THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

No matter what happens, we are always succeeding as we move forward in our journey

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

What are you doing today to connect with humanity

I DO NOT KNOW

It is okay, I tell my students
to say I do not know.
There is nothing wrong
with saying I do not know.
Saying I do not know
opens us up to learning,
growing,
and receiving knowledge
from the Divine.

There are always things
at work,
at home,
at school
and with our friends
that we do not know.
We all know something
but none of us know everything.
When we say
we do not know,
we allow others to share
what they know with us.

There are also things
we may never know,
because it is not our time
or our season
or our lifetime time to know.
Our ways are not God’s ways
and our understandings are not God’s
So saying
I do not know
simple recognizes
our humanity
and that we are not
the Divine.
Today may we become comfortable
owning we do not know

IMMUNITY

I would like to say I am immune
to so many things, but I am not.
Anything that can happen to others,
can happen to me.
I am no better than or different than
anyone else.

I am human,
like everyone else.
I am not immune to
being hurt,
sick,
injured,
angry,
upset,
jealous
happy,
loved,
respected or
any other feeling.
I am not immune to
death,
illness,
accidents,
births,
storms,
tornadoes,
hurricanes,
power outages,
floods and
any other experience.
it is this understanding that
I am not immune
that allows me to empathize
with others.

SONG OF THE WEEK

I love this week's song of the week because it reminds me how little we understand about what it means to be human and how much we have in common with people around the world https://youtu.be/DM8Tm9ycGz4

S IS FOR SPAGHETTI

This week has been crazy and I have been struggling to pick a product that begin with an S.  Then I found myself craving spaghetti and meatballs, vegan for us of course. I have always loved eating spaghetti ever since I was a child. Well actually it was Spaghettio’s until I discovered real spaghetti with amazing sauce, but that is another story. My wife, however, enjoys when I make spaghetti with homemade Pomodorro Sauce and vegan meatballs. There is something comforting for people about spaghetti and meatballs.

The thing about spaghetti I have found most interesting is that there is more to its history then I knew. When I think spaghetti, I think Italian and my guess is that most people do. However, it seems that the development of pasta, spaghetti in particular, has its roots in Chinese and Arabic cooking. Maybe that is why I enjoy lo mein so much. It reminds me of eating spaghetti, but without the sauce, which I never liked growing up, until I learned how it should be made, and with the vegetables, which I enjoy. Or why some of my favorite Middle Eastern dishes use some sort of pasta as a main ingredient, like lentils and pasta or a myriad of kugels. While we may associate spaghetti with Italian cuisine today, it has its roots in earlier civilizations and times.

One of the things I like about spaghetti is what its appearance on the plate teaches me about life. If you look at a plate of spaghetti, nothing is laid out in a clear distinct linear pattern. Rather, the noodles are interwoven, interacting with each other, and overlapping each other. The movement of one noodle affects the position of others. This plate of noodles reminds me so much of life. We are all like noodles, interwoven and intermingling on a plate. We may not always even realize we are somehow connected until a certain string of spaghetti is moved and we discover something shifting in our own lives.

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THANK YOU

Dear Ultimate,

Thank you for all you have been doing for me. I am not always as positive and grateful as I could be. There are days I let the fear of what almost happened during the last attempt to do a procedure on me color what might happen during this next attempt. Yes, I could have died, but I did not and for that I am grateful. Yes, putting me on the surgical table again is risky, but it is a different surgeon, a different hospital, a different team of specialists, and they have all the knowledge from what happened the last time

Yes, it is scary, but I have to remember Dr Broderick’s words that she would not put me on the table if she could not safely take me off the table alive. I have to remember that she will be able to see things because of the Ultrasound Dr who will be with her. They did not have that the last time. I have to trust her and know she is doing everything she can to find out what is growing inside me, remove it, treat it, and keep me safe.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Focusing on our union builds bridges. Focusing on our separation builds walls.

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE LESSONS

So today is National Chocolate Cupcake Day. Well it was when I started writing this on Wednesday (LOL). I love blogging and sometimes the words seem to just flow from my brain faster than I can type them. Other times, I start and delete and start and delete, never quite satisfied with the ideas for my blog post. Sometimes it helps for me to go sit in our prayer and meditation garden, as a change of scenery sometimes helps. Other times, I will go fix myself a cup of tea or coffee. None of that was really working this week, until I did a search on the Pampered Chef website for chocolate cupcakes because Wednesday was National Chocolate Cupcake Day. What really spoke to me were three recipes one for a white chocolate cupcake with truffle filling, one for a red velvet cupcake, and one for a dark chocolate truffle cupcake. I have made the white chocolate and dark chocolate recipes a few times because I love how messy they are to eat. I love the melted chocolate that seeps out.
It was these images of “chocolate” which spoke to my soul, especially as a light skinned biracial woman. When I was pastoring, a few congregants would remind me that they were chocolate. I would then smile and remind them that chocolate comes in a wide diversity of colors. I remember once being told I was not chocolate enough to be chocolate and that white chocolate is not chocolate. Interestingly enough there is a similar debate about whether or not white chocolate, which is made from the same cocoa butter as all other chocolates, is really chocolate.
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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Looking for a career?. Commit yourself to the struggle for equal rights

INHUMANITY AND INJUSTICE

When I was in seminary, I took a course on advocacy and organizing. One of the questions we were asked to think about was what we felt was the most pressing social issue in contemporary society. Then and now, it is hard for me to pick just one, as there are so many issues that seem important for different reasons.  I could talk about the global exploitation of people in developing countries or the trafficking of women as sexual slaves and prostitutes or violence against women or poverty or hate crimes or systemic injustice.  My list of issues has grown over the last over the last 10 years. Trying to pick one over the other makes me feel as if I am saying one issue is more pressing than the other, as if I am trying to prioritize them.  This is hard for me to do because I think they are all important for different reasons and to different groups of people.  At the root of all these issues is a common thread which contributed to their existence.  Ultimately, I have come to realize that the most pressing social issue in contemporary society is our inhumanity for and towards each other.

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THE TIE THAT BINDS

One of the things I so appreciate about our love and inspiration group is that I always leave with some sort of inspiration. This weekend we spoke about being mindful about what makes us feel welcomed. What is it that hosts do that makes us feel welcomed? What do we do to make our guests feel welcomed? 

A while back I heard a story about a pastor who would stand outside her church and greet the migrant workers as they came in from the fields. She spoke to them in Spanish and they responded. And soon a bridge was forged. This rural community embraced the migrant farm workers and welcomed them. They offered them radical hospitality and in doing do they discovered that it is the recognition of our common humanity which binds us together

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UBUUNTU

I recently read this quote from Desmond Tutu in Victor Chan’s book The Wisdom of Forgiveness. It was written,

In our country, we speak of something called ubuuntu. When I want to praise you, the highest praise I can give you is to say, you have ubuuntu — this person has what it takes to be a human being. This is a person who recognizes that he exists only because others exist: a person is a person through other persons. When we say you have ubuuntu, we mean that you are gentle, you are compassionate, you are hospitable, you want to share, and you care about the welfare of others. This is because my humanity is caught up in your humanity. So when I dehumanize others, whether I like it or not, inexorably, I dehumanize myself. For we can only by human, we can only be free, together. To forgive is actually the best form of self-interest.

Forgiveness, is not about what you do for others, it is the willingness to help yourself become the best person you can be.

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