Your Heart

Go and open the mansion of the soul; when you find the powers of heaven, you shall

sit with them.

- The Book of Coming Forth by Day, translated by

Dr. Maulana Karenga

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Where your treasure is there your heart will be. Your heart is a place of silence and communion. Your heart houses the secrets of your soul; the path of your destiny. Your heart covets your desires and places them strongly in your mind. It is the key of all you want to be. You must have faith in your heart and trust all that it says to you. Never betray your own heart or you will find yourself lost. Your heart is the gatekeeper to your soul. It will never judge you, never doubt you, for your heart knows exactly who you are. Keep your heart light from grief. Let it guide you in all your ways. When things are not as you know they should be, retreat quietly to the resources of your heart. You make your heart a mystery. You fail to ask its advice. When your heart is heavy about a matter, you believe others can lift you up. If you really knew your heart you would never doubt its value to you. God speaks to us through our hearts because all that God is, is love.

God is in the midst of us. Wherever We ARE, God IS.

Power and Plans

"Power concedes nothing without a demand."

- Frederick Douglass

Have you noticed how long hard times seem to last? And don't rainy days seem to go on forever? Do life's difficulties appear to multiply rapidly? When hard times, difficulties or rainy days appear, do you give them all your attention? If you are like most of us, you probably do. And like most of us, you give difficulty power. Nothing is ever as it seems. What looks bad today, can be a blessing tomorrow. Challenges come so we can grow and be prepared for things we are not equipped to handle now. When we face our challenges with faith, prepared to learn, willing to make changes, and if necessary, to let go, we are demanding our power be returned. Willingness to grow is a demand for power.

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Plan. Do you have a plan? What is your plan? Have you failed to plan? Can you carry out the plan? If you do not have a plan, what do you plan to do? Life is much too precious to waste time on wonder or worry. You can predict your life's alternatives now, if you take time to plan. Plan your moments to be joyous. Plan your hours to be productive. Plan your days to be filled with peace. Plan your weeks to be educational. Plan your months to be filled with love. Plan your years to be purposeful. Plan your life to be an experience of growth. Plan to change. Plan to grow. Plan to spend quiet moments doing absolutely nothing. Planning is the only way to keep yourself on track. And when you know where you are going, a path will be cleared for you. Plan to be all you can.

Your Gift

Use What You've Been Given

What gift have you been given? Perhaps it is the flair to entertain or inspire. Perhaps it is the ability to fix things, cook well, or serve others with a smile. You may be a "techie" who is great at finding solutions to problems or programming software. Maybe you have the gift of creating beauty, connecting people, or making others laugh. Whatever your gift, you have a responsibility to be a good steward of it: "As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." (I Peter 4:10)

Investing in your talent by learning, growing and positively impacting others illustrates good stewardship. Good stewards not only use their gifts and multiply their rewards, but they also take care of what they have been given, no matter how seemingly small.

Consider this: The gift of being able to recognize and show gratitude can transform a dismal outlook into one of hopeful optimism.

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Heart to Heart

Our hearts are the wrapping which preserves God's word, we need no more.

When was the last time you sat down to have a heart to heart with yourself? Have you really examined your heart lately? Are you harboring childhood wounds? Are you still nursing a broken heart? Are you frightened? Angry? Guilty or ashamed? Is there someone you need to apologize to? Who have you forgiven lately? If God were to speak through your heart today, what would you hear? In the everyday quest to get through life, we sometimes forget we really do have all we need. It's tucked away safely inside us. It contributes to our thouhts and motivates our actions. If we clear it out it will actually speak to us and tell us exactly what to do. When was the last time you had a heart to heart with yourself?

With pure hearts we can be balanced in life.

Life: A Strain or A Struggle?

"Life doesn't have to be a strain or a struggle," are words spoken by Marion Anderson.

Sometimes we make life very difficult for ourselves. We have a great ability to create our own stress. We may refuse to see the good in anything or anyone. We sometimes refuse to count our blessings and complain about lack. We will criticize, judge or blame others because we forget when our choices were not wise. What we don't seem to realize is that when we voice words of struggle and strife we draw more of it into our experience. We create our own well-being according to the way we conduct our mind, mouth and heart. When we expect the best, we get it. When we speak of good, we see it. When we cleanse our hearts of fear, anger and strife, we place outselves on a higher vibration. If we choose to struggle with the issues of life, they will be very willing to fight us.

Remember the words "I AM" and create a great day.

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Fullness of Your Cup

Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:8



Faith without work cannot be called faith. Faith must inspire action. It alone cannot be verbal. Mental faith is insufficient. Faith is not believing, trying or hoping. It is the knowing by which you do. Faith develops endurance to face the trials without being tempted to stop. Faith produces doers. Those who understand fewness of words, greatness of deeds are a measure of true faith. Faith is obedience to the urgings of the spirit, the porthole through which all things have their being. Faith controls the tongue, soothes the head and stifles the need to complain. Faith produces patience. Our Lives are the only true measure of our faith. Our words and actions determine the fullness of our cup. If there is anyone or anything of unworthiness in our life I suggest we ask ourselves, "To what am I giving my faith?"

An Inch or a Yard?

... YOU MUST EAT THE ELEPHANT ONE BITE AT A TIME.

- Twi proverb

You cannot get to the end from the middle. You won't find the beginning at the end. No matter what we are doing, there is a process. Whether the situation is positive or negative, we must go through the process. When we rush ahead we miss important steps. If we become impatient, we can overlook details. We must be willing to move step by step, inch by inch to get to the end. There is no way to rush the process. When we are excited, we want to see how a situation will end. When the situation is unpleasant, we want it to end quickly. Whether anxiety or fear, the anticipation of benefits or pain, no matter what we do, we must be willing to do it one step at a time.

An inch is a cinch, a yard is hard.