The Usual Route (yawn)

" What you decide on will be done,  and light will shine on your ways." Job 22:28

Oh my, oh my God. I pray for patience and protection. I pray for guidance as I cruise down this rushing river of life. I pray for understanding through the mistakes and discernment in the quick decisions I make. As sharp rocks pop up in the middle of my path, put your hand on my choosing left or right. 

I believe that my daily actions are determining my immediate and eternal future. Despite, urgings from people I am meeting to pull back the reigns of my Christ belief, I believe there is only one way but many paths to be on in that journey. These opportunities come at us everyday. This blessing of free-will has a price called personal responsibility. A road not often taken...

Ah selection, Robert Frost wrote, "Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back."  I have always loved this poem because of my ongoing obsession with choices and making the right ones! And by taking the one less traveled by, that has made all the difference.  I have heard stories of plenty that begin with words like this..."I always wanted. I was going to. It used to be my. I dreamed of. Life or time just got in the way. 

 These precursors lay a breeding ground of resentment and a basket full of what ifs?  No thank you.

I did not want New York to be that forever unknown.

I've come to a few preferences in my life. Some have brought pain, shame, regret, and reward.

But the times I've looked down as far as I could not knowing what was around the bend have always had the fairer claim. 

I play fair, just not safe.

Do you believe in Never Too Late?

 

Singing for My Supper

"Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord." Ephesians 5:19

It's 2 AM. The long subway ride home filled with more eye candy to feast. Rooftop party at Hotel Empire, fireplaces ablazing, dance floor hot with spectacular view of Central Park ..Whee!. At this pace I will be sleeping the remainder of my birthday weekend.. But as Def Leppard says, it's better to burn out, than fade away...

New York City is a town of many extremes. The vivacity and power in foot traffic alone is enough to intensify the pep in your step. Up stairs, around corners, on trains, in taxis, down one ways, at all angles there is continuous motion. A cacophony of sounds  pulsating from subways screaming, horns honking, tires treading and heels clicking the pavement is always a flutter making your heart race to the rhythm. And  oh amazing power that this city gives and takes from you is strong and constant.  The lows are so deep and the highs are soaring. But all that activity and all of its endurance can flip on the down beat, the second you venture indoors.

Spent the majority of my day walking this grand city with a purpose. Through Tribeca, SOHO, West Village, up the Hudson into Chelsea, through the flower district...and back home again. Randomly ran into two people I've recently met (one works for ESPN Magazine..j.o.b.), all the while listening to a playlist of NWA remakes. Seriously Eazy E meets Robin Thicke...and I'm the crazy one cracking up on in the middle of the street...

Blessed with the company of an old friend, three dozen red roses, chilled rum shots, reggae dedication, shared cab, and three blocks later. The fast paced ticking of the Manhattan song came to a standstill as we sauntered down into Marie's Crisis Bar and the sounds of Gershwin filled my ears...OH WOW! 

Named from a famous line from Thomas Paine, this little gem of a establishment was playing and belting out the good ole Broadway show tunes in full dramatic fashion. The piano player and about 6-8 musical theatre hopefuls were all bellied up and in sassy character. From Oliver to South Pacific, this crowd was in glorious rare form..With dirty martini in hand I joined in the festivities. No Happy Birthday was sung, but a couple Les Miserables songs and  full-body reenactments of West Side Story and Chorus Line favorites, I was in my hey-day. I sang until my heart's content, unabashedly, without abandon, and in celebration of the day and days to come.
"I feel charming, 
Oh, so charming 
It's alarming how charming I feel! 
And so pretty 
That I hardly can believe I'm real." Maria-West Side Story 

Take note: if my writing is spotty or you haven't seen me in quite some time. A sure bet..I'm giving requests and feeling the glow of the stage...give my regards to Grove Street.

Could you have danced all night? 

Chasing the Horizon?

"I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live." Psalm 104:33

Feeling amazingly blessed today, I'm choosing to spend my favorite day of the year enjoying the view and living...away from the computer.

Twenty ears from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. - Mark Twain

Choose to chance the rapids and dare to dance the tides. -Garth Brooks

 Nothing is worth more than this day.  ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The living moment is everything.  ~D.H. Lawrence

It is only possible to live happily-ever-after on a day-to-day basis.  ~Margaret Bonnano

The future is no place to place your better days.  ~Dave Matthews

 Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can. -- Danny Kaye

And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.-- Abraham Lincoln

Success to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.  Booker T. Washington

You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. Wayne Gretzky

One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching.

Is It?

Stop, Look, Listen, Drink

"Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment."
1 Timothy 6:17

Here is what I don't understand.    When street and subway performers, be it singers, thespians, or mariachi bands showcase their talents, why most of the train patrons don't raise an eyebrow. Literally, they keep their heads down and into whatever book they're reading at the moment. As if the booming voices and live spectacle isn't enjoyable or enticing enough to use your neck muscles. Today, I even saw a woman  who I thought was reaching for loose change put on her headphones as three men sang and grooved to a rather harmonious doo-whop in the first car of the R Train. What are they scared of? Could it be they are really not interested in the long-haired man in a black catsuit playing his electric violin like it's a red-hot Les Paul...Or are they afraid if they enjoy the entertainment, they'd have to anty up a contribution... It can't possibly be the novelty has worn off...can it?

Another oddity about NYC  is the blue laws...Yes, they have them here too. Wine sales are not allowed in grocery stores...That means the Whole Food shoppers who pick the perfect shitakes, truffled infused cheese, veal loins and have them delivered to their doorstep have to go to another destination to compliment the gourmet meal with the choice bottle of Petit Verdot. This does not speak highly of the "convenient factor" Manhattan boasts.

You can buy beer at 8 AM on a Sunday morning wrapped tight in a brown paper bag... but no vino at the sto'.

 It's hard to believe (no booze on Sunday)Georgia is actually one of the 35 states that is progressive in that respect. Not too mention, the amount of revenue  it would generate by the stores paying a franchise fee to sell wine.  Call me crazy but my guess is there is a deficit in this city after a certain fallout on a Street beginning with W.

Knowing that the booze business has still be going up in this world of going down, (self-medicating)  I combed all of the separate grape juice stores in my area soliciting employment. I went to count them six in Tribeca alone. 

No go... but a bottle to ring in my Birthday's Eve...

And plenty of faith in tomorrow.

Is your treasure or your faith your firm foundation?

Everybody loves a Melodrama

"Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare." Isaiah 55:2

Conflicted: My believing heart hears the words but getting my wanting mind to grasp it..another story. Imagine the possibilities, only working and playing to satisfy...

"The heart of a skeptic and the mind of a child, put my life in a box and let my imagination run wild pour the cement for my feet. The heart and the mind on a parallel course never the two shall meet. And how the dissatisfied with the satisfied." Indigo Girls

I wasn't going to let it happen..I refused to let the cold break my stride but three netti-pots, countless unrequited emails and one near fateful icy fall later, I'm nursing my head cold, my tweaked back muscles, and my damaged pride...oooh we having some fun now!

Just when I thought the rest of NYC was depressed with me, I voyeuristically gaze across the street into the drapeless windows. Everywhere around me, people are ballroom dancing, hanging art one handed as the other hand juggles a martini glass,  swinging from the ceilings on trapeze contraptions (Seriously, I think it's an OT office). 

Life seems to be moving along splendidly.  

Looks can often be deceiving, I was fooled today. The cloudless blue sky and bright sunshine poured into my tiny room and beckoned me to rise and shine and take on the day...quickly and painfully hit with the shocking truth of 8 degree windchill, I recoiled indoors.

Spent the better part of today job hunting on-line with a slice of desperation.  

I've commenced to applying for jobs that even I don't want....And I know won't satisfy.

The darker side of my choleric- melancholy personality rears its head occasionally and I fight it with music...when that doesn't suffice, I pray for discernment between my wants and needs.

No, I don't want to eat canned chix noodle soup for the fourth time this week in the gastronomical capital of the world, but.

A reality check of things I need...not including job, home, groceries.

List to follow:

1. Rent Money $$

2. Waterproof/Somewhat Stylish Walking Shoes $$

3. A strong cup of coffee with half and half daily $

4. My husband's support

5. A clear head (priceless)

6. Good night's rest (8 hours w/o  Ambien) 

7. Decent red wine with dinner a couple days a week $$

8. Friends/Employers that do what they say, and say what the do

9. Creative Inspiration (good book) $

10. Prayer

Now the next step to be satisfied with my needs.

Can you be happy with a short list?

Your Mountain is Waiting

"Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones." Proverbs 16:24

March has roared in like a lion with a foot of snow covering Manhattan. 

Exhausted from an unfulfilled hike to Bible Study (cancelled due to inclement weather) I'm finally home by the heat watching the flakes fall.

As my frozen fingers thaw on the keypad I search for inspiration....  

Dr. Seuss and I share the same birth month. One I hope goes out like a lamb.

In honor of his birthday and resting up for my occasion I thought I would let his words give encouraging medicine tonight.

"If you never did, you should. These things are Fun, and fun is good." 

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

" Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you."

“I’m sorry to say so but, sadly it’s true that bang-ups and hang-ups can happen to you.” 

"So be sure when you step.   Step with care and great tact. And remember that Life’s a great balancing act."

"Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try."

"So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads."

-Dr. Seuss

Feeling Better?

Hide it? Snuff it? No!

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden." Matthew 5:14

On my flurry filled bagel walk this AM, I stopped short to bend over and read the front cover of The New York Times  that was blowing in the wind. Smack dab in the middle of the page was a couple holding hands, heads bowed in prayer over the loss of the husband's job.

The New York Post featured an article today about the fear and unknown of these trying economic times and how people are turning to God for the first time ever. 

How men who have lost their jobs are turning to the friary.

People are scared. Their situation's unsteady. Their lives in disarray.

With uncertainty abundant, Church attendance is up....MMMmm

Mosaic: (adj) composed of a combination of diverse and broken elements.

 Mosaic Manhattan Church a brisk walk from my apartment and a stone's throw from Ground Zero opened my heart this morning. 

Hallelujah, I came to Manhattan thinking I would find a land desolate of Christ loving churches and there I was standing again amongst the broken, just like me.

The title message was, Making the most you can at work...or out of work. 

Be it prison or paradise, You are there for a specific reason.

Once a persecutor of Christians, the Apostle Paul spent years in chains day and night spreading the gospel of the Lord.  Do you hear me? Because of his imprisonment, he wrote a large portion of the New Testament and preached Christianity worldwide.

The pastor implored us all to examine where we are in life. Why are we in New York during these difficult times and in all of our UNPLEASANT situations, like Paul what are we doing to advance the Kingdom of God? 

Wow! Not that was a question that took my breath away. 

A friend of mine told me shortly after I arrived here, I should water down my faith. Don't wear in on my sleeve.  I started examining my reasons for being here and now.

 A lot of it is satisfaction, pleasure seeking, a change of scenery.... 

But knowing that God is bigger than all of that, I'm gonna let it shine.

"Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Matthew 5: 15-16

Why are you where you are?