Thursday, October 27, 2016

34.

A few years ago, I began a series on or around my birthday, posting lessons, reflections, thoughts and ideas from the previous year, but that also reflected the current year as well. With my birthday approaching this year, I spent some time compiling my list but didn't have a chance to post it as it was a very busy time for me. I spent the earlier part of my birthday running errands and then spent the later part at the airport and then on a flight to Athens, Greece with my Mom and friend. So, while it's a bit or a lot late it still is a reflection of the ideas and thoughts that whirled in my mind, capturing the previous year.

1. Marvin Sapp is one of the few people who can truly sing the songs of my heart to God
2. Dark chocolate chip cookies
3. I really love cooking for people and I'm always constantly feeding someone. It's just something I love to do.
4. God will always be the greatest love of my life.
5. Gold jewelry.
6. My love for art is inexplainable. You can always find me at a museum and when I go for periods without a visit I do suffer slightly.
7. I never stop challenging myself.
8. I am still learning to take people at face value and not read meaning into certain actions. Sometimes, it's not that deep.
9. I fall in love with cities and I don't think I've ever met a city I didn't like. I always see the beauty in every place and I think it's a plus because I'm never out of my element except if I choose to be.
10. "Just to be is a blessing, just to live is holy." Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
11. I do not take good health for granted at all.
12. My niece and nephews are still some of my favorite people, but then, there's this boy called Paul.
13. I have never encountered more assholes in a square mile of space than I have in the City of London. Hopefully, I haven't become one of them and even if I have I'm still on the mild spectrum so have no fear.
14. Louie Giglio, Tim Keller, Bank Akinmola, Tony Evans, C.S. Lewis, Larry York and Gary Clarke have shaped my theology and walk with God more than they'll ever know on this side of eternity.
15. If I were a closet raider, I'll target Tracee Ellis Ross, Lupita N'yongo, Shiona Turini, Solange Knowles, Kerry Washington, and Hannah Bronfman. Their sense of style is totally up my alley!
16. "In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." Martin Luther King Jr.
17. All that glitters is not gold.
18. I still have a fetish for glossy magazines.
19. I love the deep dirty south [from Savannah, to Mobile, Nashville, Charleston, Atlanta, Ruston and all in between, I'm glad the south is my second home].
20. Life truly has a way of coming full circle.
21. Almost everything I know, I learned from a book.
22. Looking back, my life has been full of so many grand enriching experiences, so that I can honestly say that I've lived and continue to live a very good life.
23. The older I've gotten, the wider my pool of acquaintances has grown, while my circle of friends has gotten infinitesimally smaller.
24. I always opt for in person conversations if I can help the situation. I don't trust emotions I cannot see.
25. Emily Dickinson's poem, "I Dwell in Possibility," still remains a top favorite of mine.
26. One thing I've learned is that people will walk away. Oftentimes, it is because you no longer fit a certain mold or box they've made for you, or that you no longer serve their purpose or simply because you've outgrown each other. However, I have found wisdom in this and will quote T.D. Jakes who said, when people walk away, let them go. Your destiny is never tied to anyone who left. It doesn't mean that they are bad people it just means that their part is over in your story.
27. Indeed, God bless the child that's got her own.
28. God can make something out of nothing.
29. The experience of being a black person is one of my greatest joys. Should I be given the option to choose I would still choose the skin I'm in. In the words of James Brown, "I'm black and I'm proud."
30. Always be the bigger person.
31. Let it go.
32. There have never been ideal situations in my life. Thus, I have come to realize that my life does happen, not because I have my ducks in a row, but in spite of them not being so.
33. I am still in need of heart surgery. Psalm 91.
34. ___________