Reason, Season or Lifetime?

Reason, Season or Lifetime?

Ahhhhh relationships…for me I have learned to measure every human interaction with this question: is this person here for a reason, a season or a lifetime? It is an incredibly valuable question even though my actions never seem to change depending on my sub-conscious response. Whether at the beginning of the “thing” or the perceived end, I always commit…I know nothing less.

To contextualize, I will dance around a few songs…my happy place…

Reasons, the reasons that we hear
The reasons that we fear
Our feelings that won’t disappear, ooh
And after the love game has been played
All our illusions were just a parade
And all the reasons start to fade
La, la, la, la
After all our reasons why
All the reasons were a why
After all the reasons love was left aside

Ok…there are the strong sexual references but that notwithstanding the thought that love was cast aside, is both troubling and liberating. For me, love next to wisdom is a life principle that leads to God. It is a gift and I love the mutuality of it…

Some dreams are in the night time
And some seem like yesterday
But leaves turn brown and fade
Ships sail away
You long to say a thousand words
But seasons change
It feels like it’s forever
No reason for emptiness
But time just runs away
No more day by day
You dream again it seems in vain
When seasons change
Seasons are why I love living in the Northeast. Inevitable and necessary, you can anticipate the beginning and the end and new beginnings when there are seasons. Seasons cultivate healthy anticipation of newness, freshness and gradual evolution and decay.

Once in a lifetime you find a love you can’t let go
Once in a lifetime you find the purpose to live on
Once in a lifetime you find the meaning of your dreams
And once in a lifetime you find the one who gives life meaning
Once in a lifetime you find a love you know is real
Once in a lifetime you find something that makes your song live
Once in a lifetime you find a friendship that’s worth the wait
Once in a lifetime you find joy you can’t replace

 

 

Then the eternality of lifetime…as humans, we are not promised tomorrow so the concept is amazing to even contemplate, and yet somehow, we imagine spending our lifetime with someone or doing something. We are so fickle and child-like which is why the only thing that ever fulfills this awesome responsibility of sticking around for a lifetime is not human at all.

 

For now and forever, I will celebrate all of this and more. I will celebrate the reasons, seasons and “lifetimes” I have with people. The challenging days, the easy days, the quiet days, the noisy days, the joys and disappointments–all of them make me better. They all lead to #Purpose.

I am grateful.

English Language Arts: Perspectives on Poverty

(line 1) Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), a lawyer and civic leader, is often quoted as having (line 2) said “poverty is the worst form of violence” . James Baldwin (1924-1987), a     (line 3) writer, says this about poverty: “anyone who has ever struggled with poverty (line 4) knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor”.  Aristotle (384-322 BCE), a (line 5) philosopher, wrote in his volume Politics: A Treatise on Government, “poverty  (line 6) is the cause of sedition and evil”.

Baldwin 1979

Develop an argument about how all three quotes are related. Consider all evidence provided in the text including the timeline/lifespan for each speaker/author.

Common Core Text Types & Purposes (Grades 6-12) Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence; Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence

 

Variations on Vivaldi’s Spring

Light banter as if in flight…
Perhaps a bee or a bird
Lilt of a seed cast aside in the wind…
Softly, lightly, listen…
Listen.
Do you hear it?
The sound of Spring.

More than one
Bee
The hunt
Nectar
Beautiful flowers
Honey
Where is the queen?

She emerges softly
Surrounded by workers
Aiming to please but
Sort of in ignorance of their work

Yet
Softly she beams through
Light

(0:00-3:24)

Family

I have heard it said that family represents obligation and friend represents commitment…the major difference is the expected return on the investment. With family, there is no expectation and with friends it is great…is it wrong to expect great from both? It is why so many of my friends I actually call family. Scripture says “God places the lonely in families”. I also believe he gives us friends so we understand his intent. Live on purpose because quality relationships are no accident…

image

Inspiration…

At a recent meeting where evaluation and assessment were the themes of the day, we talked about rubrics and what evaluators (in this case, teachers) can and should expect from those being evaluated (students for example). The facilitator (Giselle Martin-Kniep) challenged us to think that the “A” score is not a 4 but a 3. That is, on a scale of 1 to 4, meeting an expectation should be thought of as the A. It grounds us simply because it addresses the expected end. So what then is better than an A? How do we get to a 4? The answer…moving beyond being grounded and into being inspired! What a lovely thought!

In my mind, to be inspired means to be transformed not just by what has grounded your understanding (or that which demonstrates–proves and verifies–what you know) but to push your own understanding into pulling someone else’s. What inspires you?