A Day in the Life of ME

A Prayer for the Singles

2009-09-21T09:19:00.003-05:00

Dear Lord,

I am praying for all of the single men and women out there, myself included...

For these who are not married and are uncomfortable or troubled by this, I ask that You help them learn to be content with being single, as well as deal gracefully with any other issues or circumstances of life. (Philippians 4:11)

Help them delight in You, for You have said when we do, You'll give us the desires of our heart. May their desires match Your desires, Your will and plan for their lives; then fulfill Your purpose for them. (Psalm 37:4; 57:2; 138:8)

If Your plan is for them to be married, give them the grace to wait on You, to be strong and take heart. As they wait, help them to keep Your ways, discerning what is best, keeping pure and blameless in Your sight. (Psalm 27:14; 37:34; Philippians 1:10)

I ask Your special touch on those who are single parents, because managing a home without a spouse can be difficult. May they put their hope in You, continuing night and day in prayer. May others in the body of Christ respond to their needs as they would want to be helped if they were alone. (1 Timothy 5:5; Matthew 7:12)

May they be fulfilled in Christ. In your son Jesus's name I pray, Amen.

Lockdown

2009-08-05T22:56:00.002-05:00

I am watching the show "Lockdown" on National Geographic, and it saddens me. It chronicles the life of a man who got involved in gang violence as a teenager, and it eventually landed him in prison for 14 years. He missed the life of his child, lost his identity (both figuratively and literally), and is now left with the pieces of his life. While in prison, he pursued a college degree and got out completely motivated to turn his life around and serve as a role model for other individuals caught up in a world of crime. Now, for the things that sadden me...

1) The first thing he tried to do after getting out of prison was get an identification card. Remember when he went into prison, he was young. However, he was unable to do so because during the time when he was a number in the prison system, someone stole his identity. He was unable to get an ID without a birth certificate and other forms of identification that would prove his identity. Sad!

2)Next, he went looking for a job...this is the cliche' story, but it is SO true. None of the places wanted to hire an ex-con. He even had such a compelling speech and an earnest, humble speech that he gave each employer. Well, they did not buy it.

So...basically, we send men, women, and children to prison to "pay" for their crimes but set them up to go right back into the world of crime when they are released. I am not removing the felons involvement, but what is sad is that the prison system focuses more on punishment than on rehabilitation. It is sad.

Toddler's and Tiara's: DISGUSTING

2009-07-25T00:44:00.005-05:00

Ok, so I know that I am not a pageant princess by any stretch of the imagination, but give me a break...

I happened to flip to Toddler's and Tiara's the other night and saw the episode about the Texas pageants. two of the contestants were twin girls. First, I think it is wrong for parents to encourage competition between twins...let's just start there. Believe me, it gets MUCH worse. Anywho, so I am watching...the mother begins to critique one of her twins, saying things like: the other twin is really the prettier one, she has a smaller nose, a better personality, and wins more often then Twin #1. In addition, the girls train together and Twin #1 is being taught to be "ok" with her sister beating her. In addition, the pageant comes to the house to practice the routine with the girls and gives up on Twin #1 after just a few takes. Now, I understand this could have been skewed for on air effect, but it still seemed rather disheartening. Twin #1 appeared to have interests outside of pageants, yet her mother insisted upon parading her around in Twin #2's shadow. It was just disgusting to me. How dare a parent compare children face-to-face, especially over things for which he/she has NO control-the size and shape of her nose. Another appaling image was o a mother entering her 2 week old son into the pageant with her 7-year old son. What is that? The baby barely has its shots, can't hold its head up, barely has its eyes open good, and you have the audacity to enter him in a pageant. What in the world? Anyway, I am against the pageants, especially the glitzy ones that turn 4 year olds into 25 year olds.

My Palm Beach Vacation

2009-07-25T00:27:00.003-05:00

So, I went to West Palm Beach to witness my BFF's wedding...it was so great seeing all of my sorority sisters and being a part of all of the wedding festivities. I was the Maid of Honor, which was fun, but OH so much work! Let me tell you...The trip inspired a whole new take on weddings---DO AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE. Take that how you want. For me, it holds a double meaning. Number 1, do only what I can do within the scope of FUN. This means that I will have to have few enough people that I can afford to have a wedding planner to carryout most of the details for me. This was a great trip for me personally because as I was helping my BFF have the "best day of her life," I was also learning important lessons about love, friendship, and myself.

Lesson #1: Love is vital to any healthy relationship, including but not limited to a friendship, a marriage, a family, whatever. I really saw her family's love for her during the wedding planning. I mean, she is juggling school, wedding planning from thousands of miles away, maintaining the sanity in her relationship, health, and oh year personal mental health. I also saw true sisterly love from our sorority sisters who stepped in to help in any and every way they could. We all wanted her to have the best day possible. It was a great experience.

Lesson #2: Friendship-an interesting concept. You know the sayings, "You really know who your friends are when..." Well, the wedding, in all its glory, brought out the best and worst of "friends," as I am sure is the case with most weddings. It was very interesting. The bounds of friendship are visible, whereas the things we do for love seem to be forever expanding...Ah well.

Lesson#3: I Love my friends and will do everything in my power to be the best friend that I can. We start there. Next, as the MOH, I felt it my responsibility to ensure that she made it safely, sanely, and oh yeah happily over the broom. In doing that, there were times when I felt pulled in a million directions, slightly disrespected, but always appreciated (at least from most), and you know what? That was enough for me-surprisingly. I don't know if I had honed that maturity in the past, but I was happy that through it all, I remembered that it was HER special day. I also learned that getting lost in details is easy to do!!!! So, in my future wedding planning, I will have to ensure that there is someone to handle all of those knit-picky things while I consider big picture items. Ahh...what a great learning experience, for that I have to LOVE it.

Weddings are full of beautiful moments and memories, but always remember that the wedding is just the prelude to the marriage and thus the Introduction only. I only hope to spend more time cultivating the lifelong partnership than planning the night-long festivities.

MAN! What a DAY!

2009-06-25T18:32:00.003-05:00

I can't even believe that Michael Jackson died today. It is so sad. It really makes you think about life. Life is so precious and too often it is taken for granted. My prayers go out to the Jackson family. May God give you the strength to make it through this difficult time. It really makes you think. Michael, you were truly an inspiration, touching so many lives worldwide. Music is one of the mediums by which people across race, ethnic, religious, and cultural lines can come together. You were an example of how music can unite us.

Father's Day 2009

2009-06-21T23:07:00.000-05:00

So...today was a GREAT day. My dad came to visit from Georgia. It was actually his first time visiting me since I have lived in Birmingham (yes it has been over 3 years). Anywho, we had a FABULOUS time eating (but of course), swimming, chatting, and just having an overall great time. I even cooked! How fun!!! I mean I do it all of the time, but it is a lot more fun to cook for people and have them actually like it than it is to cook for yourself (or in this case, myself). :-( Oh man, I was so busy having fun that I forgot to take pictures, and believe it or not, I just realized it! WHAT A MESS! Ok, well, I guess that is another excuse to get together again.