Eight days ago was my birthday and I was blessed to become 23 years wiser. I honestly had a FABULOUS time! Not because everything went my way (that's a planning misconception) but because I CHOSE to focus more on making memories and enjoy the people who gave me the gift of their time. So this blog is not meant to be too profound it's more of an attempt to share precious moments with you from this past weekend.
My birthday celebration begin on the "Day of Love" aka VDay....Personally I truly really dislike Valentines Day as a holiday and before anyone starts with saying "well you're single of course you wouldn't like this day.... Just wanted to share that even when I was in a committed 5 year relationship I strongly dislike this day. I just think it's a well-advertised cheap replica of True Love that can only be defined by God because He is LOVE....but I digress
I go on this mini thought spasm all to say that my birthday celebration begin in church! I am blessed to go to a church that not only speaks and show love in action but actually educate and have real conversation about sex, relationships, and love to its Youth. As a Youth Leader I was dancing some of the night with some amazing youth! Almost forgetting that the following day I was going to see one of the greatest shows on Broadway THE LION KING!!
To say I love the Lion King would be an understatement! My friends can attest to this love affair! So much so that I will dedicate a blog to a review and a genuine reflection. I personally found this musical to be spiritual and extremely moving with themes that truly affect our society today and MUST see in your lifetime! This was followed by quality time with family in NY that I haven't seen in ages!
After spending time in NY I had my Thai Food birthday dinner on Sunday surrounded with 16 people that love me enough to spend some time with me. All in all last weekend was a beautiful way to start a new year! I am excited to see what God does in this year! Below are pictures
Mrs. Henri and I on Valentines Day
Sunshine and I =) Best Traveling Buddy!!
The cousins + brother and I (we are a great looking family)
After Lion King looking down on Time Square-ish
Birthday Smile =D!!
My beautiful sis and I (she made me prettyful with my makeup)
I can not believe that it's already February!! For those of you who don't know this month is my BIRTHDAY month!! *does Happy Dance* and this year I am becoming 23 years wiser! I am that person that celebrates life everyday so I don't consider my birthday (February, 16th) to be a day of celebration because I start the party starts on the 1st and doesn't stop until March 1st =). I begin to think, what exactly should I do to celebrate my birthday?? Should I go out and dance the night away? Should I travel? Should I throw a big party? Should I do something spontaneously dangerous?......And then I hear deep in my spirit, a quiet still voice
"You should love"
"Well, I thought I did that?" I whispered back. Can I be honest with y'all I felt some type of way when this was place in my spirit. My God must have known that I wasn't receiving this message well because towards the end of the month of January I discovered a song. This song was so profound that not only did it inspire this love dare but it inspired me to make loving hard everyday a mission. The song "As Long as I'm Here" by Brandon Heath says....
Some day I'll pass through the great sky above And the first thing I'll ask is how well did I love Did I leave the world any better than it was before? Of all the things I've done, could I have done any more?
How well did you Love? When it's your time to leave this world no one is going to list the amount of degrees you held or the businesses you started.... they are going to reflect on the memories you shared and the impact and legacy you left behind. The question is not going to be how well did you live but how impactful was your love in a world that is in desperate need of it.
So for my birthday month and as long it takes to make love a habit in your life, I am inviting you to a LOVE DARE. This is inspired by the movie "Fireproof" which I highly recommend you to watch. This movie is on Netflix .
For married folks: You guys can follow this dare to the T. This Dare was tailored specifically for YOU. If you are married and you decide to embark on this challenge, I challenge you to be silent. Allow your actions to speak, go through all 40 days of this challenge, journal and pour out the good and bad during your quiet time.
For Single Folks: I am a bold, radical believer in Jesus Christ. I believe in the teachings of the Bible, which means that I try to live my life with IT as my standard. I believe that marriage is a beautiful representation of the relationship between Christ and the Church, therefore it's a holy covenant that should be between a man and a woman. Until a man has paid the price for you known as marriage, he should not be getting husband benefits which means as a fellow sister of mine stated beautifully "NO WED, NO BED". So many of us are deceived into thinking that singleness is a curse. That is so far from the truth! We as singles are in a privilege position where we get to mature and work on different love relationships in our lives. We get to strengthen these support systems and create a network of accountability that will help you in seasons to come. Don't run away from the blessings and lessons of singleness because society is trying to tell you are incomplete. The fact of the matter is there are way to many INCOMPLETE individuals in "complete" relationships. So the LOVE DARE challenge for you is to seek out a family member who is estranged, that difficult sibling or parent, a friend, someone younger than you that you can pour love to. Tailor the dare to that relationship. To be honest there is not much change that needs to be done. Using it as an excuse just allows you to continue living in less than satisfying relationships.
It starts with YOU
Part of the challenge is to truly reflect on the changes you are seeing and the things you are feeling day to day. Use this challenge to go deeper in your quiet time. JennyWhat's this Quiet Time you keep referring to? How do I go about doing it? I truly believe that when someone explains something better than you, don't try to beat a dead horse by trying to explain better. Humble yourself and use that person as a resource. I am blessed to be part of an amazing movement known as Pinky Promise. Founded by Heather Lindsey this movement inspires women to truly love and live this Christian life, by challenging singles to live a life of purity while single in a world that pushes the opposite and for the married women living a life of purity as keeper of her home (whatever that means to you and your husband according to your relationship and the Bible) and learning the true meaning and beauty of submission. She has an amazing blog which she talks about several topics one being quiet time. Check it out here: "How to Spend Time with God" by Heather Lindsey
LOVE DARE RULES
Start on Day 1 and end with Day 40. The challenge builds on itself don't cheat yourself out by trying to skip around.
Give it your all. You don't want to wonder at the end of this "Could I have done more?"
Do it in secret. I love the book of Matthew starting from chapter 5 to chapter 6. Take time to read and reflect before jumping into this challenge. One of my favorite part of the teaching is Matthew 6:1 "Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven"
Journal. Reflect and speak to God
Don't give up. Before it gets better it can sometimes get worse. True test of love is not loving someone who is lovable but someone that is difficult to love. Those are the people who need it the most.
Pass it on. Don't keep this challenge to yourself, all though the person that you decide to have as the receiving end of this challenge should be kept in the dark =) Someone else may need a challenge.
The second greatest commandment given to us by JESUS is to LOVE. The Bible says that "They will know us by our love" not by our awesome knowledge of scripture and theology but how we live this thing out.
