G R O W I N G
Into STRENGTH
"You belong! Don’t let ‘nobody’ steal your dream." It is yours to achieve. Know that. It is possible. It is hard. The road is rough. You will slip. You will tumble. You will bruise. You’ll travel some paths alone and even the best laid plans will be upended by reality. The hill is steep but the journey is sweet. With this knowledge grow strong. Build meaningful relationships. Be brave. Achieve your dream. Leave this space a better place. Empower somebody.
While here, spend time to know yourself, to be yourself, to stretch yourself. Ignore action-inhibiting chattiness. Lift your feet above the clutter and run toward your dream. Live out your dream. Let the universe experience your presence. You are an uncommon breed. Evil will grab. Evil will block. Evil will stir. Evil will lose. If you are here to have a winning experience . . .
our simple question is this: are you ready?
INTELLIGENCE KNOWLEDGE WISDOM IMAGE
We Live. We look. We listen. We learn.
INVEST in YOURSELF - MIND, BODY & SOUL - then let the joyous blessings which flow run throughout the valleys like fresh rivers and rain upon the desert. Let the dry land bloom. Count not your blessings but the blooms. Enrich the earth. Empower somebody such that new eyes sparkle. Count not your blessings; count the new light beams piercing the darkness. This is the harvest that counts beyond measure. New stars. Joy overflowing! Where does one find the investment that reaps such a bounty? First, nourish yourself well enough to grow good seeds to sow. {Reference: Knowledge Part 2 and The Rat And The Alley Cat - Getting What You Want Along Your Journey.}
There is a blessing - a satisfaction - a feast from the fat of the land. That is the story of the hungry being fed. Count your blessing. Loaves and fishes. There is a bounty - a joy unspeakable beyond all accounting - miracles upon miracles without boundary or end. That is the story of sowers sowing seeds, souls full of gratitude, dry lands in full bloom again. This is the glory of the God of creation. The seeds are in our hands. Placed in trust! Sow those seeds.
a) boys are fed up of giving up their loaves & fishes to feed the rest
b) crowds are fed up of fakes serving coolaid screaming bloody hell
c) God is still speaking - no need to repeat what's done and said
Sow good seeds. Empower Somebody. Opportunities are everywhere a-plenty.
GROW INTO YOUR STRENGTH - "There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few things will catch your heart. Pursue those." That’s my recommendation. They will strengthen you and embolden you.
In between summer classes this week a university student stopped beside the pool to have one of our unscheduled chats, you know, what to do with the rest of one’s life? What’s best for a career? Where to live? When to start a family? What kind of family and how best to raise such a family? How to go about building a sustainable life and make a meaningful contribution to our society? How to have a beautiful, fruitful life?
It was an explorative session, not a session to give answers or guidance or counsel, rather one in which, I think, it is usually best to let a person freely explore thoughts and ideas, to just be a sounding board and let a person hear himself or herself think, to pose an expanding question here or there, but best, to just listen! So it was. Quite an extended session it turned out to be, at the hurried end of which, the student had a broad smile and my eyes were beaming.
Curiously enough, the day following, New York Times best-selling author and religious comentator Frank Schaeffer followed up his blog post, 'The Real Biological Clock Question Is Bigger Than Asking 'When to Have a Child?' with a live session, 'How To Answer Life Questions,' which I attended. Believe it or not, it was as if Frank was listening to exactly our poolside conversation then proceeded to provide his experiential take on the very issues we explored. It is quite fascinating. Check it out.
"If you want to touch the past, touch a rock. If you want to touch the present, touch a flower. If you want to touch the future, touch a life."
GIVE LOVE
CREATE BEAUTY
faith, trust, belief, dreams, desires, claims
So, there you have it. There is an intriguing intersection between the pursuit of dreams and the encumbrance of reality. It is a crowded and noisy intersection where the traffic lights rarely function as expected. Every journeyman comes to it. It is a character-building juncture. Our task is to prepare ourselves to pass through it. This is as good a time as any to remind ourselves to remember the lad. Note to self: the opportunity for learning remains wide open; exercise mind, body, and spirit. Be strong. KNOWLEDGE: faith is an essential element. So, what is faith? We'll explore that again.
KEEP IN MIND, also, OUR 'MIRROR IMAGE’: The three distinct but melded images revealed when an individual stands before any mirror - the images of Intention, Reflection and Projection, each having its own peculiar character: the character of the actor, the character of the mirror, the character of the observer. You'll need this.
Permit me to repeat the Master Of Ceremony:
"Don't allow yourself to be insuted
into compliance. Being you
is not being selfish,
unless being
selfish
is
BEING YOU."
... tAke noTe ...
I am born with potential. I am born with trust. I am born with greatness. I am created to be connected, I am necessary in this season. I'm born to make a difference.
NOT EVERYONE OBSERVING THE SAME IMAGE
WILL SEE THE SAME THING
Show your true colors. Some will see just black and white. Only grey some will see. Some will never see. "Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts," Albert Einstein. Show your TRUE COLORS; they are beautiful to empowered eyes.
"Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity." Chimamanda Adichie. Let's embrace all of our story. Let's own it all. Let it stand and it will stand the test of all time. LEARN SOMETHING NEW TODAY.
 
LET YOUR HEART TELL YOUR STORY
Light up the eyes around you
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P. C. Ritch, Esq.
GLOBAL
24 Hrs.
CURRENT R E F L E C T I O N
S O W I N G
Small Seeds
EMPOWER SOMEBODY
This is your life; only YOU can live it.
"Do you see what I see?"
"Dunno! I see what I see."
Let justice roll down like waters 
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Way back when!
God said,
Let the waters bring forth abundantly and swarm with living creatures, and let birds fly over the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.
God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good and approved it.
And so much more, if you but engage the whole - not just a part - and discover with your own eyes and ears and heart and mind the breath, depth and awesomness of creation, being aware in a manner that allows fruitful understanding of the story of the most remarkable unfolding of beginnings . . . so that we might think of such things, and not miss great opportunities for learning, expanding and creating.
| Within this chapel, we strive continually to uplift, encourage, inspire and challenge each other to achieve our best in mind, body and spirit. We live, laugh, love, look, listen & learn from each other. |
a new segment
MIRROR-MIRROR
ON THE WALL |
WHO IS THE FAIREST OF US ALL?
Through the mirror we see
from angled views
our selves
revealed beneath a light
that zit
that boil
crooked lips
twisted nose
beauty spoiled
while toes hide
beneath potbellied folds, naked
or toenails so untimely
sharp teeth cannot be seen
for the eye is trapped
- perspectively -
through a cone,
dripping, dipped too low.
"Oh, Mirror-Mirror, show me me."
Look!
See!
George Zimmerman is a mirror.
Trayvon Martin is a mirror.
Some looking at the one mirror
see someone else beside
evil personified
depravity - wretched state of soul
wickedness - rotted heart, stench so thick
un-scented to crooked noses so long defiled,
tucked and puffed with squirts of bottled roses
And looking at the other
mirror
straight on
see the self
heroic
not submitting to evil’s claim
not surrendering without a fight
eternally strong
against the spits of heated steel;
breath stilled to rip the veil,
exposing scars beneath thick rouge;
breath stilled to show
the strength of beauty
and the shrill of evil
so cold.
Trayvon Martin is a mirror.
George Zimmerman is a mirror.
That self, in which, we see
the lie
our truth
while this universe prints unceasingly
indelible images, unbroken,
every speck
- without respect to conical views -
unrestricted reflections, the which,
God sees.
And we alike; we see
every wink of every moment
of our self stilled
reflected in mirrors everywhere
accurately
and constantly,
for George Zimmerman is a mirror.
Trayvon Martin is a mirror.
Each of us seeing self in one
not the other
in this singular event
no one can hide
from the burden of our ancestry
from the victim of our ancestry
ever!
Blinded never -
not in this light
stilled against monstrous walls.
Stilled forever
this sight of you and me
for George Zimmerman is a mirror.
Trayvon Martin is a mirror.
I see you. You see me.
TRAYVON MARTIN IS A MIRROR
GEORGE ZIMMERMAN IS A MIRROR
SEARCH FOR THE GOOD STORIES
SEARCH THEM OUT
FIND THEM
HOLD ON TO THEM
THEY ARE EVERYWHERE
CREATE SHINY EYES
LOVED - NO QUESTIONS ASKED
Every Moment Is Precious
CHERISH EACH MOMENT
THANK YOU
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