There was a point in my life where i use to think that being dark skinned was unattractive. Being that I am a dark skinned man, I thought the same for myself; I hated my skin complexion as a child. I was often called blacky, or told that I was burnt to a crisp, or that my mother must have had sex with a giraffe because my neck was so long. All of these different components caused me to develop low self esteem and a lack of self love for myself because I didn't understand who I was.
It wasn't until I came into an understanding of who God was, that I realized and learned to develop a love for myself. David said it best, "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well--Psalm 139:14. Now at the ripe old age of 30, I have realized that I was beautifully created and designed. Every fiber of my being is wonderfully made and I am beautiful. Even on my worse day I'm still a beautiful creation, because everything that God created is good.
You too must get to the point where you realize you are a beautiful design. An impeccable portrait for the whole world to see. Regardless of your skin complexion, hair texture, nose or lip sizes, waistline or any type of deformation, you were formed and created just the way you were meant to be. The reflection you see in the mirror is what makes you, YOU. Learn to love every part of your body, be able to look at yourself naked in the mirror and love what you see. Kick low self esteem to the curb and tell yourself that you are fearfully and wonderfully made. In the words of Fantaisa Barrino "Yes I'm thankful for loving who I really am, I'm Beautiful, Yes I'm Beautiful" (I'm Here Color Purple Broadway Musical Lyrics).
Monday, August 30, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Living to Forgive
"The heart that forgives is the heart that will live. Totally free from the pain of the past
And the heart that lets go is the heart that will know so much freedom." ---Kevin Levar & One Sound.
As a young child I use to think it was impossible for someone to forgive somebody for the hurt and pain that they may have caused. I remember watching Talk shows like Oprah, Rick Lake, Geraldo Rivera and Sally Jesse Raphael, where people would be on there describing horrific acts that someone had done to them. Most of the time it was family members or someone they were particularly close to. Yet towards the end of the show, they would always say how they forgave that person for what they did. I use to think it was a hoax, just something the producers told them to say. Until I experienced my own hurt and pain from people that I loved, and I had to learn how to forgive.
Forgiveness is never easy, but it is essential. Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door to your healing process. The Oxford English Dictionary defines forgiveness as to grant free pardon and to give up all claim on account of an offense or debt. When we don't forgive those that have hurt us it causes us to become bitter and angry. It creates issues that become so deeply rooted in our heart that it prohibits are spiritual and natural growth. When we don't learn to forgive we carry around emotional baggage from relationship to relationship. "If we are congested it is hard for us to be a decongestant to someone else"---Dr. Jeffrey McCune. Thus we become a nation of people with hurt, hurting other people.
Mark 11:25 instructs us that when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your father in heaven may forgive your sins. In order to move forward and experience freedom we must understand how vital forgiveness is. Forgiveness is like the blood that flows from our hearts to the other organs in our body. When we don't forgive we block the flow with our emotional baggage. We experience "blood clots" called anger, bitterness and resentment and thus can not function properly. We can't love unconditionally, we have no joy, and no peace. In essence we become slaves to the hurt and pain that someone else has brought into our lives. Nevertheless, there is an answer to the problem, a prescription written from the best doctor himself, that will decongest all that congestion we refuse to let go of, and it is called forgiveness.
And the heart that lets go is the heart that will know so much freedom." ---Kevin Levar & One Sound.
As a young child I use to think it was impossible for someone to forgive somebody for the hurt and pain that they may have caused. I remember watching Talk shows like Oprah, Rick Lake, Geraldo Rivera and Sally Jesse Raphael, where people would be on there describing horrific acts that someone had done to them. Most of the time it was family members or someone they were particularly close to. Yet towards the end of the show, they would always say how they forgave that person for what they did. I use to think it was a hoax, just something the producers told them to say. Until I experienced my own hurt and pain from people that I loved, and I had to learn how to forgive.
Forgiveness is never easy, but it is essential. Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door to your healing process. The Oxford English Dictionary defines forgiveness as to grant free pardon and to give up all claim on account of an offense or debt. When we don't forgive those that have hurt us it causes us to become bitter and angry. It creates issues that become so deeply rooted in our heart that it prohibits are spiritual and natural growth. When we don't learn to forgive we carry around emotional baggage from relationship to relationship. "If we are congested it is hard for us to be a decongestant to someone else"---Dr. Jeffrey McCune. Thus we become a nation of people with hurt, hurting other people.
Mark 11:25 instructs us that when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your father in heaven may forgive your sins. In order to move forward and experience freedom we must understand how vital forgiveness is. Forgiveness is like the blood that flows from our hearts to the other organs in our body. When we don't forgive we block the flow with our emotional baggage. We experience "blood clots" called anger, bitterness and resentment and thus can not function properly. We can't love unconditionally, we have no joy, and no peace. In essence we become slaves to the hurt and pain that someone else has brought into our lives. Nevertheless, there is an answer to the problem, a prescription written from the best doctor himself, that will decongest all that congestion we refuse to let go of, and it is called forgiveness.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Butterfly Effect
"Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over it became a butterfly." ---Proverb
As I transitioned into my thirties this year, I was given a journal with this quote by a special person in my life. Upon reading the quote inscribed on the journal I begin to have an emotional moment. For many years I had been a caterpillar, and now at the good old age of 30 it felt as if I was finally transitioning into a beautiful butterfly. As I reminisced over my life, I realized that this transition had not been an easy one. There were many ups, and downs, many nights I soaked my pillow cases with my tears, many days I questioned the process, but alas the day had finally come when I would break out of my cocoon and emerge out into the earth as a beautiful butterfly.
Change is inevitable, it is a process that we all must go through, a transforming process, where we experience a change in our lives to help push us to our destiny. As we transition from a caterpillar to a butterfly the process is never an easy one. The metamorphic process that takes place usually requires some type of death, not only in the natural but also in the spiritual. Many of us have experienced a point in our lives where we felt like the pressure of life was "too much" for us to handle. Yet it is at these moments when we are hit the hardest, that God reminds us that what we are experiencing is a part of the process working out for our good. Romans 8:28 tells us that "All things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose.
As we experience these moments of change in our lives, we must remember that the transformation process takes time. It is not something that is going to happen overnight but a process that takes most of us years to go through. It is a process that helps to shape our mental, physical, and spiritual state of being. We never stop changing, but we do get to a core in our existence where we mature into a beautiful butterfly. So the next time, the cares of life seem to weigh you down, the winds of adversity are blowing you to and fro, remind yourself that this is a part of the transformation process working out for your good. Don't focus on the pain of the process but keep your mind and eyes focused on the end result. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, so get ready because the day is coming where you will have to spread your wings and prepare to fly. Yet for now be content in the state that you are in for, we are all caterpillars trying to be butterflies.
As I transitioned into my thirties this year, I was given a journal with this quote by a special person in my life. Upon reading the quote inscribed on the journal I begin to have an emotional moment. For many years I had been a caterpillar, and now at the good old age of 30 it felt as if I was finally transitioning into a beautiful butterfly. As I reminisced over my life, I realized that this transition had not been an easy one. There were many ups, and downs, many nights I soaked my pillow cases with my tears, many days I questioned the process, but alas the day had finally come when I would break out of my cocoon and emerge out into the earth as a beautiful butterfly.
Change is inevitable, it is a process that we all must go through, a transforming process, where we experience a change in our lives to help push us to our destiny. As we transition from a caterpillar to a butterfly the process is never an easy one. The metamorphic process that takes place usually requires some type of death, not only in the natural but also in the spiritual. Many of us have experienced a point in our lives where we felt like the pressure of life was "too much" for us to handle. Yet it is at these moments when we are hit the hardest, that God reminds us that what we are experiencing is a part of the process working out for our good. Romans 8:28 tells us that "All things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose.
As we experience these moments of change in our lives, we must remember that the transformation process takes time. It is not something that is going to happen overnight but a process that takes most of us years to go through. It is a process that helps to shape our mental, physical, and spiritual state of being. We never stop changing, but we do get to a core in our existence where we mature into a beautiful butterfly. So the next time, the cares of life seem to weigh you down, the winds of adversity are blowing you to and fro, remind yourself that this is a part of the transformation process working out for your good. Don't focus on the pain of the process but keep your mind and eyes focused on the end result. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, so get ready because the day is coming where you will have to spread your wings and prepare to fly. Yet for now be content in the state that you are in for, we are all caterpillars trying to be butterflies.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Early Bird Special
When I was a child, my grandmother would awake me early in the morning and say "Lil Bill its time to get up, and seek the Lord for it's the early Bird that gets the worm." As a child I never quite understood this statement and hated getting up at the dusk of dawn to pray, and get ready for the events of the day. However as I got older in life I learned that indeed it is the early bird that catches the best worms. The metaphor that my grandmother used of the birds and the worms was to help me understand that it is those that are up working early that find the best opportunities, the best jobs, and experience the best productivity.
There's a special moment one can experience with God when arising early in the morning to seek him. David said it best in Psalm 63:1 Oh God thou art my God; early will I seek thee: Seeking God early deepens an intimate relationship with our father that helps give us clear direction for the events of the day. It is when we arise early that we often times feel refreshed and have the most productive day in our lives.
"The men who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees. He who fritters away the early morning, its opportunity and freshness, in other pursuits than seeking God will make poor headway seeking Him the rest of the day. If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, He will be in the last place the remainder of the day." ---E.M. Bounds
Wake up early, change your normal routine of sleeping in, and allow God to speak to your heart as the sunrises. Meditate on his goodness and allow his spirit to gently rest upon your heart like the dew does in the morning. Whatever your early morning routine may be, change it up a little and watch your day become more prosperous and productive. Remember if you want the best worms in life, sometimes you got to be an early bird and RISE!
There's a special moment one can experience with God when arising early in the morning to seek him. David said it best in Psalm 63:1 Oh God thou art my God; early will I seek thee: Seeking God early deepens an intimate relationship with our father that helps give us clear direction for the events of the day. It is when we arise early that we often times feel refreshed and have the most productive day in our lives.
"The men who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees. He who fritters away the early morning, its opportunity and freshness, in other pursuits than seeking God will make poor headway seeking Him the rest of the day. If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, He will be in the last place the remainder of the day." ---E.M. Bounds
Wake up early, change your normal routine of sleeping in, and allow God to speak to your heart as the sunrises. Meditate on his goodness and allow his spirit to gently rest upon your heart like the dew does in the morning. Whatever your early morning routine may be, change it up a little and watch your day become more prosperous and productive. Remember if you want the best worms in life, sometimes you got to be an early bird and RISE!
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