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Open Letter to a Celebrity

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When was the last time that someone held you accountable
Told you when you were right and wrong
When was the last time that they didn’t just listen to your beat or dance to your song
How long did you spend thinking about the decisions that you’ve made
Not just about the opportunity or how much you’ll get paid
When did you consider your influence and the power to inspire change
Have you realized that you could motivate some to do good and others to fail
Maybe you don’t realize they’re hanging on to your coattail
You say you want to make a statement and you have something to say
Have you considered your actions
Humbled yourself for a moment to just pray
Why are you so adamant on going against the grain
Not the one that makes you popular but the one that declares His name
I know your not religious or at least when it comes to this
You believe you can do whatever you want and still receive His blessed kiss
Now up until this moment, you were considering my words
Don’t let what others say confuse you and make you act absurd
Yes there are things that you can do which defame your name
They make you look bad and bring you shame
There are those that may pay you very well
But the price that you pay…it’s your soul that you sell
Now consider my question and consider your call
Do you have someone to hold you accountable at all

Sincerely a praying sister concerned and watching,

Makeda

The Choices That We Make

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Over the course of our life times we are faced with choices.

Our life experiences shape the way that we view the world and in a way, they predetermine the choices that we make…unless something or someone intervenes to help reshape the way that we view the world.

In this manner, our relationships become as important, if not more important than the experiences that we’ve had.

Last night, I sat and had a conversation with my husband about a few things.   I realized, once again, that it is important to get wise counsel before making a choice, if I’m not sure what to do.  (And in many cases, even when I’m sure what to do)

You see, just because we view the world in a specific way doesn’t mean that it’s the way that the world should be viewed.  Just because we want to handle a situation a certain way, doesn’t mean that we should…

Sometimes…most of the times…no, all of the times…it is important for us to thoroughly consider the choices that we make.  How will our choices affect other people?  How will they affect us?

We have to take our time to make the proper, correct, right choice…the one that represents us…

I am thankful for my husband.  I am thankful for his wisdom.  I am thankful for our unity.

It is my hope that I would always be able to consider the various options before me and the effects of each choice that I make, wisely.

Have you ever realized that your choices should be thoroughly considered and in considering them, you changed your mind?  If so, what or who made you see this?  What would the outcome have been like if you made the other choice?  Please share…

Make The Choice

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There are going to be times in life where situations happen. They may cause us to feel like we have just been thrown into a really chaotic moment.

Regardless of the Situation we have to make a choice. “How will this thing affect me?” We have to decide whether or not this thing will pull us down or will we use it as an reason to sprint or propel forward.

Let me tell you. I used to make the first choice.

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I used to be so downtrodden at times that I couldn’t see my way out for hours and in extreme situations, days.

Not any more!

Now I make the choice to take the good and give back the bad. I see the negative situation, emotion, circumstance, but it won’t stop me. I’m moving forward. It may take a moment to gather myself, but I’ll be just fine, if I take a moment to give it to God.

That’s right! I’m not playing strong…I’m giving it all to Him. I’m leaving it with Him too. He’ll take care of it. Everything that I care about, He cares about and will take care of it all.

Today I want to encourage you to do the same. Don’t be stressed. Give it to God! And Be BLESSED!!!

Steel, Roberts, and Macomber

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As many of you know, I enjoy sitting down with a great book. I have tons of books, but I’ve decided to find a new author to read. I don’t know anything about these, but have heard that they are best selling authors. These authors are Danielle Steel, Nora Roberts, and Debbie Macomber. Now when I am reading these novels I am not wanting sex novels. I don’t want anything that vears too far off from what I believe.

I went to barnes and nobles an talked to the customer service representative. I asked about the normal content of the books and was told that none of these authors have inappropriate material within their books. I’ve tried to do some research and have found the same thing. I purchased five books yesterday. I have fourteen days to decide if I want to keep them or not. I will be reading the books and doing reviews on them, at least what I read of them. My hope is that I will enjoy the books, but I’ll see.

The first book is The Knitting Diaries by Debbie Macomber.

 

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The Twenty-First Wish by Debbie MacomberAnne Marie Roche and her adopted daughter, ten-year-old Ellen, have each written a list of twenty wishes—on which they included learning to knit. But Ellen has quietly added a twenty-first wish: that her mom will fall in love with Tim, Ellen’s birth father, who’s recently entered their lives….

Coming Unraveled by Susan Mallery

When Robyn Mulligan’s dreams of becoming a Broadway star give way to longing for her childhood home, she returns to Texas, running her grandmother’s knitting store. But the handsome, hot-tempered T. J. Passman isn’t making it easy on her. If he can learn to trust Robyn, and overcome his tragic past, they just might discover a passion like no other.

Return to Summer Island by Christina Skye

After a devastating car accident, Caro McNeal is welcomed by a community of knitters on Oregon’s sleepy Summer Island. She also finds meaning and purpose in the letters she exchanges with a marine serving in Afghanistan. But when life takes another unexpected turn, will Caro pick up the threads of hope, opening her heart to wherever it takes her? ~Good Reads Summary

 

The Next book is One Day at a Time by Danielle Steel
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Danielle Steel celebrates families of every stripe in her compelling new novel—a tale of three very different couples who struggle and survive, love, laugh, and learn to take life…

Coco Barrington was born into a legendary Hollywood family, her last name loaded with expectations. Her mother is a mega-bestselling author who writes under the name of Florence Flowers—and her sister, Jane, is one of Hollywood’s top producers. They’re not your typical family by any means.…Jane has lived with her partner, Liz, for ten years, in a solid, loving relationship. Florence, widowed but still radiant, has just begun a secret romance with a man twenty-four years her junior. And Coco, a law school dropout and the family black sheep, works as a dog walker, having fled life in the spotlight for the artsy northern California beach town of Bolinas.

But when Coco reluctantly agrees to dog-sit in Jane’s luxurious home, she soon discovers how much things can change in just a matter of days.…It turns out Jane’s house comes complete with an unexpected houseguest: Leslie Baxter, a dashing but down-to-earth British actor who’s fleeing a psycho ex-girlfriend. Their worlds couldn’t be more different. The attraction couldn’t be more immediate.

Suddenly Coco is seeing things differently: Leslie is not just a celebrity, he’s a single dad to an adorable six-year-old girl. Her mother is not just a self-centered walking advertisement for great cosmetic surgery, she’s a woman in love, with vulnerability and new insight. And Jane and Liz are about to take the bravest plunge of all—into parenthood. As Coco contemplates a future with one of Hollywood’s hottest stars, as her mother and sister settle into their lives, old wounds are healed and new familes are formed—some traditional, some not so traditional, but all bonded by love.

With wit and intelligence, Danielle Steel’s new novel explores love in all its guises, taking us into the lives of three unusual but wonderfully realcouples. Funny, sexy, and wise, One Day at a Time is at once moving, thought provoking, and utterly impossible to put down. ~Good Reads Summary

 The third book is First Impressions by Nora Roberts

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Escaping the rat race and the lure of gold-digging women, wealthy businessman Vance Banning moves to a small, rural retreat, telling the townsfolk that he’s an out-of-work carpenter. All he wants is peace, quiet and to keep away from women. So the last thing he needs is a charitable neighbor–especially a beautiful, gracious and persistent neighbor of the female persuasion–but there’s something about Shane Abbott he just can’t ignore. Vance is certain his cover story will stop his lovely neighbor from getting too friendly, but Shane is determined to break down his resistance. Vance has been burned once, so only a fool would fall for the same innocent act twice. And he’s no fool. But he has no idea how relentless Shane Abbott can be when it comes to giving a helping hand–or a loving heart.

He needed to simplify his life and mend his broken heart. She was searching for a place to finally fit in and a man who could love her for who she was. Together they discover that all they really needed was each other, and that love is the greatest Christmas gift of all.  ~Good Reads Summary

The fourth book is 44 Charles Street by Danielle Steel

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A magical transformation takes place in Danielle Steel’s luminous new novel: strangers become roommates, roommates become friends, and friends become a family in a turn-of-the-century house in Manhattan’s West Village.

The plumbing was prone to leaks, the furniture rescued from garage sales. And every square inch was being devotedly restored to its original splendor—even as a relationship fell to pieces. Now Francesca Thayer, newly separated from her lawyer boyfriend Todd, is desperate. The owner of a struggling art gallery, and suddenly the sole mortgage payer on her Greenwich Village townhouse, Francesca does the math and then the unimaginable. She puts out an advertisement for boarders. Soon her house becomes a whole new world.

First comes Eileen, a fresh, pretty L.A. transplant, now a New York City schoolteacher. Then there’s Chris, a young father struggling with a troubled ex-wife and the challenge of parenting a seven-year-old son who visits every other weekend. The final tenant is Marya, a celebrated cookbook author hoping to start a new chapter in her life after the death of her husband. As Francesca’s art gallery begins to find its footing and Todd moves on to another woman, she discovers that her accidental tenants have become the most important people in her life.

As the roommates bond, and the house fills with the aroma of Marya’s exquisite cuisine, there are shadows as well as light. Naïve Eileen explores the precarious boundaries of online dating with a series of strangers. Chris’s custody fight for his son escalates to devastating levels. Marya faces an unexpected choice that will take her into untested waters. And Francesca herself will contemplate what had seemed impossible: opening her heart once more.

Over the course of one amazing, unforgettable, ultimately life-changing year, the house at 44 Charles Street fills with laughter, heartbreak, and, always, hope. In the hands of master storyteller Danielle Steel, it’s a place those who visit will never want to leave.  ~Good Reads Summary

The fifth and final book is From the Heart by Nora Roberts

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In this stunning collection of novels, “America’s favorite writer” (New Yorker) illuminates the dreams that lead us toward destiny- and the desires that rule over our hearts.

Tonight and Always
When a renowned anthropologist agreed to help a writer research his new novel, she wasn’t prepared for the passion their collaboration would spark…

A Matter of Choice
An international smuggling ring traps a beautiful antiques dealer and a New York City cop in a web of danger and desire…

Endings and Beginnings
Two Washington television reporters try to protect their love from their own professional rivalry-and the hazards of their celebrity… ~Good Reads Summary

I am really excited about these books.  It may be because the covers of the books are so beautiful.  I just need to get into the contents of the pages.  Well, I’ll be digging in to them soon.  Once I get done, I’ll write a review of each book, but I think I already said that.  I think I’m babbling now…on to the reading. 🙂

What about Halloween? The obvious…

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This image is only to display the obvious images that are present on Halloween

Today, I thought long and hard about what I wanted to say regarding this topic.  The more I thought, the more I wanted to say.  The more I wanted to say the more I thought of you, the reader.  I wondered if you would actually take the time to read this article and if you did, would you ask yourself…What about Halloween?  I wondered if you would question the things that you see and the things that are around you.  I wondered if you would see, the obvious.

Now when I say “the obvious,” I am not saying that this is something that we all see.  Instead I am saying that it is something that we should all see, but have been trained to ignore.  Thus the obvious becomes the irrelevant and the invisible.  To some degree, the obvious also becomes the ignored or the accepted.  I know, I’ve said a lot, but let me explain.

Today I took my daughter to ballet.  While there the ballet teacher told my daughter and the other children to wear their Halloween costumes to class next Thursday.  Immediately, I said, “We don’t celebrate Halloween,” and then smiled.  Another parent that was standing by me said, “We don’t really celebrate it either and someone asked me, why it’s ok for Mormons to celebrate it.” This mother is a Mormon and she knows that I’m a Christian, so she looked at me and asked why? She said, “The costumes are fun, just don’t get all Satanish about it.”  I looked at her, surprised that she actually wanted to know my thoughts and reasoning about Halloween and I began.

Every year, during the month of October, the stores are filled with images of things that are gross and frightening.  The costumes that go on sale are ones that would only frighten an adult, let alone a child.  Although many adults see these costumes as harmless, if it were not Halloween and a person was walking around dressed as a witch because she was one or an ax murder, people would run and find the nearest police officer and then go straight home.  The encounter would be considered the worst experience ever, until the next horrific occasion arose.

The Decor

During this time of year, decorations are put all over.  This is no different from any other celebratory occasion, but the type of decor is rather strange.  Skeletons, witches, grave yards, monsters, bats, spiders, blood, severed limbs…must I say more?  The images that begin to appear during the month of October are normally considered horrific or inappropriate, but this is the only time that it is acceptable.  I was told by someone recently that a man was driving around with a limb hanging out of the back of his trunk.  I’m sure that many people thought it was funny, but the truth is that he could have really had a dead person in his car and no one would have known, simply because its close to Halloween.

In my neighborhood, here in Utah, people have applied fake blood to their doors and hung skeletons from their trees.  There are multiple life-size replicas of Frankenstein, dead bodies, scary children with bleeding feet crouched on the ground, there are even chairs that rock all by them selves.  The children in the neighborhood are afraid to walk to school because of the severed limbs placed in the front yards of neighbors who have turned their homes into portraits of death.

The Representing Figures of Halloween

I have already discussed the decor that is seen during this particular time of year.  Let’s now look at the symbols and figures of Halloween.

The Witch

When you look up witch on the internet, here is one of the first things that comes up.

“Practitioners of the Wiccan religion, known as witches, exist around the world, though witches with supernatural powers are creatures of myth.” ~Ask.com

Images of witches have been portrayed all over television.  They have been in books and fairytale.  When you think of a witch, what do you think of?  I think of a woman dressed in dark-colored clothes, with a weird look about her.  I think of broomsticks, magic, and witch craft.  I think of a woman trying to conjure up a spell to control another human being.  I think of black magic.  No I am a Christian and I believe that magic is against God.  We will visit this in more detail in another article, but ask yourself what you believe for a moment about God and magic.Now that you have done that, you might be saying that I am going overboard because there is no such thing as a witch.  They are made up right?!  Think again.

Digispy.com has an article posted about a practicing wiccan that is renting her home out every night during the month of October.  Her intent is to teach people magic.  She has been practicing magic for 25 years and is a witch.

 “I’m really excited to show all my guests the true meaning of Halloween and how to get into the spirit of things – after all, who knows how to celebrate Halloween better than a witch?”
Starza will give guests a history of Wicca, in addition to personalised Tarot card readings. She is also offering spell lessons and potion-making for guests who choose to partake. ~digitalspy.com

Did you catch that? The true meaning of Halloween.

Other figures of Halloween are the vampire, the werwolf, the ghost, the skeleton, that grave yard, and zombies. Each of these figures are representations of death.  I will be writing another article on these figures.

 

The Ritual: the Candy

During the month of October candy is one of the items that quickly goes on the shelves at the grocery stores and it is sold out quick.  THose who participate in Halloween rack up on their stock of candy because they want to have a pleasing sweet treat for all of the children that will knock on their doors.

Children that will knock on their doors?

Yes…

Do you remember what you were taught about taking candy from strangers?

Do you realize what you teach your children about taking candy from strangers?

Yet every year on October 31st, parents allow their children to go door to door and take candy from strangers.  They even smile and tell the children that it’s fun…all for a celebration…what is being celebrated?

Are you getting it?

The Obvious Lesson…

For years, I didn’t know.  I walked around like everyone else, participating in Halloween.  Then I began to have a relationship with the Lord, and my eyes began to open to the obvious things that I could not see before.  Over time, I realized that Halloween was something that took all that I believed, stood for, and taught my kids, and turned it around.  On October 31, someone was making a mockery of me.  On October 31st, I stood for nothing.  All I wanted was to have fun because, well, it was fun, right?! Or was it?  If I had not been taught by the world around me that this and all of the activities that surrounded Halloween were ok, for this one day, I would have though that something was wrong.  I would have, like you, never participated in such a gory, frightening, celebration of…what is being celebrated?

I have only presented you with what you can see with your own eyes.  It is up to you to begin to look at things through a clear lens.  You have to ask questions.  If you do, you’ll get answers.

I pray that God will touch your heart and show you the truth about Halloween.

Join me tomorrow for day two of What about Halloween.


Bringing Up Children

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Have you ever thought about what it takes to bring up children? How are parents supposed to help children become responsible educated adults?  Have you ever wondered what kind of time and effort it would require or the amount of commitment that it would take?

The truth is that not to many people do.  Many people may even say, “There’s nothing to it, but to do it. Right?!”

WRONG!!!

That’s right!  I used all capital letters and three exclamation points.  I want you to think about this.  There is more to it than just doing it.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.  ~Proverbs 22:6

Train up a child.  Think about training and all that goes into it on the part of the trainer and the trainee.  That means that a lot of hard work, preparation, educating, correcting, and patience will be needed.  Now, that is a lot to be required of parents, but there is more that will be needed.  Parents have to be willing to make choices and to stand behind them.  They have to teach their children right from wrong and be willing to discipline them when they are wrong.  With all of that, there is more…

The world will come up against everything that a parent attempts to instill in a child.  Here are a few examples of what parents will encounter:

Parent:  “Wear you coat.”

Child:  “I don’t want to wear my coat.  Bobby, Susan, and Jane don’t have their coats on.”

Parent: “I’m not their mother.

At this point the parent will have to decide what to do.  Will the parent give in or stand behind the decision that was originally made.

Parent: “We don’t use that type of language!”

Child: “Why not?  I heard it on t.v…”

Parent: “Because it’s wrong and foul.”

Child: “But Jane talks like that all the time and her mother doesn’t say anything.”

The parent has to decide how to handle the situation.

Parents have to talk to their children about drinking, drugs, sex, friendships, faith, morals, and so much more.

It is our responsibility to teach and train our children.  When they leave our homes, they are supposed to be responsible, educated, morally good, adults.  If you are a Christian, like I am, then our children should also leave our homes filled with faith, knowing how to pray, and trust God in all situations.  They should not be afraid to make hard choices.  In fact they should expect to and realize that making those choices will change the lives of those around them.

Training up children is not easy, but it is an honorable job.  What the world wants for my children is not what is important to us.  Instead we focus in on what God wants for them.  As a mother, I teach them to be children that will one day grow into individuals of integrity who, by their lives, will  change the world around them, for the better.

So the next time you are confronted with making a hard decision as a parent, know that you are fully equipped to do so.  The decisions that you make for your children will determine who they become and who they will be when you are long gone.

It is a parent’s job to bring up their children…