Jonah has a gift to preach, with that gift comes idolizing. Women are falling at his feet and Jonah picks them up even though his wife Lucy is at home. Lucy dies from heartbreak at 47. Before she dies she tells her daughter “Don’t you love nobody better ‘n you do yo’self. Do you’ll be dying before you time is out. (Hurston, 130)” How many women have heard that don’t love nobody more than you love yourself? I don’t think enough women have heard it. If they had so many wouldn’t be dying before their time. You either marry for love or money. When you marry for love you may end up as so many women do : loving someone who doesn’t love you. A man has to work for everything he has or he will take it for granted. Make sure you know your worth and all you may have to give up. Sometimes “It’s not your enemies that harm you all the time. (Hurton, 175).” Sometimes we set ourselves up.
New podcast
https://anchor.fm/diamondsorlight
Author: Diamonds or Light
I am from the bay area. I love writing, reading, swimming, math, and of course Oakland. Check out the book Diamonds or Light? on Amazon
Discussion of Lost Daughters by Mary Monroe
Lost Daughters is about Maureen and her daughter Loretta. Maureen is trying to escape the tight grip of Mama Ruby and she loses the grip on her daughter. Loretta runs off with Maureen’s husband, Mel but she allows her to come home after Mel leaves her.
How many times do we forgive women? Do we forgive our mothers because they may not have known what they were doing wrong? Do we forgive our daughters because we may have forgotten to let go of our grip and they never became adults? Do we forgive our daughters for needing so much from us when we need them too?
Listen to my new podcast on Google. https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9hOWU1YzAwL3BvZGNhc3QvcnNz
I asked for something
I asked for something so I wouldn’t cry anymore
I asked for something worth fighting for
Then you arrived and I didn’t understand what was happening
If all I had to do was ask I should have gotten it long ago but instead I was playing a losing hand
Then you disappeared and I knew what pain really was. God give it and take it away. Mostly I felt like things were taken away.
I’m thankful for the moments when I felt like nothing could go wrong.
I’m thankful but I still cry because why would I have it for a moment and then die everyday
Cause it’s gone but I still go on
Discussion of the Hand I Fan With by Tina McElroy Ansa
Lena was different and so was her man. She had been fanning everyone else all her life and now it was time for her to find someone to fan with. What if a ghost was the love of your life? Could you live with a spirit or do you need the real thing? Is it love if you can’t take him anywhere and no one would ever understand? If you saw a ghost and he talked to you would you run? If you saw a ghost and it kissed you would you faint? What if it’s a kiss to build a dream on?
I met my shadow
I met my shadow 13 years ago when my spirit was really low.
He could only find me when I was on his level.
I haven’t returned there for a few years but here I am with the tears.
He couldn’t stay long this time because I wasn’t going there.
He always ushers me out of the darkness even if that’s not his motive.
He pushes me to ask for more and to live a life that is full.
I thank him for that even if it comes with tears.
I wish everyone well so that they never have to meet their shadow.
Either you meet him and give away something physical or you don’t and you
lack in the spiritual.
I wish you didn’t have to go to that spiritual low, but when someone leaves
your life it is hard to remain high.
Maybe everyone has to go to that low but I wouldn’t dare choose so.
You could look someone else’s shadow in the face and watch them descend
into hell and then make the same mistake.
I can’t save you from your shadow, but I wish I could.
You watched my descent and you didn’t notice it was so deep so maybe you
thought it was the right place to go but if I could I would tell you no.
Your shadow gets paid in your pain but we all might do it again.
You knew that the shadow took something from me but it wasn’t enough for
you to see or comprehend.
You think I’m good because I’m well but everyone has a different hell.
I fear that yours won’t be long. I’ve missed you and they tried to tell you but
you have gone wrong. This is the swan song. I cry for you but it doesn’t
matter because you couldn’t stop yourself from what I went after.
Maybe they are always older because they are our mothers and fathers.
They teach us something we haven’t seen but in the end it is all mean.
But what does it all mean?
I cried
I cried because you gave me no choice
I was young I didn’t have a voice
I didn’t know the void would come
And I would have to run
I cried and I cried and I waited for
things to change but here they
remain the same. I still cry and now I
know why.
I see God
I was looking for purpose and sometimes I was lost.
I couldn’t be found.
I didn’t even see me around.
I looked for a reason for being.
I looked for a meaning.
I know that I didn’t put myself here because I gave up a long time ago.
I wonder how I made it and then I know.
God gave me a reason. God gave me time because I spent hours wondering why.
He gave me the hardest journey I could imagine.
It lasted longer than I could fathom
Or anyone else for that matter
And my heart fills with laughter.
Discussion of The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
We are spiritual beings having an earthly experience. Santiago goes on a quest to find treasure. He was happy being a shepherd, but something was telling him to go find the treasure. Sometimes we are searching for happiness, but it is always inside of us. We may think we are looking for a destination, but we should be looking for the journey. It is not about the destination. It is about finding who you are and what is really important because everyone who is looking for a treasure outside of themselves is lost.
Discussion of The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
In The Handmaid’s Tale the women cannot “work”, which really means they cannot leave the house. They can still bear children for another woman. Someone also takes care of these children.
Moira never follows the direction of Gilead. She tries to escape twice. In her second attempt she is successful, but she becomes a prostitute. Can women be valuable to men in a world like Gilead? Can women be valuable in a world that is focused on one goal? If we run from something all of our life and then we find ourselves running to it, have we just discovered that which we should have known all along?
I prayed
I prayed and prayed.
The pain wouldn’t go away.
Why anyone would sign up for this I don’t know to this day.
I kept making the same mistake.
I prayed for them to go away.
But I face them again.
I’m tired of being at their feet.
I’m tired of feeling like I’m the one who doesn’t deserve
I don’t deserve anything that’s all mine
They come inside and take things.
Mostly they take my self-esteem.
But I keep praying because it’s the only thing
that keeps me here
It’s the only thing that will make me feel like I have a chance
Even though this nightmare started before I had my breath
And it seems like it will last throughout this life and the next.
