We Are One

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2lS283bmKM

We Are One!!

Well the time has come again ladies and gentlemen. It is time for another life lesson and life reflection from musical genius and soul legend, Mr. Silky Soul himself Frankie Beverly. As I was sitting here preparing to work on some things, I put on Maze’s hit song “We Are One” from 1983 and I began to think about the world and the state of affairs in our country particularly on our views and belief systems.
Last week we reflected on the eleven-year anniversary of 9/11. I think back to how unified our country was on that day. There was no Democrat vs. Republican. No Christian vs. Mormon. It was just ONE. We were one that day. We were all saddened, shocked, angry, helpless, and ultimately solidified in unity as we desperately tried to unite each other to let the enemies that attacked our country know that we would not just run and hide, we were ONE united together to fight and stand up for our country.
Now let’s fast forward to eleven years later. I am so confused as to how divided our country has become. We have forgotten the lessons of what 9/11 taught us. We began to take things personally. We started to once again hide behind our political, religious, and social beliefs and yet again used them to attack and ridicule each other. What ever happened to agree to disagree? When did our disagreement of how someone handles a policy or how he or she created something become a playground to insult each other and disrespect our leaders?
We have now become a society that allows people who claim to represent my faith to disrespect their fellow Americans by protesting at their funerals and yelling hateful, disrespectful rants at them instead of offering up prayers and sending condolences. When did this become acceptable? Just because you have the right to do something, it does not mean you should. Way too many times, people hide behind and use the First Amendment and use it as a crutch that beat people over the head with time and time again. We should that privilege wisely and respectfully and not abuse it or use it as an excuse to insult, attack, and disrespect each other.
We have political leaders that shuck so much hate towards our commander in chief. This man has been disrespected on live television (“You Lie!”) we have people who question his citizenship, call him unholy, satanic, and everything but “President”. And while I do not agree 100 percent with everything President Obama does, I cannot think of one person that I agree with all of the time yet the disrespect has got to stop. I have supervisors that I wholeheartedly disagreed with yet I never used that as vehicle to wish them death, or dish out hateful, unprofessional, and hurtful insults.

We have to go back to the tragic events of 9/11 to remember how we were all united because we have gotten so far away from that. There is discord in our families over money, authority, and disagreements. We let our pride get in the way of healing and forgiveness. Friendships become strained over miscommunication, distance, and other petty issues. Yet when a tragedy happens to someone we care about, we are falling all out and passing out, yet when the person was right near us, we could not speak, turned the other way and behaved like children. It is time out for such foolishness.

So today, as I am listening to “We Are One”, I am very grateful to Frankie Beverly for this life lesson. Like him, I “can’t understand why we treat each other in this way, taking our time with the silly, silly games we play.” I so agree. We play too many games, hide behind our opinions, our politics, and prideful attitudes. We are insulting to each other, cold towards each other, and unsupportive of others dreams and aspirations. I think back to the Maze concert that I attended last year. When “We Are One” came on, everyone was up on their feet. Every time Maze shouted out, “We Are One!” the light would scan the crown and all you saw was the entire audience with their hands up indicating the number “1.” I wish everyday could be like that. We are all God’s children. Nobody is better than the other, nobody is perfect, and we all need to unite. We are one. Thank you Frankie. This is more confirmation that your music will always, always be timeless.

We Are One!

Gil

Yes, I Am Enough..

I Am Enough!

You ever feel like there are times when you are truly not accepted for who you are? You are not smart enough, good looking enough, tough enough, man enough, woman enough, or even Christian enough. You feel the pressure to confirm to people’s idea or definition of what they think you should be. When you do not fit their profile, they think something is wrong with you or they treat you differently. Sometimes, we begin to feel the pressure by our friends, families and popular culture to fit in that we begin to confirm.

You are not enough of a man if you are not athletic, know the score to every football game, or sleeping around with a different woman each night. You are not man enough if you do not have four or five baby mammas or referring to women in derogative manners. You begin to think something is wrong with you and that you just do not measure up, because you are not fitting society’s definition of what a man should be. Sometimes you are called weak, or gay because you are not fitting the norm.
Women are not considered enough if they are not married at a certain age or have children by a certain age. They are called “old maids”, “lesbians” or “spinsters”. They are even told that is “biblical” and sinful to not be married. Women begin to feel the pressure of such foolishness that they settle for men who are abusive, unfaithful, and demeaning all to fit a norm.

There are times that you feel like your accomplishments are not enough because they are not what your friends or family deems as enough. You have dreams, goals, and aspirations that are just not realistic or practical. People don’t ask about what your aspirations are because in their eyes, it just is not something they would do, in other words it is just not enough.
In some Christian circles, you are not considered Christian enough if you are not falling out every Sunday, running up and down the aisles, saying every five minutes how much of a Christian you are. Some actually call you unsaved, unholy, and unrighteous. It is sad how people judge you and make you feel like you are just not enough, even in God’s eyes. We often forget that a lot of times your walk should be your witness. Unbelievers should see something in you that make you ask, “What is about you that is so different?” “How do I develop relationship with Christ?” So you begin to feel even ostracized in that aspect.
You have people who do everything for their families. They work hard for their kids, their parents, their siblings yet it is never, never enough. People begin to look at what you don’t do or focus on the one or two mistakes you made then what you do right. It is just not enough.
This week, I did not feel like I was enough. My accomplishments, my dreams, my life was just not enough for people. I knew that was the enemy trying to convince me of that. I know that I am enough. I like the person that I am and like me. Sometimes, I like the rest of us lose sight of that. We feel like we are just not enough to the people that matter to us. But God created all of us in his image. He thinks we are enough. You should feel like you are enough. Yes we all have things to improve on and there is growth we all need, but never feel like you are not enough. At the end of the day, you are enough.

“Because you were born…you are enough. You are worthy.” – Oprah Winfrey.