There Was A Woman
There was a woman who settled in her life’s routine. Like most she grew up with dreams. She wanted to be a doctor, world famous dancer, even an astronaut reaching for the stars but when it was all said and done the farthest she got was a 15-minute bus ride 5 miles from her home. Day after day the alarm clock would wake from her solitary sleep, wash, put on her navy blue dress for work and her flats, ate toast and drank hot tea, before grabbing her purse and descending the eight steps to the bus stop in front of her stoop.
Day after day…wake, wash, dress, eat, purse, steps, bus, work. Week after week…wake, wash, dress, eat, purse, steps, bus, work. Month after month and year after year…wake, wash, dress, eat, purse, steps, bus, work. The most intriguing part of her routine was the bus ride. Each day the #82 bus would pick her up from in front of her home and drive five miles pass the grocery store, 2 McDonald’s, a gas station and a school to the law office where she worked as a secretary. Day after day, #82, grocery store, Mickey D’s, gas station, school, work. Week after week, #82, grocery store, Mickey D’s, gas station, school, work. Month after month and year after year…#82, grocery store, Mickey D’s, gas station, school, and work.
As time passed she settled into her routine and became not happy but content with her life. She accepted that she would never be a life saving doctor. She believed she would never dance for the world nor see the stars as an astronaut. She had never journeyed pass the five miles it took to pass the grocery store, 2 Mickey D’s, a gas station, and school, on her way to work. She minimized her dreams from infinity to fit within a five-mile radius. She no longer believed in the possibilities of what she could not see and only believed in the certainty of her daily reality. Somewhere and at some time she lost faith and stopped dreaming.
One day her alarm clock failed to sound the beginning of her routine. As she rushed in a panic her day became anything but regular. Her wash was rushed, her dress was wrinkled, cold buttered bread would have to serve as her breakfast, her purse was a wreck, and her usual eight steps were cut in half as she hurried to an approaching bus. Desiring to regain some normalcy to her routine she stopped, took a breath and found her usual seat. ‘This isn’t the usual driver or the usual passengers’ the woman thought; a notion she quickly deemed irrelevant. Pass the grocery store and pass one then two McDonald’s before passing the gas station and the school. As the woman prepared to exit at the law office, an even more unusual and unexpected wrench in her routine would occur. The bus coasted clear pass the law office.
Immediately fear took over the woman as she realized she inadvertently boarded the express cross town bus. She frantically searched for a remedy to a situation but this was new. She did not know what to do. This was completely outside of what she was used to. She didn’t know the turns the bus was making. She did not recognize the places she was passing…or did she? A sign, “Allied Nursing Institute” caught her eye. Her head swung as a sign “Dance School” entered her vision. She glared in aw as the sign directing traffic to the Space & Science Center passed. She reminisced with thoughts of her childhood. A flood of calm and wonderment overtook her. She began to remember there was more to life than the five-mile world she constructed for herself.
There is more to life than just what we experience each day. The world is greater than our individual neighborhoods. Even the number of people whose lives we were created to touch is greater than the members of our immediate family. Sometimes we let life bury the dreams. Too many disappointments caused us to lose faith or accept a belief that it was not meant for us. We cannot wait to accidently get on a bus out of town to remember all that life has buried. Dream again. Set new goals. Stretch beyond your comfort zone. Do something different and you are assured that something different will happen in your life. To walk with God, you have to first start walking.
Trust and Go
Its Got to Make Sense
Don't Forfeit Your Stuff
Who Is Around You?
Loving Presence
In our everyday life we are surrounded by a variety of people. Some of the people we deal with on a daily basis are a joy to be with, and their loving presence nurtures and encourages us. Others may have the opposite effect, draining us of our energy, making us feel tired and exhausted. Our well-being can be easily influenced by those around us, and if we can keep this in mind, we will have greater insights into the quality of our social interactions and their energetic effect on us.
Once we think more deeply about the people we interact with, it becomes easier for us to work toward filling our lives with people who help us cultivate healthy and positive relationships. Even though it might not always seem like we have much control over who we are with, we do. The power to step back from toxicity lies within us. All we have to do is take a few moments to reflect on how another person makes you feel. Assessing the people we spend the most time with allows us to see if they add something constructive to, or subtract from, our lives. Should a friend sap our strength, for example, we can simply set the intention to tell them how we feel or simply spend less time with them. We will find that the moment we are honest with ourselves about our own feelings, the more candid we can be with others about how they make us feel. While this may involve some drastic changes to our social life it can bring about a personal transformation that will truly empower us, since the decision to live our truth will infuse our lives with greater happiness.
When we surround ourselves with positive people, we clear away the negativity that exists around us and create more room to welcome nurturing energy. Doing this not only enriches our lives but also envelopes us in a supportive and healing space that fosters greater growth, understanding, and love of ourselves as well as those we care about.
Toxic People
As you clean out your closets exchanging the bulky sweaters of winter for the short sleeves of spring and summer, clean out your telephone. As you throw out old papers and spring clean through the house, throw out old numbers and clean out email addresses. Toxins are poisonous to your body. Whether from the food we eat, the pollutants we breathe, or the people we let speak over us; toxins kills. They are poisonous to the individual body which infects the overall body of Christ. We become deceased, disabled, and ineffective all because of toxins. When it comes to the people in our lives we tend to surrender our power behaving as though we have no control over whose words, whose actions, whose drama we let into our life and spirit. We do have power. We have choices. We can say when someone is allowed to dump on us and when we don’t. We can, in love, ask someone to only share positive thoughts and words with them. It is time to re-evaluate the time we share with that person who always complains. If you are not assigned to counsel them then pass them to who is. Please know, I am not advising you begin to turn your back on folks. Toxins are specifically designed to destroy. That is their make-up, their focus, and their purpose. There are times when a friend may have a bad day and need your encouragement. That is completely different than the friend who can only complain about your strides forward, never supports, and only tell you to not even try. That is a toxic person you may need a cleansing from. As the seasons change and you are in the cleaning mood, consider cleaning your relationships as well. Get rid of the toxins.
