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Listening at the Speed of Life

– by C. J. Wade –

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The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
– Proverbs 13:12

Hope deferred… That pair of words reminds me of Harlem, the famous Langston Hughes poem. It was one of my favorite reads in high school.

What truly happens to a dream deferred? That question has been a mystery for years, but the truth hasn’t changed in that the dream only dies when we allow it to cease. When you stop feeding it, it will starve and die within you. Then, you carry dead dreams, dead hope in desperate need of resuscitation. It’s hard to carry broken promises, shredded heart tissue, and withered hope. They’re like cannon balls in your chest, holding you down from flying past your present potential. This is where faith comes in from Hebrews 11:1 – Now faith is the substance of things HOPED for and the evidence of things not seen. Faith kicks in and stands at the door when hope runs out and fear circulates the perimeter of your heart in wait of your paralysis.

IMG_20160809_232315You can also think of this as a monetary transaction. Faith is the check written to you, while hope is the construction of belief that you’ll receive the cash. You can hold on to faith because it supersedes hope. Hope deferred will make your heart ill in longing to fulfill your purpose on Earth. Now this is where the 2nd part of the proverb makes its impact and where I get excited.

Desire fulfilled is a tree of life. Trees are designed to bear seeds. They can’t control where these seeds go, but they produce them out of obedience to their Maker. It has one job… to produce.  The tree stands tall and bears seeds and that’s how forests are formed. When your desires line up with God’s will, not fulfilling that desire/dream will make you feel seedless, unfruitful. The key word is here is FEEL. You are not a sterile spiritual being. You weren’t created to be that.

Once you tap into that TRUTH, you’ll see a tree of life inside of you, not a death sentence. Then, like a tree, the life cycle of your dream will continue well after you’re gone and growth will be inevitable. Your purpose-filled dream will touch many lives after your hands (or “branches”) have aged and produced seeds of great service. Your hope and dream(s) can not afford you to be lazy, discouraged, or spiritually sick. When something is deferred, it is not canceled… so your hope can still be resuscitated.

Keep your hope alive and intimately near  so that your rich, customized life can be the gift that keeps on giving to the soil and air around you.

Have you ever felt like your hope was petrified?

Your dream is a gift, so what are you giving?

What can you do this week to oxygenate your hope and aerate your dreams?

Feel free to comment below.

Peace & Thanks for listening. ✌

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The Feet of My Character

Last week, I learned a valuable lesson.

I control my character.
I can not control where it goes.

Two situations occurred that drained my positive energy. I came into the workplace as a champion reentering the ring to help people and slay giants, but I left the building with a soreness of spirit. I started the day with a plan. There was the morning talk. You know… the “you’re going to have a great day” mini-pep rally you conduct in the bathroom mirror or in your car. On some days, you would think I was about to play in the Super Bowl because in the world of education, everyday is a championship game. The esteem and futures of my students are at stake and I can positively or negatively affect them with every word and deed. Though I’m light-hearted in my profession, I don’t take that responsibility lightly.

While the details of the situations are irrelevant, the aftermath was that I was offended that an attribute of my character was in question. Questioning my integrity or loyalty is one of few things that can send me from 0 mph to 90 mph in 0.01 second. As I walked to my car, I heard the following in my heart:

Your character should stand on its own.

I literally paused in my tracks. My character has feet. It should stand when I’m not around. It can walk before me and plead my case through the mouths of others based upon what I exhibit daily. I can’t control what is said about me, especially in my absence. What I can control is my character. Am I showcasing sincerity, love, integrity, purpose, and respect? At the grocery store, at the gas station, toward my family… is my character loud enough to speak on my behalf? Does my character walk around others long after I’m gone? I know I make mistakes daily, but there is something to be said if the legs of our integrity are stronger than our mouths. If by chance you were unable to speak for yourself, could your character be on trial and win the case?

I realized last week that I can’t control what is said about me, but I can control what is said of me. Only those that know you can speak of you. Those that create a perception of you can talk about you. When individuals say something that doesn’t match the shoe size of your character, those that know of you can stand in your absence and speak the truth. I control the truth. When I am diligent, caring, honest, and authentic to one or many, I am strengthening that truth like it’s “leg day” at the gym. My character has feet, so I need to focus on its mileage, and not on the mouths of others.

Here’s a verse to help with your “workout” –

“Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.” – Colossians 4:6 NASB

I know some days you (and I) want to sprinkle cayenne pepper on your words instead of salt, but let’s make a pact to have less of those moments, OK? OK. *smile*

Peace & Thanks for listening.

3

Water Proof

Caution: Let’s go swimming in our thoughts for a bit…. 622 words deep to be exact.

I don’t know how to swim (effectively), but I love the beach. I see a swimming pool and I want to jump in like an Olympic diver and scuba diving is on my LTD (life-to-do) List. With all of this enchantment over water, such a simple necessity, it would make sense as to why God would use it to get His points across.

THE LATSOL MOMENT

One morning while I was walking my dog Sammy, I noticed the dew on the grass. My dog loves to slurp it off the grass in order to prolong his morning ritual. It was nothing new, but the temperature had been consistently 90 degrees or more in Alabama for a week and even the evenings felt like a cough of heat from the daytime. On this particular morning, the dew arrested my attention. How was there dew on the grass in the midst of heat? I know the scientific answer, but that wasn’t satisfying at that moment. Then I heard God say gently…

“No matter how hot it gets, there’s always dew on the grass in the morning.
That alone should be proof that I will take care of you.”

Wow. That was my water proof.  Finally. See a few years ago, I asked for God to help me understand him more… to make himself tangible to my curiosity and satisfy my itch to learn Him in a deeper way. So in order to understand my excitement about this “theorem,” you must hear my “proof.” (Hey, math teachers… two points?) 

Although there are contrary beliefs, these is mine.

HERE WE GO…

Proof:
God is like water.
It is a representation of His deity and awesomeness and is not bound by circumstances. 

Lastly and personally…

To say that water fascinates me would be an understatement. The shower is my thinking place and a warm bath is a cozy envelope for my questions and feelings of frustration. I leave them there, in the envelope, to go down the drain forevermore. When I step out of the shower, I am new. I’m ready for the day or evening and mentally prepared for what’s ahead.

So, when I saw the blades of grass with dew and Sammy was enjoying the natural refreshment in spite of the heat, I felt like God gave my proof some recognition. More like I finally listened to what He had been saying all along. I am God. I will provide. I am not affected by your changes. I am always here. 

I took a deep breath that morning and my soul agreed… and I felt amazing.

Peace & Thanks for listening.

4

Where’s North?

photogrid_1462683172881.jpg

A plan with no direction… What a sad plight. You’ve gotten everything ready. The paperwork. The people. The protocol. The capital. But where’s North?

Figuratively, I see North as the place where all other movement hinges. It’s the starting point. Once you know where North is, you know where to start moving. The next steps are predicated upon confirming that one direction and ignorance, in this case, is not bliss. Without this vital information, we travel in circles of frustration and become disoriented in our mistakes. Our former “Big Idea” becomes the bane of our existence and we sit on a pile of confusion praying for the answer to that simple question… “Where’s North?”

If there was just a glimpse of light, a twinkle of a star, a rudimentary clue, you could find your way out of the woods. Until that moment arrives, you wait and heighten your attention in hopes of finding out sooner than later.

The mind of a man has plans, but they are nothing without God’s direction (Proverbs 16:9). He is North. Your plans are well made, but they’re in a jungle of questions and uncertainty.

Find North first. The rest of your journey will make sense as you walk.

What forest have you been wandering in lately? When’s the last time you were still enough to hear where North is?

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No More Muddy Tracks

Sleeping dogs can't lie.

I have a dog… a puppy, actually.

For those who know me, your eyes probably just doubled in size. You may recall my life-long fright of four-legged canines of any size. What can I say? Things change and I truly believe he was meant to be my dog. I have seen more sunrises than I intended and heard more from God than I expected since Sammy’s paws stepped into my world. One of these lessons occurred on a cold and rainy day in Birmingham, Alabama.

There I was… praying that my dog would hurry up and relieve himself so I could dry my soles in the comfort of my heated home. It was the unforgiving wind coupled with rain that created an unholy matrimony for a bitter attitude to flourish. Sammy wasn’t a fan of the wind, but he enjoyed licking raindrops from the grass blades and slurping water from the mini-pools along the path. I felt myself getting frustrated.

“C’mon, Sammy… just use it already,” I muttered under my scarf. “Stay focused.”

He couldn’t care less about my rising flame of frustrated funk and was having the time of his life. The puppy pad was not an option; Being a chew toy was its demise. The doggie booties were returned to the store; I never got past one staying on without him taking it off. Apparently, being naked outside was his state of choice for the moment and I had better deal with it… mud, wind, rain, and all.

Finally, relief came and I was beyond elated to get inside. Oh, sweet victory! I wanted to rush us in, but I forgot the wipe towel and growled at myself. Sammy licked his paws in nonchalance, then proceeded inside.

“No! I do NOT want muddy tracks in my house! Let’s leave the outside, OUTSIDE!”

As soon as they left my lips, I heard the resonance of that string of words in my spirit… No muddy tracks.

I thought of how many times the past has tracked into our future. To scale down, how many times has a negative experience from your day – the “outside” – dribbled into your home as soon as you walked in it? You stepped in it earlier in the day. It’s stubborn and even satisfying to wallow in for a small length of time. When you walk inside, you realize it’s still there. It also takes more than water to remove it, but that’s for a different post. *wink* If we go a bit deeper, think of moments when a sour word, bad customer service experience, or a disagreement with someone disrupted the peace in which your soul was bathing.

It’s easy to allow the residue from situations of anger, sadness, mistrust, or resentment to transfer to the walls and floors of your inner sanctuary, and it can be quite difficult to remove it. Even temporary tattoos can linger around for a while.  That’s the where the peace of God steps in like a centurion (Philippians 4:7). It can see the danger of allowing unwanted visitors past the gate and the mud underneath their feet. While you’re focusing on the rain and the wind, peace stands guard to protect your heart and mind from receiving the muddy tracks those situations can leave on your soul.

Take a stand and be resolved. In light of it still being the first month, we have built a fire around resolutions and expectations to warm us throughout the new year. Let’s include the fortitude of throwing muddy tracks into that flame.

Peace & Thanks for listening.

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