Category: Uncategorized

Okay, I know Easter was yesterday, but let’s chat about my childhood Easter weekend memories.

In my family, Easter preparation began weeks in advance.

1. Weeks before Easter, we received speeches at church to memorize. My mom always opted for us to get longer speeches. 😩🤣
2. In addition to learning the speeches, there was a rehearsal for the Easter play and lots of the traditional Easter songs, such as, “He rose, yes he rose… “I know it was the blood” and so many others!
3. The Saturday before Easter, we had more rehearsals and the Easter egg hunt. I was always searching for golden eggs with money.  😂 Additionally, I would stack up on Easter goodies because my beloved Auntie always made us bomb Easter baskets! Honestly, she can run those back. 👀
4. There were 7 girls in the house. Our hair was pressed with a steaming hot comb 🪮 or permed the night before. My mom said it was the hair grease, but I’m sure she burnt my ear and head a few times with the hot comb.😩
5. Easter Day began early – depending on if our church had a sunrise service. Easter attire included a new dress, Payless finest shoes, ruffled Easter socks, and a cute purse. To top it off, I loved when my older sisters did my hair because it included front bangs and my edges were freshly laid with brown gel. 😂😂
6. Once at church, there was Sunday school, the regular morning service, and then festivities after church.
7. We usually went home to eat a nicely prepared Sunday lunch and then came back to church at 3 or 330 for the Easter program. The most important thing was you could not get anything on your clothes all day, you needed to stay clean. 🧐

Sigh, those were the days!

What is your favorite Easter memory?

Another topic request! Keep them coming!

Historically, salt was used for two purposes.

1. Preserve. They didn’t have refrigerators so it was used to preserve the meat.
2. Flavor (seasoning of food)

Y’all I lowkey consider myself a foodie! I will happily get back in line for a second serving of a satisfying meal!

But what about when you take a bite of a steak and immediately spit it out and gag? Okay, that’s extreme but we have all been there from having food with too much salt or no salt at all. 😩

What is food without flavor?

Bland! Tasteless!

But what are we if we lose our flavor? If we lose the things which make us unique, and different, which gives us our flair?

What are we if we don’t remember as believers of Christ we are the salt of the earth?

When we encounter others we should influence them because we represent God. Chuck Smith says, “We are to be the preserving influence in the world.”

Like the scripture says, “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor?

Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.” Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Y’all you can always tell when someone tries to season food after it is cooked. You probably want to give the cook the side eye when it happens because the salt sits on top of the food. #itsnotthesame

Remember, let’s be like salt! Let the flavor be in us and shared with all. 

1. Be the persevering influence of the world by sharing God’s word with others.
2. Don’t lose your salt! Our salt is our style of influence God has given us to influence others through the gifts and talents he gave every one of us.

Take your salt with you everywhere you go, so no one will ever have to say, salt, please.

“Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other.” Mark 9:50 NLT

Y’all, I’ve read or listened to a lot of books – more than 100 books last year alone. But, none of them compare to the Bible. It’s the only book that’s living!  The more I read it, the more it reads me! Also, the more I talk to God, the more he shows me -me!

I’m sure I said this before, but I talk to God about everything! First off, it’s not like I’m telling him a secret because he knows everything anyway. But, sometimes I want to tell him my side of the story, my perspective, and my feelings. Guess what, he’s a great listener and communicator.

But usually, somewhere in the conversation, there’s a shift. It feels as if the conversation has flipped and we are now talking about me.🙃 #howsway

Like seriously, it’s like a mirror reflecting on me! I go to tell God about someone else because, to be honest, I love people but sometimes people be people -ing (I know that’s not a word). 🤣 And before you know it he’s reminding me he’s a God of grace and mercy.😩 I’m like that’s not what this conversation was about. 😂 Like, how did we get here? 😩 But somehow, we end up there with the mirror on me and discussing my journey and the work I have to continue to do.  And because there’s a mirror showing me, I remember I’m a hot mess in need of God every day just like everyone else! 

How are y’all doing on your 2023 goals?

I know things can happen to deter us from our goals, but give your goals one more chance or as many chances as needed. In a perfect world, life would be peaches and cream every day – but doesn’t that sound boring?

Life is constantly full of twists and turns to cause us to readjust, become flexible and re-evaluate things. Sometimes we make goals and we mean well but something hinders us and that is okay. But in the words of my mentor, the difference between a successful person and a non successful person is their recovery.

How quickly do you recover when you mess up?

If you mess up on your diet are you now done with your diet for the rest of the week, until the following Monday or do you start again at the next meal?

I decided I will recover quickly and get back on board and give my goals one more chance. It doesn’t matter if I give myself one more chance hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and or semi-annually. The most important thing is I will continue to give myself one more chance until I reach my goal.

How are you doing on your goals?

“I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time.” ‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭9‬:‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Sometimes you can do a thing so often that it becomes mundane. For example, I believe I took about 13 trips last year. Im not bringing this up to brag, but to add context to my story. I was recently chatting with someone who may only fly once or twice a year and they were thrilled to be on the flight and to travel. While I am often excited to fly I can often forget the beauty of just preparing for the trip. There are so many small moments that I can take joy such as being at the airport, being on a plane, eating delicious snacks, experiencing other cultures and cuisines and so much more! So, as I prepare for new trips this year, my prayer is that I remember to relish in the wonder of the small moments! There’s so much beauty in the world if we will look wonderful in moments.

What is something you do often that you forget to sit back and enjoy the beauty of the process?

“Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, “We have seen amazing things today!” Luke‬ ‭5‬:‭26‬ ‭NLT‬‬