No matter what your aspirations may be, there are many roads to success. Mentors are fine, and advice is even better, but at the end of the day we all have an individual journey to success.
I’m not exactly sure where the “Why I love Jesus” challenge came from but thanks Vanessa Omoroghomwan for the nomination: I love Jesus because the doctors said I should have died but I’m still alive and well 21 years later. I love him for the amazing parents that he had raise me and the amount of family and friends I have who love me. I love him because he still loves me despite my flaws. I am currently receiving a great education, and have had/ have great work/internship opportunities, because of his love.
To whom much is given much is expected and because of the love Jesus has given me I hope to show others that love from day to day. I now nominate Tamara Desruisseaux, Lakeisha StJoy, and Cusaj D Thomas. I’m giving you 24 hours.
For some it happens when the church bells have just sang their song throughout the town. For others the silence of their own solitude makes the loudest of declarations, while others sit patiently trying to figure this moment. They awaken from their slumber with a jolt as the realization hits them that “THIS” is their God given purpose. For me it was when I started writing this post:
One hour into my typing I had the ingenious idea to save what I had been so thoughtfully creating. Only there was a problem; due to a glitch in cyberspace only the first line had been saved, and there I found my self starting again from the beginning:
From the tiny papers I used to pass notes with in elementary school, to the plethora of PTA meetings where my teachers would say “She’s a smart kid, but she talks a lot” writing has always defined me. To this day I still think those teachers were wrong. I had learned that the word “but” was used to introduce a contradicting statement, and yet I always thought that speech was our way of sharing the thoughts and knowledge that pass though out minds. The very place created to expand my horizons attempted to limit who I was, “a giver of words”.
Peer-pressured snickers arose from my lips as my 7th grade English teacher suggested we all submit a poem for a contest submission. It was corny at the moment, but I later realized that there was no strain to produce a work of art through simple consonants and Vowels. I had enjoyed creating the work, just as much as I enjoyed the teacher announcing to the class that I was now
a published poet with Creative Communications publishing company.
As gallons of ink flowed from my heart, poetry is what kept me sane through the hardest moments of my life.
When my mouth could not express what my heart felt, written emotions are what helped me to write a love letter to my first love.
The day my youngest brother was born, my closest companion since kindergarten moved away and the “postage stamped envelope” helped me keep in contact with her before the internet had fully developed.
From the very first time I wrote my name, up to these words that will ring through your mind, I realize there isn’t ONE moment.
With each movement of the ticking clock we must strive to move forward. When we give one moment precedence over the rest, we cheat ourselves from seeing the beauty of each piece of the big puzzle. This past weekend I was asked, “When did you know this was what you wanted to do?” I was first ashamed for having not thought it through, but my many moments have brought me to the epiphany I share at hour.
This is my defibrillator. My heart has been bestirred. As I reach my third hour in this seat I realize that this is the passion God has instilled in me, to write. My moment has come.
Great grandma. Oh yes, a great grandmother she was; and mother and aunt and friend, but she was my GREAT grandma. We called her Gran. *insert Haitian accent*
As I sit in my bed knowing my only class tomorrow is cancelled. My mind wanders off to this amazing woman and as I recall my memories with her it brings tears to my eyes. The first set of tears since her funeral. Now it’s not so much the pain of losing her, but the greater pain of not embracing every moment I could have had with her. I’m the oldest of her great grandchildren and she even lived with me and my family for a few years after my birth. I was able to have her the most, and it helped that she was one of the few people in this world to understand me. Ironic indeed because we never fluently spoke the same language. I taught her English and she taught me Haitian Creole. I remember one time being so proud of her because she had counted to ten in English. I was so young and such a good ESL teacher.
I got into so much trouble as a child, and I couldn’t even tell you why. The many beatings she could have given me or had my parents give me, and yet I remember clear as day doing something bad one day and worrying all day that she would tell my parents. When they got home it was as if nothing had happened and there I had been stressing. The anxiety had been punishment enough. She was so patient with me giving me a different kind of love that was on a whole new level. She moved back with my grandparents and eventually back to Haiti, but every time I did see her she was a breath of life despite her declining health. She was a soldier, never wanting us to see her at her weakest. As I think back to the last few times I saw her, it breaks my heart. Young and foolish the least I could have done was just sit with her even if she could barely see me or speak to me, but yet I was always running off to be with everyone else watching TV wasting time on things I still have a lifetime to do …
My Gran is the closest family I’ve lost in my 20 years, but what hurts the most; The thing I will never understand is how of the 365 days in a year, how she ended up dying on the day of my 20th birthday … I don’t believe in coincidences when I can believe in God, but what exactly does it mean? My pastor always says give the living flowers, they mean nothing when they’re dead. If I knew then what I know now …. I would have sat, listened, and learned. Sat by her side, listened to her story, and learned. I don’t want to have regrets because it’s too late now, but I don’t want to ever let her down again. 1 out of 365 odds are I won’t see this great woman soon, since I have a great legacy to uphold, but odds are I will strive to live the example she modeled for exactly 20 years of my life. Appreciate all whom you love while you still have them. Be sure to Sit, Listen, and Learn, because time is the most precious gift you can give; trust me, you don’t have that much of it. When they leave make them proud by representing their life legacies through your own life. — I love you Gran Alcine. See you in heaven, but ’til then I’ll make you proud. <3
20 years have gone by and as I prepare to enter a new year I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and I’ve come to the conclusion that all the things that have been weighing my mind down are not even worth it. Simply put, I’m over it. I’m done worrying about what people think about, what I’m gonna be when “I grow up”, whether or not I’ll find someone that learns to truly love me, and on and on and on. 2014 is a selfish year. Not selfish like “all about me, who cares about you”, selfish in I learn to love myself without expecting anyone else to. Alexander Pope said it best:
Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.
I’ve spent all my life expecting people to give me as much as I give them, but Jesus called us to love unconditionally so if I get nothing in return it was still worth it because I may be the only “Jesus” they see. As I obey Christ and try to live as he did, I know he’ll take care of me. It’s almost 2014, time to start fresh, time to leave it all behind.
They say only a fool makes the same mistake twice, so call me such. It’s beyond my control, but don’t they also say that you can’t help who you fall in love with? Ah to be young and foolish. . . But I’m “older and wiser”, so where do you draw the line? “Love is an act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love.” I have faith in what we could be, but is it too much? I may be just putting all my eggs in one basket, but it’s the only basket I had.
“Immature love says: ‘I love you because I need you.’ Mature love says ‘I need you because I love you.’” I guess I’m stuck between “a rock and a hard place”, cuz I mean I don’ t really need you, but sometimes I tell myself I do. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” and gosh am I fond of you.
Cliche. “A phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought.” that’s how Google defined it for me. They helped me express how I felt, but that’s not what I’m looking for. Overused. Lacks original thought. Naw I’ll pass, but these feelings I have are bugging me, and they’re so original that a cliche couldn’t help me express it. I’ve felt this before, but it was different. I told myself it was love before but I was being…“young and foolish”. Yea the things you’ve said gives me fuzzy feelings [but then again did you even mean them], but I remember the last time warm words led me to cold nights. I’d rather not history repeat itself, so show me. Don’t feed me cliche lines as I sit trying to interpret their meanings. Words give us something to fall back on when we get lazy, disappearing into thin air with no concrete evidence. “but I told you I loved you”. Love isn’t what “your country can do for you, but what you can do you your country” [Insert person’s name in place of country]. We’re all “looking for love” when really it’s right in front of us. Love is a decision you make, not some cheesy romantic chic flick. You’re probably tired of reading this, just as I am of writing this, cuz it’s all words. Nothing you haven’t heard before, because we’ve made the very word itself cliche.
If you love someone let em go… keep on loving them and let ’em know. “I don’t know much about algebra but I know one, plus one equals two.” (yea I know I quoted Beyonce, don’t judge me), but sorry Bey it equals one. A bond that can’t be broken. So keep on loving; family, friends, enemies and especially that person you wanna call yours.
Love is patient, Love is kind, It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)
That’s love, and loving like that is no cliche at all. I try to love like this, as we all should, but it does take time. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is love…[you get where i’m going]. Of course I have to quote Shakespeare the most commonly “overused” romance writer of all, but he did say,”The course of true love never did run smooth.” You’ll know it’s love when there’s nothing cliche about it.
and this is why I’ll wait.
“Or do you not think so far ahead?” As a matter a fact I do and that’s what gets me into trouble. My mind goes so far into space that it gets trapped in unknown black holes. Often I find my thoughts drifting in zero gravity with no way of catching them. A mind so lost that the satellites from Earth lose reception and there I am more lost in the future than I am in the present. Yes, it’s good to think ahead and have some direction, but instead of continuing to to drive, stop and ask him for directions. Driving yourself crazy plotting scenarios of the future that you fail to enjoy the moments of the day in front of you. Sitting at those red lights are frustrating, but there’s no point in speeding if you don’t know where you’re going to begin with…might not end too well. So now I’m in the passenger’s seat, and I handed Him the keys. He has a destination in mind and knows the best route. It may not be the fastest way there, or the way you envisioned but sometimes the road less traveled makes all the difference.– I’ll just enjoy the scenery.
I’ve fallen in love once. Well it wasn’t exactly a fall, more like a slow motion tumble, but before I knew it I found myself at one of the lowest points of my life…waiting for the person that made me feel on top of the world to pull me out. Oh the irony. I was young and naive, but I was “in love”. It was me and you, forever and always, but at 17 anything is possible right? I thought you were everything; always on my mind, and forever in my heart. You were It. Without the experience of “being in love”, comes the vulnerability to a Utopian idea of what true love is, not realizing there’s more to it than passionate kisses and recurring “I Love Yous”. Love is the sacrifice, the endurance through tough times, the selflessness when all you want to do is be selfish. It’s not Valentines’ day bears, or everyone saying you guys look good together; It’s the bond that’s created when no one is looking. The union of two that ultimately makes both of you stronger. Love isn’t for you, but for the person you say you love. Love letters, and kind words are nice, but love is a verb, a lifestyle, and deed done without second thought. Funny how I learned what love was by experiencing what it was not. I stumbled into what I thought was love, but that foolishness is what makes the sharp- eyed blind. It makes you forget the important things, like God and Family. It’s not even worthy of being called “love”. I forgot myself, and God and became consumed with who you were, and that’s where I went wrong.
If God is Love, than Love is God, but that doesn’t make the one you love a god, and if that’s the case then you’re doing it all wrong. I thought you were my first love, but in fact God was and that’s the only way to get it right. When you realize that Jesus was in fact that First Love, then it all falls into place. God loving you more than you could ever love yourself sets high standards for that man who says he loves you now. I doubt this man will die on a cross for you, but he sure as hell better come close to it. To whom much love is given much more is expected. We all want love, but are we willing to give it just the same? All my life I’ve searched for this love from little boys who told me I was pretty, when it was right in front of me all along. God’s love. It took me 20 years, but I know that I won’t be able to fully love a man until I can fully love God, and I’d rather not give a man any less if I expect just as much. As Maya Angelou taught me, “A woman’s heart should be so hidden in God, that a man has to seek Him just to find her.” Call me old fashioned, but I’m no longer looking for love. “The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he receives favor from the Lord.” I’ll just continue to hide in plain site as you search mister.
There’s so much to learn, but why not learn it from the original author of this thesis we call Love. It’s not as complicated as reality TV and romance novels make it, but one can’t fully understand it until they’ve had the right professor. I’ve fallen in love once, and to that I say “never again”. Next time I’d rather climb up with the one I love as we pull each other to the peak; growing closer to God and each other. And the thing that makes it so special is that there’s no rush. “Til death do us part” leave a whole lifetime of exploration, so stop rushing that thing you think is love and take time to enjoy the scenery, or you’ll be right where I was stuck in that hole called “foolish love”, waiting for the wrong person to pull you out.
Related articles
- The Unconditional Love of God (olgatodd.wordpress.com)