Marriage

For some that take it for granted or don’t see the value of marriage when you can get the milk for free. Let’s ponder that thought for a moment. One can ask why waste your time with marriage when you have so man options without enduring the heartaches that go along with it.

Well if you look at the quality of life issues that are a benefit to marriage when you approach it with the best of intentions. I say the best of intentions because that is a quantifier. It’s the value that you attach to the relationship that matters.

I was not aware of the intensity of feelings and emotions that goes along with being committed to someone. Yes you made a vow to deal with someone through better or worse. But are you aware of the role that you play in the challenges that unfold. The issues that you are blindsided with that show you characteristics of yourself that lie within you.

You made a vow to deal with someone that God has entrusted you withto cling to and advocate for regardless to their faults and shortcomings because you are both imperfect beings and you have to embrace one another and grow into your greater self. In the midst of everything else that is going on in and around you.

You are not aware of the role that you have consistently played in the elevation or diminished returns that you are getting. Marriages start off on a high note and the momentum can and does change. There are other things to contend with as the honeymoon phases gives way to the realities of living.

You start to look at each other in a more comprehensive way and express the famous words: “I didn’t sign for this.” These are her sentiments as well is amazing what couples put themselves through but somehow if you are determined you can get through the series of mountains that you will have to get through.

Whatever you are going through you can go through and grow through. Its a choice that you make everyday on how you are going to deal with each other. Its good to get clarity on things that are a part of life and and the nuts and bolts of life. Because somethings are a deal maker or breaker: financial; children; time together to name a few.

Both parties bring their preconceived notions and expectations about the management of a marriage. Let’s not forget the importance of communication and conflict resolution styles. Yes their is the honeymoon and the courtship time but its when you get down to the nitty gritty of leaving with someone in each other personal space that is when the rubber hits the road.

When you are going through the life experiences and everything is coming at you including the kitchen sink will you rise to the occasion or will you concede to defeat. So many couples concede to defeat and then is the couples that allow themselves to be compromised and become indecisive about putting forth the effort to overcome that moment that seems to be unrelenting but needs to stop.

Marriage is not for the faint hearted but its a classic example of the reinvention and the renewing of the mind. Whatever the issues and concerns that you deal with you made a vow to prevail. Taking time out to be honest with your needs are is critical. There will be times when there will be an impasse and what you do at that point is critical to the sustainability of the relationship.

We are all challenged and it shows in every facet of our being including marriages. Now is the time to go forward with something new and different and change the narrative of how we deal with ourselves and one another up close and personal.

The African proverb states that the ruin of a nation begins in the home. In contrast I would like to add that the ruin of a nation beings in the home as well. We owe it to ourselves and one another to live a full and abundant life and bring out the best in one another.

Marriage is a sacred act decreed by God, and the Creator expects more out of us than what he is getting. Being love and kind draws us closer to the source that we came from. We have suffered needlessly at our own devices.

• Marriage
• Judge Not By The Apperance of Things
• Be In Alignment With Your Desires
• Continue To Focus On Elevation
• Its Just Good To Be Alive

Judge Not By The Apperance of Things

 

There comes a time in our life when we have to contend with issues and concerns whose appearance can be overwhelming. Liken to what the comedian Redd Foxx said: “the bills come on the time. It’s the money that’s late.” How many can relate to the fact that we are often overwhelmed by our circumstances when faced with challenges that seem impossible.

 

My father would often say that he took his concerns to the altar, and when he felt better, he would take them back, when he realized that he took his problems to the lord and let him fight his battles. Some things are for the lord to resolve—the Bible states for us to lean on the lord and not our understanding.

 

There is a level of faith that exceeds the limitations of our abilities. We must trust the Lord and know for a surety that he will direct our path. Some ways seem pleasing to man but fall short of the glory of the lord. There is greatness within us that we have yet to experience but yearning to express itself. As Jesus said: “he that believes in that indwelling spirit that is in me, great things have I done but greater things shall you do.”

 

It’s time to come into a greater awareness of how dynamic we are consistent with the notion that God made humanity his image and likeness. We have the attributes of the creator inside of us, and the spirit of the Lord resides within humanity as the Bible encourages us to be in agreement with the Lord and to keep his commandments, and live a spirit-filled existence.

 

Coming into the realization of what it means to be on one accord with the creator is an essential ingredient of being made in the image and likeness of the creator. Jesus recognized his Christ potential, and so should we. He stated the father and I are one, and that should be our mantra as well. In that respect, it is our oneness with the Lord that makes a difference. Liken to Jesus, the Christ potential resides within us that makes a difference. To be Christlike is to be Godlike.

 

One must go beyond the way that you have accustomed to viewing yourself when you say that you can do all things through Christ that strengthens you that should be more than mere rhetoric. It should be a way of life. Consistent with the theme that we are to let this mind be in us that was also in Christ Jesus, who is a form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.

 

We are a Godly expression and manifestation, and it’s time to go beyond the limitations that we have imposed upon ourselves. It’s our mindset and the way that we think that does make a difference. We are fantastic by design, and we should consider ourselves more comprehensively. We do have the capacity to move mountains if we are in alignment with the life force that can manifest that greatness that resides within us.

 

Changing the narrative and the conversation that we have with ourselves does make a difference. We have a great mind, and that’s what Christ is, the mind of God individualized. It is the knowledge and wisdom of God unto salvation. Our mind is the most crucial part of our being, for thoughts are the mind in action. As a man thinks and believes in their heart, so is he this is why it is important to not judge by the appearance of things.

 

Believing in that indwelling spirit that resides within you does make a difference. There is another world inside of you. The beauty of contemporary living is that we have access to information that can assist us in evolving to a higher level of thinking. We live in the information age, which allows us to formulate and design a better life for ourselves. To go beyond the limitations that we have imposed upon ourselves.

 

We are privy to another world that resides within us in the biblical context, which states: “eyes have not seen and ears have not heard nor has it entered into the mind of man the things that the Lord has in store for those that love the lord according to his purpose.”

 

The Bible says it best coming into an awareness of your true self and the life force that resides within you. Now is the time to move forward and not be constrained by the limitations that you impose upon yourself.

Be In Alignment With Your Desires

When you ask the creator for somethingw and it doesn’t manifest, one has to ask, are you in alignment with what you desire to have? It’s not just a question of why didn’t it happen but the role we play in manifesting the desires of our hearts. When you ask the creator for something, did you move out of the way and let the creator do his perfect work through you.

Continue To Focus On Elevation

Fight for your marriage instead of fighting against one another. There’s another world inside of you yearning to express itself. The Bible states, do…

Continue To Focus On Elevation

Its Just Good To Be Alive

I know that we are all going through something, but think about the people that have lost loved ones in the midst of the pandemic. Think about how our lives have been redefined in the midst of the volatile times and how our way of life has changed on a global scale. Now that the dusk is settled and the smoke has cleared, we are yet still standing.

My goal is not to negate any feelings or concerns that we have, but to look at our life in a more comprehensive manner. The collateral beauty of the pandemic is that we are forced to look at our relationship with one another and ourselves as well as our creator in a different light. Our definiton of what is normal has been shifted, because we have been forced to look at ourselves up close and personal and how we function on this planet.

If ever there was a time to experience a transformation and a renewal of the mind, now is the time. In the biblical sense we were born for a time such as this to yield to a higher calling and recognize the value that we all have. There is nothing wrong with being loving and kind towards one another and holding one another to higher levels of engagement.

We know that there is a lot of anger being spewed out at this time, but do we have to yield to it. We do have a choice in how we engage one another and the need is so great to embrace one another instead of recoiling from one another. If there is going to be a change in the dynamics of this planet to be in alignment with the will of the creator it begins with everyone taking responsibilty for there own actions. We can live in away to make our lives more fulfilling if we chose to.

The creator is lettiing his presence be known and for humanity to get back on course and follow his commandments and the greatest of these is love. In the biblical context the creator is raising up a nation that will obey him. This is the opportune time to be on this planet to change the narrative of our life for generations to come. We do not have to be conformed to the ways and standards of this hostile system that we live in.

Its time to change and go forward with something new and different and go beyond the way that we have traditionally defined our lives, to live in an harmonious fashion and let the creator do his perfect way through us, to honor the divine presence that exist within us all.

God bless you and continue to focus on elevation.

• 

The Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates – The Atlantic

Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.
— Read on www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

Fall Is Here

• 

My Book Signing July, 2018 Be Ye Transformed By The Renewal of The Mind

Fall is here, it’s a little chili, and I’m indoors, so one of those days when you’re trying to make something happen. It’s interesting because, amid a pandemic related to being retired, my days are at a halt anyway. I was already working remotely as a writer; that’s an idea. Especially liken to myself being in an ongoing contemplative mode.

I am always pondering the state of affairs; the key is to capture those moments on paper because once I start, it’s off to the races. Everything takes on a life of its own, and that’s when the creative juices began to flow. Writing for me is an outlet, as well as an inlet. For not only am I in the spirit but experiencing an inspired moment.

It’s time to be constructively engaged in an activity instead of being stifled. In all actuality, as a writer, the key is to initiate a task, and the next thing you know, you chisel away, and the masterpiece appears. When I wrote my book, it was a compilation of material related to daily dynamics and life experiences.

A writer can always create a pathway for themselves, liken to the adage that a thousand-mile journey begins with that single step in that direction. For me, my interest in topics related to themes of inspiration and transformation. A timely matter is reflective of the volatile times that we are experiencing.

If there was ever a need to be inspired and transformed, now is the time. Amid the storm, one needs to know that we still have a chance despite the enormity of the demands that we are addressing. It’s so easy to feel overwhelmed and disconnected, considering the mountainous variables that we are all experiencing.

Even before the onset of the covic pandemic and the social pandemic related to race relations with the commander and chief promoting divisiveness, there was already a sense of uneasiness. Even with myself, I felt the need to shift gears and go forward with something new and different; retirement had been looming in the background for me for years. So when an opportunity presented itself, I jumped on it.

Now that I’m retired, I have a lot of time on my hands, and the most important thing is how I use my time and resources/resourcefulness. In my case, with a family, others can see me at their disposal as well. I like spending time with my family, but I did have plans to spend my time developing and promoting the new and improved Calvin. Or shall we say the transformed and renewed Calvin.

The latter is most befitting, yes I have a book out, but the key is to attend to and promote my book and the initiative associated with it. An essential component of the book was to use it as a platform to encourage community activism, manifesting itself in the role that I am engaged in as a member in my new found church home. Amazingly, the Lord saw fit that I find an opportunity right close to where I live, which has twofold benefits to be active in my church and community at the same time.   

Yes, fall is here, and now is the opportune time to advantage of it and expressing the more excellent vision of ourselves that’s been yearning to aspiring itself through you and for you. With the emerging cold and semi-hibernation mode, the blahs related to less sunlight about less sunlight and being indoors. On the contrary, this is the opportune time to make full use of your skills and imagination to transform your life.

The most important ingredient that we have is the creative use of our time. Instead of feeling stifled by your circumstances, embrace your challenges instead of being challenged by them; this can be an ideal time to engage in conflict resolution. You are mindful that the problem and the solution reflect the mindset that you employ. It’s a mind thing, and one must be aware of the thoughts you engage in because thoughts are things, and words do materialize.

Living A Spirit Filled Life

For The Lord Can Make Away Out of No Way

When you’re going through something, it seems like there is no proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. Liken to Job, the harder you try the more difficulties you have to contend it. It’s like a never-ending story.

True, no one said the road would be easy. Even in the midst of it all, I must draw on a profound statement that someone told me. I stated: that when you get to the end of your rope you tie a knot in it and hold on. Their response was in the true form of enlightenment: “ you tie a knot in the rope and you pull yourself up.”

That’s how life is, one must speak things into existence. You can expect to have difficulties in life, but that is a key point to remember. In life, there will always be demands placed upon us that we have to adapt to. We have the ability to be creative, and reinvent ourselves, or adapt to the challenges that we have to contend with.

When there are obstacles we have to learn how to create another pathway or alternate way to contend with our issues. As we grow and evolve in our awareness of just how dynamic we are, and can be. We can contend with, or circumvent any obstacle, or the appearance of one.

We have the ability to adapt and modify our circumstances. We just have to be mindful of key ingredients: “ the problem exists within us but so does the solution.” In Alcohol Anonymous, a profound step that I reference: “is that one must take a fearless moral inventory of themselves.” Essentially we have to take a look at the role that we play in the affairs of our life.

For thoughts are things and words materialize. Everything is precipitated by thoughts. Whatever we are contending with, reflects the mindset that we are engaged in. Nothing just happens on its own, independent of any variable. In psychiatry, prior to the onset of any hospitalization, one always looks at the precipitating factors. Or the thought pattern that the individual was engaged in.

The lord gives us the ability to create our heaven or hell on this earth. For everything that exists in our world, we create intentionally or unintentionally. Consciously or unconsciously, what is going on in our world reflects the predominate thought pattern that we engage in.

We have been encouraged to be mindful of the thoughts that we entertain; because thoughts are things and words do materialize. Even in the Bible, it’s stated that as a man thinks so is he. For we are a thinking machine. That’s the most important part of us is our ability to think. It is imperative that we give proper attention to the thoughts that we attend to. For we operate in a manner consistent with our predominate thinking.

Our thoughts and actions are one. Our conditions and circumstances are what we create. Your circumstances are reflective of the thought pattern that you engage in. If you want your condition to change then change the way you view your circumstances. Your perception of your circumstances and your ability to change your circumstances like a change agent is crucial. A sense of being hopeful and having authority over your circumstances is essential to your well being.

You are a definitive change agent. As long as you operate from that vantage point you tend to do well. It’s when you deviate from this line of reasoning that puts you in compromising situations. At the core of our being, we are designed to operate in a manner to bring resolution to our conflict.

Coming into the proper knowledge of whose we are and what we are capable of doing is the key. We are fortunate to have the guidance and to achieve this initiative. I am mindful of what someone informed me of many years ago, a point that still resonates in my mind. He stated that the best thing, as a parent, that you can do is to give your children spiritual insight on how to live.

We are to train up a child in the way that they should go, so if they should depart they will come back to it. Years later I have found that to be a profound statement. In the biblical context, we are encouraged to be in the world but not of the world. Even in the words of Jesus, he stated; “that we are to give on to Caesar what he is dew but we still give homage to the lord. Our allegiance is to the lord first and foremost.

It may seem paradoxical but we can attend to our earthly needs. However, not at the expense of our spiritual needs. We cannot serve two masters or gain the world but lose our soul. For the Lord created us for his distinct pleasure. We are encouraged to look to the Lord for guidance in all of our affairs. On the contrary, we cannot pick and chose how we deal with the lord. This is why we are instructed to lean on the lord and not our own understanding.

The lord does have a way out for the faithful. When it comes to matters of faith and conviction as believers we operate from the vantage point that the creator is no respecter of persons. We reference the Bible as an exemplar of God’s relationship with people.

We can extract principles of conduct that are either beneficial to us or detrimental to our walk with God. Just as important is that we are privy to have that relationship with the lord as well. Because he will do for us what he has done the people of the book. For he is the same God then same God now and forever.

We are privy to an awesome relationship it is up to us to embrace the experience. For what the Lord has for us is good and very good. We must view the Bible as more than a historical account of a godly presence in the affairs of mankind. These are not abstract constructs removed from us but they really are a definitive part of who we are as well.

We have to be mindful that the lord can no more for us then what he can thorough us. We can talk about the marvelous things that he did for others. But we must allow the spirit of the lord to resonant thought us as well.

It is our time to come into the fullness of what the Lord has to offer us. Whether that be as a nation or as an individual we have suffered enough operating outside of the will of the creator. We must furnish life so that God can use us. Again the lord can do no more us then what he can do through us.

It is imperative as the Apostle Paul states: “ that we let this mind be in us that was also in Christ Jesus who being a form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.” We must be in agreement with the will of the creator. To be a willing vessel that he can work through.

It is our connection to the Lord that will make a difference. Nothing should impede or separate us from our walk with the lord. Essentially we should keep God’s commandments and live a spirit-filled existence. For God is spirit so we should worship him in spirit and truth. Consistent with the theme that the Lord will put no more on us then what we can bear. He will leave a way of escape for the faithful.

Be Ye Transformed by The Renewal of The Mind

Be ye transformed by the renewal of the mind

When God puts something on your heart it’s something that he puts his trust in you to do. For the creator will give you the desires of your heart. I say this because, on the eve of the launch of my book, I have to deal with the emergence of a new Calvin.

This is the Calvin that has been renewed and is moving forward and confronting his fears. Pursuing a walk of faith and trusting in the process. It’s not easy the challenges are there, but so is the lord. I have pursued this course despite the challenges and impediments.

When you believe in something it doesn’t matter what others say or don’t say.? Neither does it matter what they do or don’t do. I had to believe in the possibilities even when it didn’t seem probable. God wants you to go forward with the understanding that what you can’t do he can. The creator will give you the desires of your heart.

Once I started there was no turning back. I had been impacted on by a different experience, so there was no turning back. Despite the tears and the despair I was walking by faith and not by sight. The appearance of things was not going to deter me anymore.

Yes, the book is my story but, it is also your story. Falling down in life is part of the process but, it doesn’t constitute a failure. Being determined to overcome yourself is the key. For the battle is in your mind and how you think. I can attest to that, you can change your thoughts and change your life.

My life did change when I realized it could change. I went through a phase of having a complicated life which led to being hospitalized as a young adult. Over time my life did become less complicated and I developed the mindset to achieve a wellness state of mind.

I would implore anyone that is suffering and feeling distressed, don’t try to go it alone. Don’t lean on to your own devices, put your trust in something or someone to help you. No need to suffer needlessly. We are meant to be a helpmate to one another.

We’re all going through something, but it’s how we go through it. The Lord allowed me to go through something. I become the person that I am because of my experiences. God transformed my mind and the renewing process is ongoing. All things are possible for those that believe. My life changed and I evolved into the person that I am.

I wrote this book as a testament to the fact that you can overcome yourself. It requires something different then what you’re doing. For we really are in the world but not of the world. This is why God expects so much from us because he knows what we are made of. He wants us to come into a greater awareness of ourselves and what we can be.

Be ye transformed by the renewal of your mind. Is my exploration into what allowed me to become the person that I am today. Not just what I went through, but what I continue to go through. No matter who you are what you think of yourself. Challenges will continue to be your lot in this life.

We must be open to reinventing ourselves throughout our lifespan. We must recognize that we do have options in life. If our initial plan is not working for us, be willing to create another pathway for yourself. Be strategic in your endeavors. Because everything is dependent on a thought pattern. Success or failure is all predicated on a mindset.

How you think is so important. If you are stuck you can get unstuck, just by the way that you think. Consider other possibilities even, if it doesn’t seem probable. If you don’t have the answers, be willing to get the help that you need to prevail over your situation. It’s okay to ask for help because it doesn’t make you inadequate to ask for assistance.

It was when I realized that we will have difficult times in our life. We will not always know what to do, or how to resolve our dilemma. Once again we are designed to be a helpmate to one another. Being mindful that being a helpmate is the natural order of things. My life did become more manageable when I accepted the assistance of others.

The way that we think is so important. Because thoughts are things, and words do materialize. Our world and way of life are influenced by the way that we think. Be mindful of the thoughts that we entertain, have authority over our life. There is power in the words that we use, being mindful that we can speak things into existence. Thoughts are things and words do materialize. Because everything that exists was first thought. Think about it.

Think about what you think about and mind your mind.