The Shack, Book Review, Kind of.

I have a co-worker that I discuss books with. I love it. We talk about what we're currently reading and what we have read, of course we make recommendations to each other as well. A few months back she told me about this book called The Shack, by William P. Young. I was in the middle of reading something else and told her it would be my next great read. (That's what I call all my books, there's something special about every book I read, why not call them all great?) I had no idea what I was in for, but it turned out to be an amazing book. I actually am almost finished reading the second time through. My husband even got it on audio and listened to it, so that we could talk about it. He ended up loving the book as well. If you haven't read it, I recommend it to everyone.

I'm sure I am going to give away some of the book, so I apologize in advance. I don't know where to begin. The overview a man takes his children on a camping trip, the daughter is kidnapped. After searching for her, all they end up finding is her red summer dress and a substantial amount of her blood in this Shack. Years later he receives a letter in the mail from God asking him to join him at the Shack. The man goes back and forth in his mind about whether he is actually going to go. He ends up going and meets God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the flesh. It is beautifully written and it lets you know that the Holy Spirit works through us. You have to read it to understand exactly what I am talking about.

The book breaks down sterotypes that we have in our head about God and helps us to understand the relationship that he wants us to have with him. It truly is magnificent  how much love God has for all of us, he loves us imperfections and all. The wonderful thing about having a relationship with God, is that once we have truly experienced a real relationship with God, Grace accepts us as we are but is too powerful and too transformative to leave us as we are (Johnnie Moore). The book is very eye opening. It definitely taught me a lot and I'm trying to incorporate them into everyday life. I want God to be involved in every aspect of my life,working on that. I learned that we have to learn to forgive the things that we deem "unforgiveable", no matter how difficult. We are not of this world remember? We are to show love and walk in love. It's not always easy, but it makes life easier. Think about if everyone tried to do that how much better things would be.

I just think the book was brilliant. It was one of those books that you have to pay attention to. I loved it. It helped me open my heart and my mind more.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from the book, " Evil is a word that we use to describe the absence of good, just as we use the word darkness to describe the absence of life. Both evil and darkness can only be understood in relation to Light and God; they do not have any actual existence, I am the Light and I am Good. I am Love and there is no darkness in me. Light and Good actually exist. So removing yourself from me will plunge you into darkness Declaring independence will result in evil because apart from me, you can only draw upon yourself, from me: Life
Sarayu, The Shack.


I would love to hear some comments from some of you that have read the book.
Did you like the book? What did you like? What didn't you like?

Pretty is as Pretty does.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I really don't think I truly understood the truth in that statement until I was good and grown. We live in a society that OBESSES about their outwardly appearance.I meet students who are so caught up in the now. What's new? What's in right now? They have to have certain clothes and/or shoes. I know grown folks who are so caught up in skin color, hair; good hair/bad hair, clothes etc. Are we so caught up in appearances that we've forgotten to teach our kids to be beautiful people on the inside? Have we forgotten to teach children to be courteous, kind, nice, caring, giving and to have manners?


 I am a substitute teacher for a few different districts. A few weeks ago the Jr. high students were called into the library for a meeting. The principal had to talk to them about their attitudes and behavior. He said recently a majority of you have been talking about the newest shoes, trading shoes, and discussing the newest clothes. You have been disrupting your class and have put down some of your classmates for not having the newest shoes and clothes. If this continues your first offense is an after school, next is a Saturday detention and if you continue to be  a disruption you could get yourself a suspension. If you start off making your classmates feel bad, you'll skip straight to a Saturday. Honestly, I was just looking like, he seriously had to waste class time to lecture these students. Sitting there looking around, most of the students were rolling there eyes and pretending the pay attention.

I just never saw the point in making fun of someone that doesn't have the same material things that you have. Seriously?  You didn't buy that stuff, your parents did. But why do I want to own the SAME thing that you own? (Another blog, coming soon.) How do you get pleasure out of making others feel crappy about themselves? I was one of those kids who did'nt wear name brand anything. The only thing you caught us in that was name brand was probably the shoes on our feet. Nikes.  That was only sometimes. It's not about the brand name that is on the clothes, it's about the person behind the clothes. How we can we expect children to know this, if a large amount of adults don't know that to be true?

Adults are like that as well, but I seem to encounter the funky attitude adults. The adults who have bad days and try to take it out on everyone else around them. When teachers meet with some of there students parents, you then start to understand where the attitude come from.

When do we start molding little people who are just sweet, caring, nice just beautiful on the inside?
The same goes for adults when dating, stop being so obssessed about how your partner looks? Focus on how they make you feel? are they nice? Is he a gentleman/lady? Does he/she stimulate me mentally? Is he/she nice to other people? We have to stop OBSSESSING, once you let inner beauty shine, man it shines outward and that person is beautiful. We've all seen those beautiful people with stank ass attitudes, makes them look UBER ugly and seriously only shallow people are going to stay around you. The sad truth is that people will continue to deal with people because of how they look. They'll put up with certain behaviors or whatever purely based on your looks. Is that the kind of person you want to be?

When does it start to be about something more than just how people look? The people who march to their own drummer and tend not to follow what's "In", those are the caring, nice, sweet, giving people. Parents have to stop being so focused on getting their child the newest this, and that. We have to make sure we're doing a good job raising great people, so they can teach their children the same way. Teach our children to be thoughtful and that it's ok to be giving. It would make the world a better place. (<--- Corny, but so true.) But then again, we are in a society where outward beauty is everything, and stepping on whoever you have to, to get where you need to be; that is the accepted way of things right?

It's been raining for a while now, April showers bring may flowers. Behind our place is a big field, so with the rain comes TONS of worms; they wash out into our parking lot. A few days ago, my mini Captain Planet had me running late for work because she was picking up worms in the parking lot and putting them in grass, she said,"I have to save them." She did not want them to be rolled over by the cars. I just thought, we are doing such a great good job, we are raising such a caring child, one that takes time to rescue worms. Later when I got home we put our things inside the house and walked up and down the sidewalk rescuing worms. We even stood there and watch one slide from one side to the other. Now Kolby is beautiful on the inside. My dream for us when we start having more children is that they all are different skin colors, with different texture hair, because I don't want you paying attention to how they are physically, I want people to walk away and say hey, now that's a great person. Let's teach our children to show love and walk in love. Once you start living like that, life seems to get a tad bit easier.

What do you think? Are we so caught up in appearances that we've forgotten to raise beautiful children?  Are we so caught up in appearances that we end up with someone that's just merely physically beautiful? Have you tried to show love and walk in love to people you deem undeserving?

Bebe's Kids don't have nothing on kids today.

Today our society teaches our children that it is ok to have an attitude and be disrespectful. They are also taught that it is ok to say whatever comes to mind. It's ok to challenge teachers, elders and other authority figures in the community. All in the name of expressing themselves. Oh it's ok for them to talk and wear what they choose because they are merely "expressing" themselves.

        Where do you draw the line? What people don't understand is there is a time and a place for expressing yourself. What these children are not taught is that there are consequences for expressing yourself. A lot of these parents don't make anybody elses job easier either. Schools and other places are afraid to say it, but most of this behavior is learned and the lack of training comes from home. I do know that you can't blame everything on parents because when a child reaches a certain age it's time for them to be accountable for their actions. Why are you parents so scared to discipline your children? Why do you continue to say yes, when you know you should say no?
   

 Parents let their children do whatever when they're at home, so naturally when they are in school they believe the same behavior is acceptable at school and other places. I had a student, she decided not to follow directions, stood there staring hard , so I had to write her up. The last time she decided not to follow directions, I told her to call her mama and tell her about her behavior. She said,"I'm going to tell her what yous said too."  I told her to go ahead and tell her mama one because I'm not scared of her mama and two I said nothing out of order. That's how they respond. The killer part is she probably went home embellished the story and told her mom I said some things that I didn't. (It has happened many times before.) The students go home and make it seem like the teacher is picking on them. I am hard on my students because I care, I push them because they're capable of so much more. Instead of the parents questioning their child, they're so gung-ho about putting the teacher in their place for disciplining their child. The way I look at it is, if parents disciplined their children at home, I would not have to do it in the school.  Another point a co-worker of mine made was that she knew her son, and she knows how much of a pain he can be.


If a teacher EVER called home because of my behavior and class my mom didn't blame the teacher, my mom would also ask me what I did wrong. The parents know what their child is capable of, but they want to pretend that their child does no wrong. This helps absolutely no one and especially not your child, because every time they don't something wrong their going to run to their parents, knowing they will get back up. These kids watch/listen to anything and everything they want. Children/teens need boundaries. That's what parents are there for. Parents it's ok to be all up in your kids lifem you're their PARENTS.Be invovled, monitor what your children watch and listen to, what they wear. It's ok to ask questions, know where their going and who they're hanging out with. My mom had a block on my Family Video account, until I was 17, I could not rent rated R movies. I was also grounded in 8th grade because I had an Eminem cd in my possession (language.) My mom cared about me. She always use to say, "If I let you have and do everything now, what do you have to look forward to?"

It's true, I look at these kids and see how lost they are. If they get to go and do everything now, what do they have to look forward to? And that is when it gets dangerous. They'll start to experiement with other things. All I'm saying is it's ok to give you kids a little freedom, but it's ok to make sure you know their every move. Demand respect from your children, just make sure to keep the lines of communication open. Let them know why you're doing it and most importantly that you love them. It is ok to give your child tough love, there's such thing as tough Grace. I'd rather be the mean parent that's involved, then the cool parent who lets their child do whatever, so that they can have their childs approval. It has been said it takes a village to raise a child, but the village can't help if you as parents don't let them. Let the elderly man on the corner tell your son to pull his pants up if they're sagging down to his kneecaps and let the older woman tell a young lady it's not ladylike to cuss. People are scared to say something to these children because they're scared of what the child may do or the parents.

What do you think parents?

Celebrating 60 Years of Marriage.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary party. It was at a beautiful banquet hall in Indiana. All I kept repeating to myself was wow 60 years of marriage, how incredible.

In a world where people rarely stay together, it is enriching to see two people celebrating 60 years of marriage. It is a great example that it is possible if you work, grow, laugh and pray together. There is struggle and times of sadness, but there are also many joyous occasions. I am truly blessed/thankful to have such a fine example of marriage.

Recently my husband and I went to visit my grandparents and my grandma was just telling me all the things she can no longer do around the house (my grandma was the ULTIMATE house wife, house always clean, dinner on the table, kids taken care of. Can you say AWESOME?) because of the pains in her body. Everything she can't do, she said my grandfather now does those things.

That's definitely what marriage is about give and take. Two people sharing the load and when one can't do the other one gladly/willingly picks up what the other one can't do. Make sense?

It wasn't until I got married that I truly began to understand the dynamics of a marriage. The things that I said I would hypothetically leave for (c'mon, we've all had those conversations)before I got married, if you were to ask me now, I might give you a different answer. As the years roll on you become more and more invested in your marriage. It's hard to just walk away and not try to work through it. It's even harder to say what you would or wouldn't do until the situation actually occurs in your life. Then you have a huh moment, I know what I said but..........

I have also come to realize that people show their love in different ways, My husband and I bicker a lot, we go back and forth, usually it ends with laughs USUALLY. That's one of the many ways we show each other love, it's different for each couple.

A marriage of 60 years couldn't have lasted without Christ as the foundation. My mother said, " I was watching you guys (my grandparents, her parents) out in the yard together and watched just how you all were moving and I realized then just how well you two work together." You never realize how two people fit each other, until you sit back and watch them.

I've seen growth in my grandparents over the last couple of years,yes ladies and gents growth still occurs in your late 70's if you allow it to. As I watched my ogre of a grandfather get up there and say something, it was in that moment I realized just how much my grandparents loved each other.

Here's to growth, love and more years of happiness. It was a very happy occasion and I was grateful to be able to share in the love that day.

What do you think it takes to sustain a loving/happy marriage? Why do you think we have such a high divorce rate now?

Moving in the RIGHT direction....

It's been a few weeks, I apologize. I sent out a message on Facebook a few weeks back. It went something like this:

Hey all,
I hope this finds everyone in high Spirits. Here it goes.... I'm trying to take my blog in a slightly different direction. Those of you who know me well know that I love: socializing, my family, talking about relationships, love, school, hair books, GOD and that I LOVE WRITING. (The list goes on) I would like to interview most of you and others I would like to have you as guest writers. ( Some of you might be asked to do both.) I just think all of us have a unique testimony that we're just sitting on. I believe that they should be shared. We never know who could be going through the same thing or if what we learned could help someone from making the same mistake or at least get to them to think twice about it. I just want everything that is written to be uplifting and positive.Please email me at KColeman1022@gmail.com if you would like to participate. Have a wonderful weekend. you all.
K

I got some responses in my e-mail and I'm going to go from there. I would love for you all to start praying for me and to ask God to keep me focused and to continue to lead me in the right dirction. I'm am excited. SUPER excited. I get ideas about blogs daily and have to write them down in my notebook.  If anyone else is interested in being a guest blogger or would love to be interviewed email me at the above address. I'm am interested to read what you you guys have to say and even more interested in getting to know some of you better. Thank you in advance to everyone who has volunteered. This is just the beginning you all.

Love and Blessings,

K
 

Where's the love??



    

I'll just dive right in, this blog was suppose to be written a week ago.... and I have thought about it every day since. I must get it out. Where's the love? We as Christians are suppose to show love and live love. Preaching to someone and shoving bible verses down their throat doesn't necessarily work for all people, nor does it sit well. Sometimes the only thing we can do is to live love. Live a life of love, people are watching you, TRUST. People are watching how you handle situations in life, how you are as a person, and if you're talking the talk and walking the walk.

Christ loved us so much that he came down from heaven, to live life as a man and to ultimately die for our sins. If that's not awesome, I don't know what else can come close to comparing to that. Jesus showed us love and continues to show us love, even though we are undeserving of his love. And no matter how many times we fall, he always accepts us back, with open arms. Some of you are sitting here reading this like ok, I know all of this what are you getting at?

As Christians we are suppose to show love, even to those people who we feel are undeserving. I am so guilty of this and this is something we all struggle with, but hey we're human (we have to keep on evolving).  I don't understand in a situation, how one friend can be nice to another friend and talk about how different he/she is and how much they have grown in Christ/spiritually, but in another breath be so ornery to someone else. Here's another scenario, someone is confiding in you, (maybe something that you don't neccessarily agree with) you start spitting bible verses at them. Not listening mixed with, unneccessary aggressiveness usually never works.

We're suppose to love one another and be better. Why is it the "hardcore" Christian that tells people they're going to hell? Why are they going to hell because they sin differently than you do? Why is any Christian condemning someone to hell? We're suppose to open our arms and show love. Be the light. (Easier said than done). We have to love the unloveable. Jesus didn't come down here and love the people who were easy to love. He went out and found the prostitutes and tax collectors. No judgement, just love and some guidance. We were placed here to tell others about Jesus and how awesome he is.But sometimes no words are required, our lives have to be that example.  We all have our struggles, but we're suppose to encourage each other, not condemn.

 

Do you talk the talk and walk the walk? What are your thoughts?

 



 

 

 

 

 

Let My Love ADORN you....

 

     I feel like it's been forever, probably because I have been thinking about blogging everyday. I have also had a topic, sometimes I think I overthink things more than I should. I should get an idea write it down and not worry about how it comes out until I sit down and begin to create. There are things that I don't write because I don't want people to take it as bragging, but it's not. I just want to share the good things in my marriage. I want to let everyone know that a marraige can be fun and that there are GREAT men out there. The same way others like to share the negative, I would like to share the positive.

 

       My Husband bought me the cd Kaleidoscope Dream. I am a Miguel fan and ADORN is my jam. (My husband likes it too.) The first couple of times that I listened to it in my car I blushed, thinking about my husband, because it sounds like something he would have written for me. Does your husband adorn you with his love? This is something I experience in my day to day life. If you haven't heard the song, check out the video below:

 

I have a great husband. Trust we get on each others nerves (those of you who know us, have heard us say it more than twice lol) We try to make everyday count. Our stay on earth is temporary and we don't know when it'll be over. That being said I have the kind of husband who appreciates our conversation as much as he enjoys our romp sessions in the bedroom (sorry mom if you're reading. )He loves my mind as much as my body. He is a gentlemen. He lets me know daily that I am loved and appreciated. It comes in the form of swats on the behind, kisses throughout the day, text messages, cooks dinner and looks. . My husband looks at me all the time and he make mes feel beautiful (even when I'm not feeling it myself) He makes sure to let me know. It's just awesome to have a husband who not only tells me that I'm the only woman in the world for him, but he makes me feel that way as well.

I have one of the good guys. I am truly thankful and I let him know that it's not taken for granted. He is considerate example when we're running low on toothpaste after he squeezes some onto his toothbrush he makes sure he squeezes extra to the top, so when it's time for me to put some onto my toothbrush it's already there. It's the little things that go a long way.  He helps to make my home peaceful and he let's me know it's a place I can come home to after work and just be. I know that I have his whole heart. He is very loving, patient and he makes me feel desired  (SO IMPORTANT, even on those days I feel undersireable)  GOOD MEN do exist.

Ladies how do your men make you feel? Are they gentlemen?
Men how do you treat your woman? Woman is this how you want your mate to treat you??
Feedback anyone?