Gangs ( I'm Mad)

It just angers me when I hear of another intelligent young person having joined a gang. Gangs are normally for those who feel like there is no future for themselves. They are doing poorly in school; they have very little or no social skills; their level of communication is more or less limited to street vernacular. It just outright makes me mad when that young person falls from an 'A to an 'F and begins to skip classes.

Why would a young person who has the quality of becoming a giant in the business world allow themselves to make that kind of negative choice, for their life in belonging to a gang?

I have a few thoughts on the reasons, but I would like to hear from someone else.

By mejamison

Brand New Day

By Mary Elizabeth Jamison


I open my eyes to a brand new day, a day that has never been before nor will ever be again. What's in this day that is different than any other day that I have lived in previously.

I wake up in the same bed, in the same house, on the same street, in the same city. I bathe in the same tub and brush my teeth in the same sink. What's so different about this day? I put on a selection from the same wardrobe and saunter into the same kitchen to make coffee in the same coffee pot. I watch the same television and babysit the same children. I eat food from the same refridgerator prepared on the same stove. I say good morning to the same daughter and grandchildren. Oh, if I could just figure it out. Everything just seems the same as it was yesterday, what's different? I drive the same car and comb my hair the same with the same comb.

As I muse and consider what the difference is, a still small voice inside of me tells me that this day is different because it was made brand new by God and he allowed me to live in it. There are brand new blades of grass that has never sprung forth before, new dead fallen leaves that have never fell before; new babies born; new thoughts, new ideas; I have never breathed the same breath of air that I'm breathing now; I have never lived in this moment before; I have never woke up in this bed, in this house, on this street, in this city on this day before because this day was never here before. I have never ate food from my refrigerator on this day before. Everything my eyes behold and all of my actions; and all my emotions that I experience are brand new on this day because this day has never been before.

With all that in mind, I am completely grateful to God for the gift of living in this day and consider all things brand new in this brand day, thus giving God thanks.

Don't complain about this day that you are yet alive in, but rather say a prayer of thanksgiving. Please visit the Life_Reflections Group

By mejamison

email: ejamison@yahoo.com

Please visit my store.
www.ejamison59.com

ROAD TRIPS CAN BE FUN!

My family and I went on a 10 day road trip this year that turned out to be one of the best vacations that I had ever taken. One my age would think 'kids?--in the car for 10 days? - Orlando Florida?-I don't think so'. Well, I thought the same thing and hesitated before going. I thought about my health and sitting for so long a time in the same seat, and I really didn't want to go. What a mistake that would have been for me!

At the last minute I said yes and as it turns out, I'm glad I did. We took our time! The kids watched videos and played video games the whole time we were in the car - so there was never any real noise. Not once did they argue over anything. My daughter laid down the rules about the back seat before we left and they pretty much followed all the rules that she laid down. She took the two seats out of her van and so they had room to move around when they could. We stopped so many times before we actually got to our destination.

We stopped in Birmingham to see a friend of my daughters and spent the night at a hotel there. Then we went on to Montgomery, Alabama to see my son and grandchildren and stayed 2 nights there. He followed us to Atlanta, Georgia where we spent two nights there; went to church the 1st day and then the world's largest aquarium the next day. The following morning, we were off again en route to Orlando.

In Orlando we stayed 4 days at the Liki Tiki Hotel Resort. You should really consider staying there if you ever visit Orlando. The second day there, we went to Universal Theme Park and had the time of our lives. My family pushed me around in a wheelchair because walking would have been too much for me. They took turns and really didn't mind, so they say. But, I believe I was able to ride on all but one ride, some even twice. Two days later, we were off to come back home; however, we did not come straight home but detoured and went a different route. We stopped in St. Augustine,Florida and Charleston, North Carolina where we ate at Bubba Gumps Restaurant.

We were not worn completely out once we arrived back home, but had so much to talk about.
Again, I say it was the vacation of a lifetime.

By mejamison

TIME AND CHANGE

There was a time that I thought, in the naivety of my thinking, many years ago, that my life would always be somewhat as it was.

You know, when one is in the prime of their youth, there's the strength, the beauty, the agility, the good health, sometimes the prospect of financial security, etc... The thought at the time is that one would always be able to go and shop for whatever they would have a mind and financial means to buy. That person may never consider that these aspects of life could drastically change.

As the years go by, one by one, things begin to change in some people's lives and no matter what they try to do to rectify the changes, they can't.

I was only 37 years old when my then 14 year old daughter began to tell me that I was old. The first time she said it, I laughed, but I was sort of in shock that she would say it because I thought I still looked young. I didn't consider the fact that she had only lived a few short years of her life, so she would not think anything else other than I was old. But I'll tell you, my heart was broken.

Later, my spouse of at that time of 25 years decided that he was through with our life together and without explanation decided to move out and on with his life. When that happened, the finances began to fall through the floor and my life turned upside down. "TIME and CHANGE"! All the years prior to this, I considered myself financially secure; thinking that he would never leave me. I thought our union was the special one that would live on until one of us parted in death.

Not long after that, my health decided to go on its own path causing many illnesses. "TIME and CHANGE"! Yes, the quality of my hair changed. I would curl it one way and the locks would do what they wanted to do when I went to style my hair. My teeth are no longer my teeth. Having had 20/20 vision for so long, even it changed to where I have to wear glasses. I can't lay my glasses down because then I would forget where I laid them and find myself going back to the dollar store to buy a new pair. At one point, I had about 6 pairs of dollar store reading glasses. "TIME and CHANGE"!

Time does brings about a change. I am now 59 years old and I have been through many storms; I almost became homeless, and thanks be to God who kept me and brought me to the place of peace that I'm in right now.

Oh, I still live in the same old house; I don't get around as much as I'd like to; my hair looks wiry; I can't do my housework like I used to; I still don't have a companion; but I am in that space of peace that now makes me look back over my life and thank God for where I am at right now.

I still BELIEVE that there is nothing that I can't do, that I have a different kind of beauty and that I can go where I want to go. I'm just glad that the peace of God that I have, allows me to accept and be thankful for the changes that time has delivered to me.
Let me know how time has brought about change in your life.