When I Started Thinking Beyond the Blessing I have heard people talk about blessings all my life, especially growing up around folks who believed God had a hand in everything. We thanked God for food, family, jobs, homes, health, opportunities, and another morning to open our eyes. As I got older, though, I began thinking
The Blessing May Open the Door, but Grace Carries You Through Read More »
Everybody Is Not Going to Be Your Cup of Tea One thing life has taught me is that I am not going to like everybody I meet, and everybody I meet is not going to like me. That is just part of being human, and pretending otherwise does not make much sense to me. Sometimes
You Don’t Have to Like Them to Treat Them Right Read More »
A Different Kind of Revolution I have lived long enough to watch technology grow from something simple into something that touches almost every part of our lives. I remember when the telephone stayed in the house and the television had only a few channels. Back then, a computer was something most ordinary people never imagined
When the Machine Becomes Smarter Than Us Read More »
The Love Hidden in Consideration The older I get, the more I believe one of the highest forms of love is consideration. Sacrifice might rank a little higher, but that is a conversation for another day. I am talking about those small moments when somebody shows you that you crossed their mind without asking for
You Thought About Me Read More »
What Rubs Off on Us There is an old saying that if you sit in a fish market long enough, sooner or later you are going to smell like fish. Sit in a perfume shop, and chances are some of that sweet fragrance will follow you out the door. I have come to understand that
The Company We Keep Leaves a Scent Read More »
The Chair Can Become Too Comfortable The older I get, the more I understand that the body was made to move, even when life gives us plenty of reasons to sit still. We sit while watching television, using the computer, reading, driving, eating, talking, and sometimes simply because getting comfortable feels good. There is nothing
When Sitting Too Long Starts Talking Back to the Body Read More »
The Promise of Finding What Was Taken For Black Americans, ancestry is not simply a matter of curiosity about an old family tree. Slavery separated families, changed names, disrupted languages, and made it difficult for many descendants to trace an unbroken line back to particular African communities. That is why modern DNA testing can feel
When DNA Meets the Stories We Tell About Our African Roots Read More »
Everybody Wants Better Until Better Gets Expensive I have heard people complain about struggling neighborhoods most of my life. We want the abandoned houses repaired, the streets cleaned, the schools strengthened, the businesses reopened, and somebody to finally invest in the place. We want grocery stores instead of empty buildings and safe parks instead of
When the Neighborhood Gets Better, Who Gets to Stay? Read More »
When God Keeps Saying Wait There have been seasons in my life when I felt ready for something, yet nothing seemed to move. I prayed for the opportunity, believed I was prepared, and wondered why the answer kept looking like “wait.” That waiting can wear on you because eventually you start wondering whether God heard
Sometimes the Waiting Is Preparing Us Read More »
The Difference Between a Word and What It Carries The older I get, the more I understand that words do not travel through life empty. A dictionary can give me a definition, but a human being gives that word history, memory, emotion, and context. Two people can hear the same word and feel completely different
Words Mean More Than the Dictionary Says Read More »