Category: General Topics

Don’t Regret the Rain

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No, this is not symbolism; I’m actually really talking about rain here. We’re always taught, directly or indirectly, to regret the rain. To mentally throw our fist into the air and shout invisible slurs into the ears of angels; to curse the very nutrients coming down from the heavens. I may be one of the few people to actually like the rain. There is something very calming about the atmosphere when fresh rain is poured onto the ground, very soothing. Whether you’re cuddling with a spouse, enjoying a warm cup of coffee / tea, or reading a good book, you can always depend on the rain to inspire much needed meditation. Not that it’s raining now though, it’s actually nice and warm out here in Shreveport. So your probably wondering why I’d even bring up rain, just call it a random thought.

 
Here are some benefits of rain for the next time you find yourself wallowing in self-pity and regret because it rained on your parade—literally.

 
1) It puts moisture in the air
2) It helps with droughts
3) It fills streams
4) It washes away dirt from plants
5) It provides a drink for every living thing
6) It cools the temperature if it’s hot
7) It washes cars for free
8) It continues with the beneficial water cycle
9) It aids the poor in collecting water
10) It saves money from buying bottled water
11) It causes a rainbow to show up
12) It cleans roads with oil marks
13) It assists worms to move around the soil which aerates the ground
14) It can erode soil to form mountains
15) It can make certain insects and animals come out of hiding, like a snail which provides food for birds

A History Prophesied

Deut. 28:68

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“And Yah shall bring you back to Egypt in ships, by a way of which I said to you, ‘You are never to see it again.’ And there you shall be sold to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one to buy.” (1619)

Deut. 28:47-50:

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“Because you did not serve Yah your Power with joy and gladness of heart for all the plenty, you shall serve your enemies whom Yah sends against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in need of all. And he shall put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.”

“Yah brings a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, AS SWIFT AS THE EAGLE FLIES, a nation whose language you shall not understand, a fierce-looking nation, which shows no regard for the elderly nor show favour to the young,”

Isa. 47:6

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“I was wroth with My people, I have profaned My inheritance and I gave them into your hand. You showed them no compassion, you made your yoke very heavy on the elderly.”

Isa 42:22

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“But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore.”

Deut. 28:23

“And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is
under you iron.”

Deu 28:37
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“Thus you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a mockery among all the peoples to which Yah drives you.”

Jer 17:4 “And you, even of yourself, shall let go of your inheritance which I gave you. And I shall make you serve your enemies in a land which you have not known, for you have kindled a fire in My displeasure which burns forever.”

The Blessings of Solitude

Yes, this….

Sometimes you definitely need to get to that quite place to get to that workflow. As Franz Kafka put it, “Writing is utter solitude, the descent of the cold abyss of oneself”, had to share:

“I can only wish that you trustingly and patiently allow that grand solitude to work in you….It will act as an anonymous influence, akin to how ancestral blood constantly moves and merges with our own and links with that of the individual, never to be unlinked.” – Rainer Maria Rilke

Control

Control

You are late for work. You are fired from work. You can’t find a babysitter. You have to babysit on your only day off. You are given too much. You are not given enough. You are stuck in the rain. You are stuck in the house. Have a complaint? Pick one and put it here__________________.

I notice that we are often affected by a multitude of barriers that come to exist before us as we walk this path called life. We often run into situations that require our attention and either demand a positive or negative reaction in the process. How will I react to those things around me that have caused me to change in some way without my permission? How will we approach this thing or this person that has selfishly taken away our ability to find peace?

The real question is however, how much control are you willing to give over to these situations? How much of your peace are you willing to sacrifice? How much energy are you going to devote to this thing? How far are you willing to take this? Every time I think about anger issues, frustration, complaints and just situations in general, I cannot help but to also think of control. Will this situation typify us? Will it take us out of our element so that we become different people? Will it cause us to physically transform ourselves? Will it change our minds? We often look at circumstances as an external thing. It is either about an outside force against us, or a person outside of us. The truth is however; that the only power such elements have against you is the power you give it. Sometimes I look at situations that I believe are not as bad as some, but I marvel at how drastically the person has allowed the situation to change them.

It is not the reflections of others staring back at you when you look in the mirror, it is you staring back at you. You will always be your worst enemy or your best friend. The battles that take place in our lives are of our own making. They are a result of choices that we made. Even those things that are thrust upon us without permission can only grow according to our reaction to it.

The Best and Worst of Times

Tale-of-Two-Cities

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season for Light, it was the season for Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us…”

I am sure Charles Dickens’s “A Tale of Two Cities” didn’t have my thoughts in mind when it opened with this paragraph. Yet, as I read it, I cannot help but to stop and to ponder how it closely describes today. Not today as it is personal to the individual. Not today as in going to work, going to school or other miscellaneous routines to which we have sculpted our clocks to mimic. Not even today in the sense of any hint of parallel or extreme depth. I’m not even talking about the constructs of the book at all really. I’m not a fan of Dickens, but I love imagery in writing. I love being able to read a description that is so tasteful that it can be compared to something completely outside of its own identity and still make sense. This excerpt is that description, while the synopsis of the book has nothing to do with it. I’m sure any writer can take something insignificant and make use of it in other situations. And as such this small piece stood out to me, making me stop to ponder and to meditate on its relation to today. Not even the entire paragraph captured me but this part did, separating itself as a reminiscence of the world surrounding us. A mixture of light and darkness. Of hope and despair. Of truth and deception. Of redemption and condemnation. It is a wonderful time but a terrible time at the same time. Indeed, we are somewhere between movement and stillness.