooding.

When you wash, either the clothes or the dishes, make sure you’ve got a full load in the washing machine and dishwasher; open the fridge only after you’ve decided what you want to eat, not while you decide; and turn off your lights and unplug your appliances when they’re not in use. Those are simple.

Use compact fluorescent lights instead of standard bulbs in your lamps. They use two-thirds the energy and last 10 times longer; lower your water thermostat to 120 degrees; over the course of a year, it’ll save you nearly 10% on your heating and cooling bill; and when the grocer asks you if you want paper or plastic, tell him, “Neither. I brought my own jute bags because paper kills trees and plastic takes 100 years to biodegrade.” Okay you don’t have to say all that, but just take your own bags.

When you drink bottled water, you’re not only increasing the crude oil consumption it takes to make the bottles, you’re wasting the hard earned money you pay each month to your local municipal water service whose responsibility it is to keep your tap water fresh and safe for you to drink. If you don’t trust that water, challenge your water company.

Plant a seed-bearing tree each year so that all that carbon dioxide you’re breathing out can be converted into breathable oxygen. The tree roots help hold soil in place to prevent flooding and the leaves and branches provide food and shelter for numerous creatures that are vital to the earth’s ecosystem. And keep the pesticides out of your garden so it won’t kill off the dragonflies who eat up all the mosquitos!

And speaking of trees, all the junk mail you receive everyday could heat a small country. Visit the privacy rights clearinghouse at http://www.privacyrights.org to stop junk mail. You don’t read it anyway.

Drink organic or fair trade coffee which supports small farms that don’t use chemicals. Buy, or grow, organic flowers. Don’t use Styrofoam or plastic forks and spoons. Keep your tires full; this reduces gas mileage by 3%. Use ceiling fans to circulate the air in your home. Use a dark screensaver on your computer; it uses less of your monitor’s energy. Use appliances with the energy star label; sometimes you can get a tax break for this. Carpool; you’ll get to use the HOV lane.

Since most of us don’t want to stop having children (or raise cattle in our backyards), and the children we have deserve a chance to live on earth, we must each be responsible for reducing what’s causing earth’s extinction. Every little bit of pollution and energy consumption hurts; every little thing we can do to stop polluting and save energy helps. Do your part and encourage somebody else to do the same.

Sadiqqa © 2007

A stumble is not a fall.
-- Haitian proverb

... unless you don’t get up.
You’re down to your last 8 pills and you’ve got another day before the UPS truck delivers your next supply. Why didn’t you place your online order earlier? You feel yourself getting anxious, knowing that even one of those pills would knock that edge off quickly, but you know you must space the pills out so you won’t run out. You pop two anyway then realize that in order to get through the day, you have no choice but to pull out the telephone book and prepare to “doctor shop.” You mark through the name of the last orthopedist you called to talk into an ample supply of the little pills, the one who didn’t require an examination, need your medical records, or recommend you be under medical supervision. You feel your edge subside as you dial the number of the doctor whose name is where your finger landed. “Yes, good morning. My name is ...”

... unless you don’t look at what you stumbled over.
As you listen to the muzak while you wait for the doctor, you think back on when you started taking the pills. You took a bad fall at work, spraining your ankle so badly, you wore a brace for months. The pain is gone now, but the feeling of calm and ease you felt after taking a pill caused your mind and body to depend on that feeling and crave it when it was absent. Now you pop a pill or two whenever you feel any anxiety coming your way, and, boy, do you have some stuff that worries you! From “black tax” job pressures and raising defiant children to unresolved personal issues that need the care of a professional therapist, you are tapped out and in need of something in order to cover and cope. But you don’t consider yourself a drug addict, don’t they have sunken faces and live on the street? You’re fully functioning with a job and an intact family. You can control this at any time and can certainly go cold turkey any time you want to. This you think as you wait for the doctor to come on the line while you hum along to a string, flute, and harmonica version of Barry Manilow’s “Can’t Live Without You.”

... unless you don’t move what caused you stumble.
A third song has played and you’re still waiting for the doctor to pick up the line. Now really, you think, you are functioning pretty well despite all the stuff you deal with on the daily. You manage 3 departments and make very decent money. Despite their constant rebelliousness, your kids, well, they are teenagers and isn’t that just what teenagers do? And you’ve certainly got enough money to hire the best psychoanalyst to help you get through all that bothers you. So, why are you sitting on the phone waiting for a doctor you don’t even know to write you a prescription for the painkillers? You don’t even know if he’ll even write you a prescription without all the hassle of an exam. And really, how functional can you be if you have to depend on a little white pill to get you from one hour to the next? Why are you masking what you’re really feeling? Oh yeah, that’s right, it’s too much to deal with. But at some point, aren’t you going to have to deal with it? You either have to deal with it or remain hostage to it and continue to play this game with doctors and yourself. And, if that little pill can alter how you’re feeling, imagine what’s it’s changing in your body; you could actually be changing the composition of your body and mind, impairing yourself in ways that are irreversible. If that’s happening, you really aren’t functioning, you’re about to fall apart. And if you fall apart, what then? Or, maybe you already fell apart and the pills are the only thing keeping you together. Okay, maybe you are addicted, you think, maybe you are a drug addict, and perhaps this is the wrong call to be making. You hang up just as the doctor picks up the line and thumb through the telephone book to NA, but not before flushing the last 6 pills into the toilet. You know that the rest of the day will be difficult without your crutch, and even imagine yourself lying in a ball, curled up and sweating, fiending for your little pills. And you know that when the delivery guy brings your supply tomorrow, you’ll be tempted to simply sign for it, take 2 more, then act as though nothing is wrong. At this moment, you pray that God gives you the strength to get through the day, refuse the package, and reclaim health and healing. You dial the number. “Yes, good morning. My name is ...”

Sadiqqa © 2007

The bumblebee’s wings are so thin and its body so big, it should not be able to fly. The only problem is the bee doesn’t know that.
-- David Lindsey

What is it that you didn’t know you couldn’t do until somebody told you that you couldn’t? Did somebody tell you that you couldn’t sing so you even stopped singing around the house? Did they say you couldn’t dance so you don’t even “Electric Slide,” “Macarena,” “Cha Cha Slide,” or “Cupid Shuffle” when the songs are played? You won’t even do the “YMCA” or “Lean Wit’ It, Rock Wit’ It.” Even the Teletubbies can do that dance, or something like it at least (go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziVhm4SKpIw).

Did somebody say your idea or invention wouldn’t work so you chucked it and all the hard work you’d put into it only to turn on the television last night to see the same smart invention – advertised by its slick-haired, deeply-tanned, laid-back creator, who’s, by the way, sitting on his house boat off the warm and sandy shores of Florida – on sale for 5 easy installments of 79.95 each plus shipping and handling? Looks like it did work.

Did somebody tell you that because you’re a female, you couldn’t work in a male-dominated field like fire fighting, repair and construction work, or auto mechanics, even though you were interested in and/or good at those jobs, and now, doing the job you do, you earn an average 20% less than a man who does the same job as you? Did they say you had to be a teacher or nurse because those jobs were stable and secure and something you could always fall back on if you didn’t make it in sales, accounting, engineering, or Hollywood? You don’t even like kids and you definitely can’t stomach blood or bed pans.

Did they say because you’re male, you can’t cry or show any emotions – other than anger – because only girls do that and you’ll look like a sissy or biatch? So instead you keep your feelings inside or express them in a way that’s hurtful and unhealthy? And did the same people tell you that you must be the one in the household who works outside the home each day instead of encouraging your choice to stay at home to care for the kids and household business and so now you barely know your kids and have no idea where all the money you make goes?

Bet somebody told you that if you didn’t meet your mate in college, you would never be married. Maybe that’s why you kept taking college classes, you hoped to find somebody. Do those same people bug you now about your marital status (“you’re going to be an old maid”), tell you they hear your baby clock ticking (“if you wait too long to have a baby, it’ll have chromosome problems”), and introduce you to any Tom, Dick, LaQuida or Harriet just because your single status makes them believe you’ll be alone? Does your fear of it all make you put yourself out there to receive whatever comes your way?

If they hadn’t said you couldn’t do it or be it, and you didn’t buy in to what they said, would you be happier? Further along in your career? Have a different career? Would you be in a different place, at a different point on your life path?

There’ll always be people who will tell you why you can’t do something, why something isn’t a good idea, that something is too dangerous or cost too much, and, if you give these naysayers any energy at all, you’re doomed to defer or deny our dreams and ambitions.

An alternative answer - keep your dreams and ideas to yourself until you know how they will work and what you have to do to make them work, or, at least until you come across others who support and encourage you in your efforts. Surround yourself with enough optimistic, perceptive, and objective thinkers who can buttress the many spoilsports waiting to bring you down to the bottom of the barrel; the problem with getting to the top is getting past the people at the bottom. Never let anyone tell you that you can’t go where your dreams take you.

If you’ve done that at any time in your life, about any thing, go get your dream back.

Sadiqqa © 2007

We are here, charged with the task of completing (one might say creating) ourselves.
-- William Cook

At each new bend on your life’s path, sometimes you have to refine or remake who you are. When you took your first corporate job, the one you’d been preparing yourself for by studying your field, you had to fit your dashiki-wearing Self into a standard navy blue suit and give the “power to the people” to every client that came before you. You had to convince and remind yourself that you weren’t selling out, that you were making a living so that you could support yourself and your family, and contribute to the well-being of your community. You didn’t have to let go of what you valued or become somebody different; you just had to search yourself and stretch yourself so that the acceptance of differences and the responsibility to inclusion could become your new maxims and standard. Now, you’ve progressed up the ladder, gained some genuine friends and favor, and last Christmas, you actually wore your dashiki to the office party.

After your divorce, you had to figure out how to navigate alone through the bills, the kids, and the memories. And while the bills eventually got paid and the kids effortlessly survived the break-up, you’re often stuck with the memories of when the marriage was good and the woulda, coulda, shouldas that’ll never be. But on the other side of it, you’ve found the opportunity to try new things; to revisit and capture again the person you were before you married or the one you were during those first few years of marriage; and to create happiness for your Self and make choices that affirm and sustain the happiness you’ve found. Even better, you have the opportunity to create a whole new batch of exciting memories about anything in the world you’d like. Sometimes the old stuff makes you take a long look at yourself so that you can continue your path toward satisfaction and completion.

And perhaps your path has been littered with trash, debris, dead bodies, and self-defeating behavior and thinking, and for a long time, you’ve made it a habit to just step over and around all that garbage and allow it to cover the path you’re walking. But what about clearing it up instead, piece by dirty piece? What about examining each thought, behavior, person, and thing to determine its use and worth and discarding that which no longer works, killing its hold on your life, then looking at your Self and your path without the debilitating stuff there to interfere or block your tasks of self-definition, self-improvement, and evolvement?

Or, what about excavating a new road that totally disregards the path you were on, scraping it completely to make room for new life that will lead to the opportunities and victories promised?

Be clear about who you are and where you are; you may have to repeatedly remind your Self of these things whether that means starting from where you and working with what you’ve got, or creating a new Self and station that encompass the before, now, and tomorrow to come. Whatever you’re doing throughout your lifetime, you’re always doing it, the recreating is always happening, and wherever you are today may look, be, and feel different from next year when you evaluate and move toward self-completion.

Sadiqqa © 2007

If there is a day you have eaten until you were full; if there is a time of joy you can recall; if you have escaped even once the clutches of death; if you can remember one or all of the above, then you have something to be grateful for.
-- Author Unknown

You woke up this morning, placed your feet on the floor, and walked. The air in your home was cool and comfortable and there was water coming from your faucets. Your put on clean clothes, a little snug here and there, but you marveled that you have enough meat on you to cover your bones.

You ate a small breakfast and drank a cup of your favorite beverage before locking the door and getting in your car. You needed a little gas and found a few dollars in the glove compartment to cover that cost. You drove in to work, took your place at your desk, took on the tasks of your in-box and to-do lists, and dug in for another day of work. It all felt very predictable and customary, but at least you’re felt you were contributing something. (Whether this something is what you wanted to contribute is a muse for another day.)

You did a little banking on your break, praying you’d beat the house payment to the bank (this too shall pass, you supposed; it always does). You had a little change in your pocket for lunch and ate something very tasty and filling. You talked with friends and co-workers, had multiple afternoon meetings, and completed several items on your lists. You wrapped up your work, got back in your car, pressed play on the CD playing in your car’s player, and drove home.

At home, you relaxed in your favorite chair, listened to and laughed with your family and/or friends as they talked about their day, ate a nutritious dinner, then prepared for another day. As you climbed into bed, you reflected on how pleasant and easy your day was and you thank God for making it so. You know that everyday isn’t so easy, but today, this day, which is the only one you have at this moment, was nice and you’re grateful to be alive to have experienced it. Tomorrow may be a different kind of day but you’ll take it as it comes and thank God for its storms and victories. You wrap yourself inside your warm covers and kiss the day farewell.

Sadiqqa © 2007

We have no simple problems or easy decisions after kindergarten.
-- John W. Turk

The days of Kindergarten, so far behind us, were fun days. For some of us, Kindergarten was a three–hour or half-day experience; for others of us, Kindergarten lasted 6 full hours and was chocked full of everything you ever needed to know about being a human being. And then, there may be some of us who did not have a formal setting to introduce us to the wide world of social interaction and academics; 1st grade was the beginning. These days, a full day of Kindergarten is compulsory and begins the long road toward helping people become successful and contributing citizens.

Kindergarten is one of the first places children learn to communicate, play, and interact with others appropriately, and its focus is on the development of the whole child. Children learn the alphabet and numbers in the context of their everyday experiences; they explore the natural world of plants, animals, and communities locally and worldwide. They learn and play in water and sand tables, building block and puzzle centers, computer and technology centers, home living and dress-up areas, reading and math manipulative centers, and drawing tables. The classroom is decorated with the kid’s artwork and writing; they play outside every day, interact with their friends and other children on a daily basis, listen to great stories, get a snack, and, in some cases, take a nap after lunch. Kindergarten students get lots of hugs, and their teachers encourage the growth of their self-esteem, cultural identities, and their independence and individual strengths. Kindergarten is the place where a kid grows physically, emotionally, and intellectually. Children are happy and parents feel safe sending their kids to kindergarten.

What a great experience!

After that, if you didn’t learn it or get it in Kindergarten, you’re pretty much handicapped as you progress through the rest of your life. It doesn’t get any easier and it’s hard to catch up.

That’s saying a lot about Kindergarten, huh? But think about it. Kindergarten was where you learned and practiced most of your manners. You learned to say and said “thank you” to a compliment or gesture, whether it was sincere or not. You practiced the basics about being a good friend and a good person, asking instead of just taking, taking turns, sharing and respecting what belonged to others. You learned to take care of your own things (pencils, clothing, papers, and books) and you kept the rules for you were afraid of the consequences of breaking them. In Kindergarten, you were brutally honest, had lots of energy, and had a pure and patriotic heart.

Moreover, mastering alphabet sounds (or phonics) and vocabulary (or spelling words) helped you learn how to read fluently and with comprehension so that you could ultimately read your college textbooks, technical journals, job description, and contents of your inbox. You learned to recognize and value pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters so that you could later save them and put them to good use. You learned to map so you wouldn’t get lost and identify the jobs people do so you could begin to think about how you wanted to spend your working life. You learned the difference between basic needs (food, clothing, and shelter) and wants (luxuries); the importance of conserving water and energy; and to conduct basic experiments and ask questions about what you observed. And you learned how to be away from your mama without anxiety. Learning these foundational skills in Kindergarten, the basic stuff you build on, makes life a little easier to navigate.

Yeah, we all learned and progressed at different rates, and some of us even struggled with learning disabilities and other deficiencies while in school (and even now). But Kindergarten was the start and, again, what you didn’t get there was harder to come by and master later.

Now, granted, life does get messy, and it has a way of blocking out some of the things you learned in Kindergarten. It’s hard to remember the basic social skills of listening and waiting patiently for your turn to talk when your partner is accusing you of wrongdoing and thinking or your boss is in your face once again. We forget about accepting and valuing differences when we watch or experience cultural, religious, gender, economic, age, and sexual orientation clashes. Sometimes our skills of self-control go out the window when we are tempted by and act upon our desires; and we forget that other people have feelings as we tell them where to go and where to put it after they do something we believe is stupid, inappropriate, or against us. Life gets tough and we forget where we started.

The lessons we learned in Kindergarten or preschool may seem very basic. But isn’t it the basic stuff that keeps you functioning and in tuned with the world? Perhaps revisiting the simple life of Kindergarten would make our lives better off. Certainly it can’t hurt to go back.

Sadiqqa © 2007

There will come a day -- it is not far off now -- when you wake in the morning and know you were meant to be happy and that you want it more than you want things... all the things that fasten you... It is you who hold the power to change. And whatever it is that holds you, whatever it is you think you can’t live without, the time has come to open your hands and let it go... If you fear it will never be possible, think of Harriet who traveled alone the first time, who finally freed 300 hundred people, but first had to free herself.
-- Becky Birtha, “Poem for Flight”

The place smelled of staleness and mold. Everywhere the eye could see was covered in trash, clutter, and useless items, and although mid-morning, not a speck of light shone through the grim and sour room.

He hadn’t been out in days. It seemed he’d been unconscious, comatose. He couldn’t recall the day or when he’d eaten last, though he wasn’t hungry. Perhaps it was the smell in his place that didn’t stir his appetite. Today was the first time he’d smelled the stench of his two-room domicile.

He knew, though, he was jobless, having stormed out of his job because the boss, or “the man,” refused to pay him for a day’s work although he showed up at the job site late. He knew he had no one to turn to because he was estranged from his family and really didn’t know where they were. He knew he was angry.

His life hadn’t been a cup of tea. He grew up in severe poverty, suffered abuse, incest, and rape, was the butt of a community’s color complex, and cried daily over a mother whose persistent drunkenness led her to the grave, a death so early she had no time to show her one and only son how to love or be loved. He lived with shame, guilt, and anger for even having made it this far, which, in his mind, wasn’t very far at all. Oh how he hurt, and the more he hurt, the angrier he got.

But he could no longer hide behind his anger. It’d gotten him no where, no where but a stint in the state penitentiary, a bullet that still lingered near his spleen, and more kids than he had fingers and toes to count. Hiding behind his anger was costing him his life.

As he lifted himself from his worn, squeaky, twin-sized bed, wiping the crust from his eyes and massaging the sore, sluggish muscles throughout his body, he noticed a torn piece of paper on the floor underneath his work boots. Why he noticed this piece of paper was a mystery to him for there were many pieces of paper spread throughout his disheveled and odor-filled room. But it seemed that the small piece of paper was somehow illuminated and called out to him for retrieval. Slowly rising from his bed, he bent to pick up the paper. On it was one word, “peace,” and he remembered it had been given to him by the man that lives on the corner just below the stairwell behind the garbage cans. The man had placed the paper in his hand as he’d passed him three days earlier.

He turned that paper over and over again in his hand and thought about what it meant. Being a smarter than average man, he could think of many synonyms for the word “peace.” “Calm,” “freedom from strife,” “truce,” “serenity,” “harmony,” “untroubled,” “silence,” even “soft,” “humble,” and “dead.” “Humph,” he said as he thought dead is what he felt as he reflected on his life then crumpled up the little piece of paper and threw it back on the floor.

But he thought about the man who’d given him the piece of paper, a small and deprived man who had even less than he did. He’d often seen the guy rummaging through trash and begging passersby for change; he’d even thrown him a couple of dollars one time or another. The man walked with a limp and a stick. He talked to himself and carried on wild and vivid conversations with some unknown person only he could see. The man wore a brown tattered coat even in the heat of summer and his shoes, if you could call them that, had paper-thin soles and appeared to both be for the left foot. The man’s hollow face was ashen, pocked, and disfigured from the scars of a war fought and not won. He lived in a box, smelled of urine, and was considered an eyesore, a nuisance, and a nobody to each person who passed. What in the hell could this man possibly know about peace?

But, then, who was he to judge given his current state of mind and affairs?

He walked over to the sink, turned on the leaky faucet, and washed his face in the rusty water. He looked at his reflection in the hazy mirror, glowered at the deep lines on his forehead and around his mouth, and it dawned on him that perhaps peace is found when you give up the notions of entitlement and demanding that life treat you fairly simply because you live and breathe. Perhaps when you accept that though every person is flawed and operates under a mix of filters, perspectives, and other forms of preservation, he or she is ultimately trying to reach the same place of freedom and happiness that you are, and mistakes and misunderstandings are bound to happen, supposed to happen. Just maybe, he thought, if he gave up feeling that he should be exempt from the pains he suffered, he could move past their ghosts and the consequent anger and then happiness, or at least something similar, would surface. It was at that moment that he wanted nothing more than to know the feelings of peace and happiness. But how and where was he supposed to start?

He thinks of calling his former job and asking whether they’d forget his rage of a week ago and let him come back. Or maybe he’d just look for a new job. Perhaps he’d clean up his place, empty the weeks-old trash, and let a little light in. Maybe he’d call his father and kids just to say “hello.” While these seemed like good ideas, he thought they were a bit ambitious and would take more strength than he had right now. But he had an even better idea: he’d visit the man on the corner. Maybe he could tell him where to start.

When he got to the corner, he found a cardboard box, a few empty liquor bottles and cans, but no man. He looked around, thinking he couldn’t be that far away but instead saw a deserted street with only a few cars and plenty of boarded up buildings. He walked along the street until he came to a stoop where he sat and began thinking long and hard about himself. In order to find peace and happiness, he thought, he needed to first forgive himself for being angry, for being angry about being angry. He needed to forgive himself for allowing the anger to kill his spirit and squash his life. He needed to face the pain and fear beneath the anger, bit by bit, unraveling it to find the parts of himself that he lost at each stab. He needed to find some love for himself so that he could reconcile and reconnect with himself and the world around him before he found himself engulfed in eternal darkness.

As he continued his thoughts, wiping away years of tears, he noticed a shadow over him. Looking up he found the little man standing before him. He searched the man’s face, waiting for him to speak, waiting for something profound from this man who lives so simply it’s considered a societal ill, waiting for him to explain his lot and the circumstances that led him to the corner, waiting for him to give him the answer he so desperately needs. But the man simply says to him, “peace” and walks on.

Watching the man limp away, he repeats the mantra to himself. “Peace.” “Peace.” He continued to speak the word softly as he stood and walked back to his address.

Today will be his new beginning. Today he will start the tedious chore of sorting out the pain, fears, and frustrations so that he can have peace and ultimately happiness. Today, though it’s like any other day with its regular sunup and sundown, he has made the choice to be happy.

Sadiqqa © 2007

God said, “Come to the edge.” They said, “No, we’re afraid we’ll fall.” “Come to the edge,” God said. “No, we’re afraid we’ll fall.” “Come to the edge,” God said again. They came. God pushed them. They flew.
-- Guillaume Appollinare

Ah, they flew. But what if you didn’t fly?

The mountain was a tall one. At the very top, there you stand, perched high above any other thing, looking for a way to get off this mountain.

You’ve been to this mountain’s cliff before. Remember it? This is the same cliff where the edge is named “almost did it.” This is the cliff, if you’ll remember, where you stopped short of taking that final step out of fear that you’d fail – or is this the one where you were afraid you’d succeed? This is the edge where you became frustrated and thus lost your focus which left you incapable of ever deciding what to do about the edge. This is the edge in which your distractions made a groove deep enough for you get caught in, and now you’re having trouble reaching the top of that gulch so you can keep moving toward and beyond the edge of the cliff.

You’re being beckoned to the edge, and really, you have no choice but to go. You can’t stay on this mountain; its resources are low and it’s draining you of your own. You must get off that mountain by going to its edge and taking a step.

At the edge, you feel yearnings, urgings, and promptings strong enough to make you move. So, with hope in your heart and a silent prayer on your lips, you step out off the edge.

And you fall! Quickly and unpleasantly!

But during the fall, you’re able to grab hold of a branch jutting from the side of the mountain, one strong enough to hold you up, allowing you to get a good view of where you fell from and the distance you traveled to get to this branch. You rest there for a while gathering strength and formulating a plan to safely get off this mountain from where you are. Though a devastating fall, you realize you made it over the edge and want to continue this trek with as much of your slightly bruised confidence still intact. When the branch begins to give way, you realize you’ve reflected and licked your wounds too long and crafting a plan must come quickly.

You look to your right and notice there’s another smaller cliff of opportunity if you could just make it there. Using the weary branch to steady you, you’re able to scale the side of the mountain, placing your feet solidly on rocks that protrude from the mountain. You easily make it to the cliff, scout your situation, take time to regroup, and think on a plan to keep moving off from the mountain.

But before you can set your plan in stone, it rains and your safe cliff starts to erode, giving you only days and hours to move before your small cliff is gone.

As the cliff wears away, you notice just below there is a cave and as it gets dark and continues to rain, you climb down jutting rocks to the cavern and are thankful for a shelter in which to get rest so can rejuvenate for the trek ahead.

When you wake again, you realize you’re not alone and the company you’re keeping is not only angry that you’re in its space, but it’s furious that you seem to have the wherewithal to move along when you want to. Not wanting to overstay your welcome, you quickly leave the cave and spot a huge boulder sitting on what appears to be a path that has a bit of a decline. Wondering why the rock hasn’t already moved down the hill of the mountain, you push it and it slides a little. Thinking this is your moment of opportunity, you hop on top of the rock and it starts a slow skid down the hill.

As you slide comfortably along the side of the mountain, the rock begins to pick up speed, and before you can stop it, the rock comes haltingly to the end of the trail, throwing you into the side of the mountain, sandwiching you, and leaving you little room to breathe. Now you’re caught between a rock and a hard place!

As time goes on, you’re able to push the rock off and regain your composure though you’re a might disjointed now because of the pressure from the rock. You look up again to see from where you’ve come and you notice a rope hanging from the side of the cliff where you started. (Funny, you don’t remember leaving a rope behind.) Trying to figure out how the rope got there, what it’s tied to, and where it leads, you notice the company you kept earlier is creeping up on you and, this time, you see hunger and demise in its eyes. No longer are you simply considering the origin or ending of the rope, you grab hold and travel it downward as far as it’ll take you.

To your surprise, the rope is sturdy and secure. It even seems to be steadily, yet smoothly, lowering itself.

The rope ends at a clearing rich with mountainous trees and flowers and a flowing spring of turquoise colored water. You drink from it, see your ragged reflection, then wonder where this flowing water came from and begins. As you follow the river, you notice a small raft with the initials G.G. on it. Thinking there must be someone else around you wait for their return hoping they’d steer you to your final destination. Days, months, and years later, that someone never comes. But the boat with the G.G. is still there. You decide to get in the boat and follow the river, planning to get where you needed to be then later returning the boat to its original place.

You navigate the small craft and it takes you to another side of the mountain where you find a team of fishermen loading their fish. You make friends with them, break bread with them, and tell them your needs. They offer to take you a few miles toward your destination and tell you the rest is up to you for they aren’t going your way and here’s where you must find your own way.

You’ve come so far, but you’re still not completely off the mountain. In the quiet of the moment, you pray and listen for guidance in the wind. You suddenly notice the same rope that saved you before blowing softly in the wind. You grab hold of it, believing wholeheartedly in its strength and ability to carry you away from confusion, danger, despair, and anything else you start to feel as you make your way down this mountain.

This time the rope carries you far way from the mountain and you see just how big the thing is. You become both incredulous and terrified about where you’ve been and even what lies ahead, and as you do, the rope becomes hot, burning your hands, causing you to let go, causing you to fall.

While watching the hard ground get closer and closer, you think this can’t be your destiny. You can’t have travailed a mountain to now just hit the ground and die. You pray, you think of what saved you before now, you think of the things you learned along the way, you think of how you relied on many things but the one true thing driving it all was God’s grace – or G.G. for short. Just as you close your eyes to accept your impending doom, an oak tree in full bloom comes out of nowhere and breaks your fall.

You climb down the tree, touch ground, dust yourself off, and look up again to see from where you came. As you look up, you see a cloud in the shape of a dove. Or is that a hand? Whichever it is, you fall prostrate in praise and muse on the fact that had you flown, you would have gotten here quicker. But, you think, you wouldn’t have conquered that mountain.

Sadiqqa © 2007

We possess the creative energy to “re-form” our lives, to reshape the world. Although we have the power to fulfill our divine plan, few of us do. Most people settle for small lives. We sense our divinity and the great possibilities that life offers us, but we limit ourselves because of fear and lack of faith.
-- Susan Taylor

Each day we spend your time working, completing projects, and making sure our inbox is halfway clean before we turn out the lights to go home, eat dinner, relax, then go to bed. Everyday we do the same work, talk to the same people, eat the same foods, and take the same route to and from our destinations (which are mostly work then home and an occasional trip to the grocer’s and bank, and maybe church).

Our routine is, well, routine and predictable, and we like it that way because it offers a sense of order and stability, maybe even a sense of security and comfort that we’ve got our life on lock which ultimately means we don’t miss a beat. We do the same things so regularly that we could probably do them with our eyes closed. In fact, that’s how we got to work this morning – with our eyes closed.

But with our eyes closed, what did we miss? While we were driving our usual route, what did we miss seeing somewhere else? By talking to the same people we talk with each day, aren’t we getting the same conversations and thought patterns we got yesterday and the day before that?

Bigger still, doesn’t following the same plan each day bring about monotony and dullness? And even though there’s comfort in repetition, don’t you ever wonder whether you’re missing out on something exciting and even more satisfying?

Most of the time – no, all of the time – we do the things that are comfortable and easy to perform and navigate. And, duh, that just makes sense, why would we do something hard when easy works? But what if we are really being called to go beyond that which is easy and fits so snugly? What if we are being challenged to grow beyond our everyday situations and circumstances and embark upon experiences that are unfamiliar and not as predictable or comfortable? What if it’s time for us to do things much differently than we’ve ever been accustomed to doing? Be willing to bet the farm that nine times out of ten, each of us would run from the call and challenge to change by viewing it as an assault on our person, punching holes in the opportunities, justifying the need to preserve where we are, and ignoring the challenge completely, blaming the enemy for trying to keep us down and out.

We can come up with many reasons for not wanting to move beyond your comfort zone – some valid, some cheesy. You think the move you’re being called to make cost too much money, more than you think you’ve got, and it’ll put too much strain on your already tight budget. The job you’re being asked to do is too much to learn, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks; it’ll be too hard to compete with the young people there now; you may not even be compatible with the people or the job. The thinking you’re being asked to adopt is unfounded, impractical, and impossible. Oh, and there’s much fear – fear of what other’s will say, what they’ll think; fear that this new thing will be too hard, too stressful, more work, and provide less leisure time; fear that this new course will be a set up for inward and outward confusion; fear that you’ll fail miserably and end up with less than you have now. Besides all that, you’re tired, you’ve paid your dues, and it’s your turn to live an easy life. You’re just fine right where you are, thank you.

But if you continue to buy into your reasons, valid or not, are you forfeiting something divine? Are you living on purpose? Are you taking the easy way out? Are you saying no to God’s urging for you to be more fruitful and dynamic, and are you saying yes to the custody of indolence, humdrum, and set ways? Doesn’t all of that mark you with the enemy’s name engraved in stone?

What about faith, the faith that God will never leave you alone to maneuver new, unfamiliar, and uncomfortable territory without all the tools you need to be successful, tools you’ve already got but kept in your personal shed because you didn’t need them where you were, and, though a little rusty and in need of sharpening, they’re still useable and waiting for your return? What about faith that opening up to the experience of being out of your zone may be hard and stressful, but a fertile action that will lead you to greener pastures, or at least closer to grazing land that is sown in greater seed? What about faith that you are on purpose because you’re acting as God instructs?

What about faith and trust in yourself that even if a new route or direction is coated with conflict and tension, you have innate abilities, skills, and coping mechanisms that make it possible for you to make the best and most of the situation? What about feeling good about yourself because you conquered the fear that came along with accomplishing a task you would not have considered had you stayed locked in your routine? What about faith in the processes of life, that everything changes, and all change presents opportunities for conscious growth and development that will lead to a finer understanding of the ways in which you are divine, on a limitless course, and meant to traverse this earth with no holds barred? What about faith that makes you just go for it?

Yeah, that’s a lot to swallow when you’re used to custom, following traditions, and doing conventional things. But whatever.

Don’t run from that which causes you to move, do a little more work, or experience something new. Ask yourself whether you were birthed into this world and wrapped in holy abundance to just sit on your current experience, degrees, money, traditions, and laurels and simply live an easy life? Surely your answer will be an undisputable no for where’s the growth or the blessing in that?

Get ready to do the hard work necessary to make your dreams come true. Get ready to give up easy to reach your greatest potential. Be ready to be disturbed and uncomfortable to fulfill your purpose.

Sadiqqa © 2007

It is more blessed to give than to receive, so give to yourself as much as you can as often as you can.
-- LaVerne Porter Wheatley Perry

Make today all about giving to yourself. Here’s the recipe –

Climb out of bed and kneel for prayer. Ask God to bless those around you and to touch you in the places you need healing. Then sing your favorite song or the song that’s speaking to your heart today (over this scribe, it’s Karen Clark Sheard’s “Favor,” Carlton Pearson’s “I Know the Lord Will Make a Way,” and Smokie Norful’s “Um Good”). Sing loudly, on key or off – doesn’t matter, it’s all about what you’re feeling. When it’s time to get dressed, don’t just put on anything because it’s clean and you don’t have to iron it; wear that ensemble that makes you feel good because you know it accentuates everything that makes you look good, even if you do have to iron it. Then feed yourself a nourishing breakfast and try not to rush through it so that the food will digest properly and you won’t be hungry so soon.

When you get to the office – if you even decide to go in today – protect yourself from the regular office junk like gossip, idle banter, and anything else that can be injurious to your psyche. Keep the morning’s song in your head or on your CD player. Light a candle; read a Bible verse and keep the Bible open so that you can refer to it as you need to – and know that you will need to because the enemy will be having trouble with your sense of peace and will try to attack it in every corner. Eat a healthy lunch and snack on something good for you to hold you over until it’s time to go home. Oh, and bounce around and walk your mother sway or father’s swagger.

Check your pulse, blood pressure, cholesterol, and your mind’s eye. Take in some physical activity, get a good jog going then make sure you get some brain calisthenics in – a few brain teasers like the Stroop Test (say the color the words are printed in without any mistakes in 15 seconds – red, green, blue, yellow, pink, blue, green, orange, red, blue) or speak the alphabet, starting with the letter B and skipping every other letter, in less than 10 seconds. Be sure to laugh at yourself – without calling yourself a name – then push yourself further when you make a mistake.

When you get home, after you’ve loved yourself with a healthy dinner of vegetables and the proper proteins and relaxed a bit with your family and/or friends, pile up in a bath of sea salts and chamomile or a little ylang-ylang and bergamot – not too much though, you don’t want to drown out your own sweet scents. When you’re done, dried off, and moisturized up, and ready for bed, kneel again and thank God for getting you through this day in His favor and ask Him to bless you and the world while you rest and prepare for another day.

Then, take in some more physical and emotional activity! It’ll make you sleep well and dream good dreams.

Today, and tomorrow, bless yourself with as much of what you need as you can. And then do it again, and again, and again...

Sadiqqa © 2007

... your growth is inevitable. Wherever you may be..., the growth is going to take place in some form or fashion. Each day that we arise from our sleep due to God’s blessing, we face the challenge of discovering how we are evolving and transforming to the being that God wants us to be.
‑‑ James R. Threalkill

Yesterday you were moved by fashion trends and celebrity news. Yesterday it was very important that your hair be fried, dyed, and laid to the side. Yesterday a burger, fries, and soft drink were sufficient meals. Yesterday there was no way you would have left the house in elastic waistbands. Yesterday your grandmother’s work shoes were hideous and old looking.

Yesterday you believed you needed only a few hours of sleep to be completely refreshed and ready for the next day, and that sleep-aids would rarely, if ever, be a needed part of your daily routine. Yesterday you believed that although your body may become less hale and hearty the longer you live, the need for more than a multivitamin would come far later in your life. Yesterday you made jokes about the people who had to wear bifocals, hearing aids, back braces, shoe implants, and support bras, girdles, socks, and panty hose.

Today, not only do you faithfully eat your daily allowance of fruits and vegetables, sleep a minimum of 8 hours, take a cocktail of prescribed medications, own a few pair of ugly but comfortable shoes, wear very stylish no-line bifocals, and sport only Gold Toe support socks, you rather take pride in how they’ve enhanced your life, and you could care less if the kids make comments and jokes about your add-ons and necessities.

You also take note that you’re now comfortable in your body and there’s no need to manically pine away for one that’s impossible to create. You realize you’re at ease with the way your smooth curves and sturdy build make you appear broad and healthy and even give you a stately presence, and you’re happy that your goal for exercising is no longer to lose weight, but to maintain a healthy heart rate and keep your bones and blood vessels robust and functioning properly.

You also marvel at how you once only did things that your mother, father, and family would approve of instead of considering your own needs and desires first. While you consider their opinions, your notions and beliefs are now what guide your final decisions. You also think about how you’ve recovered from the days when “yes” was the only answer from your mouth even though “no” was the answer on your mind. And you’ve found that the greatest thing in the world is your ability to not need to justify the way you live nor worry about the how others feel about you because of how you choose to live.

Today, it no longer appeals to you to be surrounded by people, things, or beliefs that bring little value to your life. You’ve easily, thoughtfully, and tactfully removed people from your circle who brought no light; given away the stuff you’ve held on to since you first acquired it some years ago, stuff that’s just taking up space; and revised or released the outdated beliefs you grew up with, built the first part of your life on, and that no longer serve you as you evolve further into the person God created you to be. You realize that life is too precious and brief to be crowded with all the things and people that keep you from experiencing joy, peace, newness, freshness, love, fulfillment, pleasure, happiness, and reaching your greatest potential. And again, you don’t justify and make excuses for your choices or worry about who cares or why.

Today you look, feel, and act differently than you did yesterday. When the transformations began occurring you resisted, felt nostalgia at giving up what used to be, and believed it mutiny to change who you were. But now, you are proud of who you are, excited by the changes, and can’t think of being anybody else but who you are now, enjoying the new places, people, feelings, and things you’ve welcomed into your life.

Bless yourself for who you are today.

And bless yourself for who you will evolve into tomorrow for growth, development, progression, and advancement thankfully never end.

Sadiqqa © 2007

Freedom was something internal. The outside signs were just signs and symbols of the man inside. All you could do was to give the opportunity for freedom and the man himself must make his own emancipation.
-- Zora Neale Hurston

In America, we cried for freedom from the shackles of slavery; we cried for freedom from unfair sharecropping agreements; we cried for freedom from never having to again cut a hung relative or friend from a Magnolia, oak, or elm tree; we cried for freedom from economic hardship as we left the South for the greater promises of the industrial North and flourishing Black towns in the West; we cried for freedom from racial segregation and discrimination; and we cried for freedom to create and own businesses, educate our children well, own our own homes, and, most importantly, define our own identities.

We got it all.

(By the way, did we ever get the therapy we needed for our collective post-trauma and the often unconscious deep-seated bitterness and hardship that continues to flow through our veins?)

We got it all, we overcame. Now what do we do? In the land of opportunity, in the land of the free, what do we do?

Yeah, we got some fabulous jobs, own some great stuff, and stand before millions of people each day to show them what we got. But are we really doing what we want to do with our freedom? Are you doing what you want to do, maximizing your freedom?

You are free to do and be anything and go just about anywhere you want to. Are you taking full advantage of that? Or, are you like some of us who sit around waiting for something to happen, waiting for our ship to come in instead of going out to sea to find it and pull it in?

Are you like some of us who barrel ourselves into a job just because it pays the bills, instead of stepping out on the abundance of God – which is certainly far greater than the freedoms afforded by the laws and legislation passed on your behalf – to utilize your “on the side” talent to not only pay your bills but bring you joy and afford you enough money to do and see the things on the your list of things you’d like to do and see before you died?

Or, are you like others of us who hold on to loveless relationships because having one is better than being alone with no one but the Self you don’t know and are afraid to know because of the deep-seated bitterness and hardship you’ve yet to overcome?

That’s not freedom at all. That’s still bondage.

The prophetic words of George Clinton come to mind – “Free your mind and your ass will follow. Open up your freak’n mind and you can fly.” Though brotha George was a bit stoned out of his mind when he crafted and recorded these words, the point to be taken is no matter what you do with your physical Self, if in your mind and heart, you are bound by anything – fear, doubt, poverty, grief, miseducation, or somebody else’s foot on your head – you are free in name only, still clad in the chains worn resentfully by your ancestors.

Are you free?

Sadiqqa © 2007

Begin within.
-- Iyanla Vanzant

When I was a kid, my mother would always remind me that until I cleaned my room, I could not come out of my room. I hated cleaning my room because, believe me when I say, it was a mess. Books, pencils, and crayons were strewn everywhere. Barbie dolls reclined on the Barbie Townhouse furniture along every wall of the room; stuffed animals and baby dolls carried on conversations in the corners; imaginary friends played games like Sorry and Operation when no one was home so of course the games stayed out for their convenience; the Easy Bake Oven always had a cake and a little bacon cooking; dress-up clothes and a few other clothes that weren’t supposed to be on the floor covered the floor; a couple of Jackson 5 and Disney albums, along with a few 45’s, sat near the white Mickey Mouse record player waiting for me and my sister to make up the next dance for the show – you know the show; and unbeknownst to mama and daddy, there were wads of gum, suckers, and Now Laters stuck to the carpet. My sister and I made a game of seeing who could hop the highest over any object in the floor without stumping a toe or causing mama and daddy to come in and see what was going on. My Tiffany Taylor doll – prior to losing her head – was the only toy that had a special place, but I couldn’t put her there because other things were in her place.

Needless to say, rarely did I get to play outside my room. It was too much to clean. I had no idea where to start.

As I’ve gotten older, my habits haven’t changed all that much. Books and magazines are strewn everywhere; games and variety of puzzles (Suduko, Crosswords, Bejeweled Deluxe, 2,000-piece, etc.) await my return; clothes are everywhere, at least now they’re in baskets; and it does seem there are conversations in every corner – thanks to the imaginary friends who live in my house, the ones my 6 year-old invites in. And, yes, as I scribe, there is bacon baking.

But also in my room, in my house, are emotional issues that need to be cleaned up, i.e., examined and resolved. Concerns that jeopardize my sense of peace and restfulness, the things that keep me up at night, or that sit like pink elephants in the middle of the room need to be picked up, gone through then put away in their proper. The trouble is – just like back in the day – it’s too much to clean and I have no idea where to start. And until I do, I can’t come out of my room to usefully care for anybody else or their stuff. Right?

Hmmm, wouldn’t it be calling the kettle black if I called you on your stuff, and mine is raunchy and raggedy? Or, is it because I live in a raggedy state, I can better explain raggedy stuff? But, if my stuff is consistently raggedy, and I’m trying to help you, am I credible at all?

What if I just make my room, my issues, passable and relatively presentable, doing a little work here and there to get it, them, clean? Is that better than nothing?

Will my room ever be clean?

We’ve all got stuff we need to clean up about ourselves. There’s no way we can be the wonderful and powerful Selves we are without going through the fire to be polished and smooth. We had to care for today’s crisis and obstacles in order to be able to appreciate ourselves enough to even walk out the door. In fact, we did clean our rooms, enough to make others take us seriously. Just don’t look too closely, right?

In order to love, function, and get along with others in the world, it is imperative we do the internal work we need to do on ourselves. We don’t live in a vacuum; the world needs each and every one of us and our talents to spin. Clean your room; do what you gotta do to get your Self right, as right as you can. Don’t worry that you’re not super clean – who is? Your room may never be as clean as you’d like it; there may always be stuff on the floor of your mind that keeps you anxious. But if it’s at least manageable and you don’t have to undergo changes if you put it off for a while, go ahead and step out into the world. You can still be a blessing, call the kettle black, represent, and make a difference with chewing gum still stuck on the carpet.

Sadiqqa © 2007

What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States at this very hour.
-- Frederick Douglass, Independence Day Speech at Rochester, 1852

Though delivered 166 years ago, the sentiments of Frederick Douglass’ speech still ring true. Ours is still a nation of chest-beating autocrats who beget chaos and confusion throughout the world in the name of democracy and social equality. We live in a nation that carries the national banner of liberty for all, but in actuality, true freedom for all is a fleeting thing for many of us.

In 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was adopted and the 13 colonies declared their political independence from Great Britain, standing on the statements that “all men are created equal” and have, as given by God, the “Inalienable rights” of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness,” that pronouncement did not include, as you know, slaves who, without a doubt, also carried inalienable rights or human rights that were fundamental and God-given. Though some of the signers of the Declaration made arguments against slavery, those assertions were not included in the final draft and thus slavery, a barefaced act against God-given human rights, persisted.

So, when Fred Douglass was asked to give a speech at an event commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence, he gave them pure hell, asking if they meant to mock him, a Black man, by asking him to deliver such speech. Imagine the astonished faces of the Rochester, New York audience as they were castigated for their hypocritical behavior! Bet they didn’t invite him to speak again.

However, as you consider this today – the fact that at one time, Africans Americans and others weren’t included in the colonial declarations of freedom – consider also that now you do have some freedoms and in no way can you take them lightly. Consider that you are free to choose who you will be and how you will present that person you are. Ask yourself whether you’re honoring the freedom to choose your Self.

Consider also that you are free to eat hot dogs and apple pie without the threat of a lashing or water hoses to your back. You can now barbeque pig and chicken instead of eating their remains from the big house. You can celebrate independence from the backward thinking of separate but equal and shoot fireworks because you are proud of the inroads you’ve made even in the course of living in the pretentious democracy of America.

As you remain mindful of where you’re expending your freedom – arrogant America – remind yourself that you now have the choice to go anywhere you want to. You can travel away from home, across the railroad tracks, order a plate or two from the Walgreens lunch counters, visit the Queen of Great Britain, reconnect with lost family in West Africa, then return to America and kick your feet up in a hammock and enjoy the accoutrements of Independence Day.

So the first few Independence Days weren’t built with you in mind. Now, since you can exercise your mind’s ideas, celebrate your freedoms, all of them, in any way you want to. Even if you do nothing on this 4th of July, you have the freedom to do that. We’ve come a long way, fought many fights, shed many tears, and endured much pain. No matter how this day is construed, you have a right to celebrate your personal independence even as you live among tyrants. Today, celebrate!

Sadiqqa © 2007

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
-- Howard Thurman

Does a new day, rich with blessings, opportunity, and possibility, cause you to rise readily from bed and grasp it with gusto, sinking your teeth into its promise and clutching hold of its sparkle, preparing even to reshape with enthusiasm the parts of the day that don’t twinkle and shine? Sometimes?

What if it were coupled with the greatest cup of your favorite morning beverage, hugs and kisses from those who love you, and the birds singing your tune atop your canopied oak tree that shades the veranda off your bedroom balcony? Sometimes?

Would that, together with a comfortable dollar amount in the bank, all your bills paid, the house in immaculate shape and order, your health and that of your family of pristine quality, the refrigerator, you closet, and your friendships well stocked, and the only thing that brings a furrow to your brow trying to decide what of all the things in the cabinet should you make for dinner, cause you to come alive? Maybe? Sometimes?

Well, what if your work was interesting and pleasing, too? What if at the end of each day you could also say you made a difference to and for somebody; a lot of people? And what if you knew that all the effort you put into loving, helping, and encouraging somebody changed their life and caused them to come alive and touch somebody and bring about new life? Yeah? Maybe?

Okay, one more – and if this doesn’t spark a few cells then you should seek professional assistance for your depression. What if, on top of all that, you knew who you were and projected without fear or gaucherie that real you? What if you also knew your purpose on earth and trusted your Self enough to fulfill it? And then what if you could see God’s hand everywhere you looked and feel it in everything you did, from jumping out of bed, sipping your coffee, preparing your dinner, to completing your life work in the best You you have to offer? Would you then be alive?!

Surely so! Even writing this scribe has caused me to want to scale the side of a mountain.

Okay, maybe a tall hill... Maybe I’ll just have another cup of coffee.

Whatever it is that brings you life, that causes you to come alive, enjoy it immensely! You earned it by mere virtue that you’re still living! You owe it to yourself! So don’t just dream about it; don’t just talk about it. The Sugarhill Gang said it best, “Come alive y’all and gimme whatchu got!!” What the world needs now is your life energy now more than ever. The world needs it in order to keep spinning. So, come alive and give us what you got!

Sadiqqa © 2007

So whatever you desire to do in this house today, Lord, have your way.
-- Joe Pace

Dear God, at the beginning of the year, I asked you to grant me a life journey that would be purposeful and prosperous. I asked you for peace and prayed as Jabez did asking you to bless me, increase my province, and keep evil away from me so that I would not hurt or hurt anybody else. In return, I promised to keep your commandments, revere the Word by studying and sharing it with others, and worship you in prayer, song, fellowship, service, and through tithes and offerings.

God, it’s now a little past mid-year, and while I have a list of amazing accomplishments, peppered with occasional disappointments, you know I’ve only grated the surface of meeting you where I told you I’d go. And though you’ve done exactly what you said you’d do, I know I’ve got to go beyond and deeper to grasp the blessings that would make my life richer, substantial, and more worthwhile.

Even more honestly, Lord, I know now, more than ever, that “putting a hand to the plow and looking back” (Luke 9:62) has lost me some ground. I know that operating in a way that feels good or familiar has left me feeling hollow and keeps me going back to the place that has me running in circles chasing and biting my tail. I know that after I gave my word to follow your Word, I turned back to errant behavior that sidetracked my path and diverted my attention. Jesus, I didn’t mean for this to happen; I’ve lost my focus. The good grasp I set on my goals and the blessings I asked you for seem so out of reach now.

Lord, I’m asking now, and once again, that you have your way in me. Move me out of the way so that you can do the work on me that’s necessary. Help me Jesus to let go so you can move in me in a way I’ve never allowed you to. Lord God, I know now that in order to receive what you have for me, I must still my Self and what I believe to be the answer and allow you to have your way.

Yes, God, I’m stubborn. I’m pig-headed and an occasional know-it-all, though I’d never admit it to anybody but you (even though you already know). But God I know you’re bigger than all my pride and other idiosyncrasies, and the mighty hand I asked that you place upon me can change my peculiarities into something wonderful before you. Lord, move me. Make me who’d you have me be. Send me where you want me be. And, please Jesus, remove the fear and doubt that keep me from going where you say, that keep me flying under the radar, living on the surface, and believing myself hidden from your commands on my life.

You assure me, Jesus, time and again that it ain’t about me, though I leave my door each day believing that it is. But I know, dear God, that it’s about you and your purpose for my life. Lord, help me live that. Help me keep that at the front of my mind and let nothing come out of my head without having been censored and cleaned up by the thought of your Will.

God, you know none of this is easy for me, but I trust you to guide me and show me how to make it all work. I’m grabbing hold of the plow again and I’m not looking back. I’m here to do your work, Lord, to live by your Word, build your kingdom, and I’m moving out of the way so you can have your way – the way that is precious, perfect, and divine. Whatever you desire to do Lord, have your way in me today and all my days.

This I pray in your perfect name. Amen.

Sadiqqa © 2007