Today Is National Camera Day & We’re Celebrating Our Love of Taking Pictures!

Pinterest Board: Click On Image

Do you love cameras? Do you still take pictures with them versus the phone cameras? Today is National Camera Day! While I love the convenience and cost effectiveness of digital cameras, I still love the feel, look, nostalgia and mechanics of vintage cameras. I love photography, and the essence of capturing an image as it appears at that moment.

This picture is from one of my boards on Pinterest. Do you have a board on Pinterest that you want to share your pictures of vintage cameras with other camera enthusiasts? Happy National Camera Day!

The Sun, Moon and Rainbow!

You know, sometimes you have to stand in awe and watch the beautiful blossoms of God’s grand creation, speak uniquely in their natural personal appearances, which cannot be orchestrated by man. While driving home this evening just before darkness crept up, we had a rainshower during the same time the sun came out. Old folks used to say in certain cultures that this was a sign the Devil was beating his wife! Go figure and don’t ask!

But after the showers, as expected I saw the beautiful arch of a rainbow opposite the brilliance of the sun. Although the sight of a rainbow makes my heart skip a beat, because it is a clear reminder of the beauty that lies after a storm, I saw something else that peaked through the opening of some white clouds in front of the backdrop of a blue sky. Incredibly, it was a perfect half moon. I wanted to pull over out of the traffic, because I simply could not believe that I was witnessing the cameo appearances of the sun, moon and a rainbow all at the same time!

All I could say at that moment was “WOW, God you are so awesome!” I couldn’t even take a picture that would come close to grasping the beauty and emotion I was feeling at that moment. Sometimes, just when we least expect it, God will whisper to us, “Psst, come here and let me show you something” or “Hey, would you take a look at this!” If you are intuned to hear and listen His voice when He speaks, no matter where you are or what is going on around you, God will reveal some amazing and spectacular things, that can change your life in a miraculous way!

Memories On Father's Day!

This year, I join the many people who will celebrate the first Father’s Day without their father. When my father passed away a month ago, just a few days shy of Mother’s Day, you don’t really think about their absence during the time your grief is brand new and fresh. Today, I am not certain if I feel sadness or a void that will never be filled, but I do sense an aloofness of thought at the moment. It’s a thought that I know is a reality and don’t dispel, but I think my thought process is reactivating memories of a time that once was.

Losing your parents almost takes you back to a mental position where you were, when you were just getting out in the world on your own. It sort of feels like you are learning to fly all over again. Yet, this time around, the flight is not foreign, but a continuation of a journey. It’s sort of like a layover when you are traveling by airplane.

Gone, but not forgotten takes on a completely different meaning. Yet, we begin new memories, although these cannot serve as a replacement memory of those past experiences. I implore all fathers, even those who lack the type of parenting skills that kids need nowadays, to step up to the plate and help our young people become valuable additions and contributors to society.  Mothers of course, are extremely important, especially where that nurturing spirit and support comes into play with her children. However, some fathers don’t realize what a vital role they play in the strength and bonding of his family. Fathers are supposed to compliment mothers and vice versa, even if a divorce is a part of the equation.

So on this beautiful Father’s Day, I want to wish all of the fathers, as well as mothers who had to step in for an absentee father, to enjoy and celebrate this day! For those fathers who are away from their children, perhaps due to military deployment, we pray for your safe and speedy return to your family.

Happy Father’s Day!

Have You Identified Your Gift?

Sometimes the way we are able to retain and think about the things that apply to life and how it affects us, is to write those thoughts down, read over what you wrote, pray about it and allow it to penetrate in your spirit to make positive contributions to life!

How have you identified, defined and understood your purpose, talent and gift responsibility? Is your gift evident in your walk, conversation and servitude? What are you doing on a daily basis to strengthen your gift? How are you sharing your gift with others?

Thought for TODAY Reminder from Mahatma Gandhi

"Learn as if you were going to live forever. Live as if you were going to die tomorrow." 

-Mahatma Gandhi

Preparing for a Final Farewell

As I sit here thinking about the emotionally charged tragedies and events that took place this week, I prayed to God for granting those families a double dose of strength to help them through their crisis, although I didn’t know any of them. There were situations where some people became a victim while trying to be a Good Samaritan, while others faced watching loved ones slip away from this life, due to a long or short-term illness.

As of yesterday morning, my family has joined the ranks of those families this week who are mourning over the departing of a friend, family member or even the close companionship of a pet. Although we knew what the doctor’s diagnosis was for my father’s condition due to suffering a heart attack two days before Christmas (December 23, 2012), you are still never fully prepared for “that” phone call in the wee hours of the night or morning announcing that they are gone from this life forever. Early yesterday morning at 1:52a.m., I was awaken by “that” phone call. When I looked at the caller ID and I looked at the time, “I knew” and my heart began racing faster than the speed of any NASCAR driver’s car engine. I could not control that, because it was natural and I just had to go with the flow.

Your mind begins to race like a child’s spinning top toy and you become literally numb. This isn’t the first time I experienced this and it certainly won’t be the last, as long as I am living.  It’s never easy, unless you have no emotional attachment to life, but as you are faced with the reality of a dearly departed family member or friend, you go through a roller coaster of highs and lows that you just have to let happen. At some point however, you have to get off that ride and move on, not getting over it, but dealing with and getting through it.  

While sitting here drafting words for my father’s obituary, then planning to collaborate with the thoughts from my sister and brothers later today, I needed to write down my current thoughts and feelings from just this week’s tragic events alone, in order to garner “that” strength to make it through this grief. While the emotion drifting in the air from my father’s transition, which happened a few days before Mother’s Day (my mother passed away from this life on Easter Sunday 2003), I am still strengthened (in an ethereal kind of way) by these occurrences. The time my parents were here on this side of life was theirs. How they lived it, was on them. Now, I am standing with a little more strength to do “this,” to make my time here more meaningful and to strive every day to leave a legacy that will be a helpmate and not a “hinder-mate” on this side of life for someone who truly needs it. For all of our foreparents, and us, just as it was for my parents “The life I live, will definitely speak for me!”

In times of grief you need some moments alone, in the quiet of the morning, when unspoken words resonate with an epiphany of what you need to do and how you have to respond, whether you like or agree with the answer or not. Despite the fact that everyone’s pain and tragedies are different, no one tries to boast about “My pain and tragedy is worse than yours!” A connection of compassion and peaceful reassurance needs no explanation between people who are “going through” some things. We all have our issues. I think that leaning on God’s Everlasting Arms is that one thing reassuring me the most; and that assurance gives me the courage and strength to do what sometimes seems like an impossible task!

The Finale of National Poetry Month with "Mountain So High"

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring

good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who

proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’”

- Isaiah 52:7 (NIV)

Mountain So High

A majestic piece of sculpture

eloquently draped in peaks and valleys

commands prestigious attention

by ethereal conception.

Highs of joy

lows of tribulation

integrate to find balance

and common ground.

How do you climb a mountain so high?

Where ruggedness and challenges transcend?

Elevating to claim victory

while obstructing the grip of defeat.

There’s nothing wrong with asking for help

persuaded the mighty voice sublime

getting over this massive mound

the direction is seek and ye shall find.

With fascination the hard core stones

had cracks where green trees grew.

Impossible! How could that be?

It’s amazing what a little faith and perseverance can do.

I came upon an opening

pierced in the mountain’s side forlorn

bright light appeared near the tunnel’s end

illuminating a ray of hope.

You see my child

mountains are many

and as your tour guide

you may not have to climb those mountains at all.

For a tunnel I make

to ease your journey

leading you to the other side

from whence I call.

* This poem is from the collection found in the book Diversities of Gifts: Same Spirit (2009)