Wiser on Wednesday - Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof

Matthew 6:25-34 (New International Version - also found in Luke 12:22-32)

25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or spin.

29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these.
30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 So do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?'
32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

this is one of my favorite passages in the Bible - especially how verse 34 reads in the King James Version: 34Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Wiser on Wednesday - Still I Rise

Still I Rise - Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Wiser on Wednesday - Ego Tripping

EGO Tripping - (there may be a reason why)
by Nikki Giovanni *

I was born in the congo
I walked to the fertile crescent and built
the sphinx
I designed a pyramid so tough that a star
that only glows every one hundred years falls
into the center giving divine perfect light
I am bad

I sat on the throne
drinking nectar with allah
I got hot and sent an ice age to europe
to cool my thirst
My oldest daughter is nefertiti
the tears from my birth pains
created the nile
I am a beautiful woman

I gazed on the forest and burned
out the sahara desert
with a packet of goat's meat
and a change of clothes
I crossed it in two hours
I am a gazelle so swift
so swift you can't catch me

For a birthday present when he was three
I gave my son hannibal an elephant
He gave me rome for mother's day
My strength flows ever on

My son noah built new/ark and
I stood proudly at the helm
as we sailed on a soft summer day
I turned myself into myself and was
jesus
men intone my loving name
All praises All praises
I am the one who would save

I sowed diamonds in my back yard
My bowels deliver uranium
the filings from my fingernails are
semi-precious jewels
On a trip north
I caught a cold and blew
My nose giving oil to the arab world
I am so hip even my errors are correct
I sailed west to reach east and had to round off
the earth as I went
The hair from my head thinned and gold was laid
across three continents
I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal
I cannot be comprehended except by my permission

I mean...I...can fly
like a bird in the sky...

*Nikki Giovanni is an African-American poet and essayist who came to prominence during the civil rights movement of the late 1960s. Born in Tennessee and raised in Ohio, she was educated at Fisk and Columbia universities. In the '60s she joined the Black Arts Movement and became one of the leading poets of the Black Power wing of activists. - accessed 12-2-09 http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/nikkigiovanni.html
...The author of some 30 books for both adults and children, Nikki Giovanni is a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. - accessed 12-2-09 http://nikki-giovanni.com/bio.shtml

Wiser on Wednesday - Four Women

Four Women - Nina Simone

My skin is black
My arms are long
My hair is wooly
My back is strong
Strong enough to take the pain
It’s been inflicted again and again
What do they call me
My name is aunt sarah
My name is aunt sarah

My skin is yellow
My hair is long
Between two worlds
I do belong
My father was rich and white
He forced my mother late one night
What do they call me
My name is siffronia
My name is siffronia

My skin is tan
My hair’s alright, it’s fine
My hips invite you
And my lips are like wine
Whose little girl am i?
Well yours if you have some money to buy
What do they call me
My name is sweet thing
My name is sweet thing

My skin is brown
And my manner is tough
I’ll kill the first mother I see
Cos my life has been too rough
I’m awfully bitter these days
Because my parents were slaves
What do they call me
My
Name
Is
Peaches

A link to the song...Thanks Rethabile! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yWOVrwe1Zw&feature=player_embedded

Two-s Day: Two Perspectives - One situation

Subject: Dear Diary

DOG'S DIARY ENTRIES...
8:00 am Dog food!
My favorite thing!
9:30 am A car ride!
My favorite thing!
9:40 am A walk in the park!
My favorite thing!
10:30 am Got rubbed and petted!
My favorite thing!
12:00 pm Lunch!
My favorite thing!
1:00 pm Played in the yard!
My favorite thing!
3:00 pm Wagged my tail!
My favorite thing!
5:00 pm Milk bones!
My favorite thing!
7:00 pm Got to play ball!
My favorite thing!
8:00 pm Wow! Watched TV with my master!
My favorite thing!
11:00 pm Sleeping on the bed!
My favorite thing!

Excerpts from a Cat's Daily Diary: Day 683 of my captivity:

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape.. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the floor. Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am. The audacity! There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage. Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs.I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released --and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded! The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicating with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. The captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe....... for now....

I'd rather be quilting... and the concept of Value

You may remember my entry about quilting back in August 2009 http://aclearerday.blogspot.com/2009_08_01_archive.html

My friend and instructor thought out loud that journaling about this quilting journey and process might be fun and certainly funny a year from now. So hear goes:

As I've mentioned my friend has tried for over twenty years to get me to quilt. So last year I started and when she and the videos and the books started talking about color value and intensity and shading ...well let's just say my first quilt was black and white! (we'll go into how that wasn't the true escape I'd thought it'd be another day)

So I am starting another piecing project - that's when you design and trace and cut the small pieces that you sew together to make the top (what I use to call the "quilt" - see I'm learning) Actually I use to call "piecing" quilting, but quilting is the small intricate designs you sew onto the top - okay yes I digress.
Back to value - so this new project I am pushing myself toward color. I had some various greens and found a lovely gold fabric for the background and I thought I was set. But what do I learn? that although each fabric was different in color and size of print the Values were too similar - meaning they were all dark and in the same color category (I think that's what it means) . So yesterday my friend pushes me to go to the local quilt shop and talk with the women there.

Well! they were nice but the colors they selected were so different. I mean I know they are experts and they knew exactly what my friend was talking about... but seriously the colors they selected were so pale! They were mostly white backgrounds and believe you me I don't think they "go" at all!

I told my friend this morning and she's laughing at me probably even now. She says to include them and see what happens. okaaay. she says send her a picture of the fabrics so she can see. okaay. and even though I began to see what they each were talking about as they selected fabric and I selected fabric... I'm still contemplating making a name for myself as the black and white quilting queen.! :-/

Wiser on Wednesday - December 2, 2009

PUNCTUATE the sentence below. Do not rearrange the words. Scroll down to see how it tends to shake out.


WOMAN WITHOUT HER MAN IS NOTHING

Perspective and experience is an amazing influence on how we understand and interpret our world. It affects how we read, how we internalize. This is an "icebreaker" I've used when I begin a group or bible study. It helps orient people to each other's differences and varying perspectives.

WOMAN! WITHOUT HER, MAN IS NOTHING. (women usually punctuate this way)

WOMAN, WITHOUT HER MAN, IS NOTHING. (men usually punctuate this way)

very in-ter-resting!