Poetry - The Rock

You found me
When I was alone
In a dark and gray place
Like a stone
Skipping across the water
only to sink to the bottom
of the dark and murky earth below

Like sunshine piercing through
With childs hands scraping the bottom
You chose me
Out of all the other rocks that beckoned for air

And I shined for you

Made pretty your lonely world
Where love abandoned
Your empty heart
And ugly words broke
Your innocence

Like a trophy you placed me
High on a shelf
To admire my jagged edges and smooth crevices

And I shined for you

You kept me hidden
Safely tucked in to your back pocket
Unwilling to share and embarrassed by
Your admiration for a rock

And I stayed there
Quietly waiting
For you to hold me again

And shine for you

You took me out sometimes
And dusted me off
But not too much
Afraid someone might notice me

Put me back on a shelf
But not the high one
So you could take a look at me
Now and then
And remember
When you found me

And still, I shined for you

You went fishing
Not looking for stones
But weaker creatures
That you could consume
And satisfy your hunger
Bringing home shards of their bones
In your belly

And then take me down from the shelf
And coddle me in your hands
Looking at me with guilty eyes
For visiting our water without me

And still, I shined

You chased after fortune
And competed with siblings and
Other former man child hands
To add new trophy's
To the shelf

While dander and mites and
Other living creatures took rest
Upon my unique form

Until I shined no more

And when you brought in your
New trophies
to place upon the shelf
You
Scooted me aside and pushed me
To the edge

Until I fell

You looked at me with tired eyes
And a weary back
From all your days fishing
In the water that once held me

Thought about picking me up
Washing me off
Sharing me with your world

But your right foot kicked me
as you bent forward
And so
You retreated and then
Kicked me more

And my brilliance was hidden

Until a flood came
And new water poured across the floor
And washed away the dirt and debris
That had taken over me

And when you saw me again
You were amazed
At the glitter and new places
That were revealed

The fresh water had cleansed my
jagged edges and smooth places

You thought
I had been destroyed

You forgot
I was a rock

And just when
You reached out to pick me up
Made space for me on your shelf

The man who came
To clean up your mess
Snatched me into the palm
Of His hands
And marveled at my beauty

Too ashamed to let him know
You like stones
You passed me off
As just a piece of your youth

You turned your back
And walked away
Believing I would be thrown
Into the garbage
With the other things
You had neglected
And forgotten about

But, I shined

And He saw me for what I was
My peculiar places
And diverse textures
The dark spots and
Silver speckles
Told Him a story of
Endurance and divinity

And I shined

He rubbed me with his fingers
And polished me up
Gave me a new place to be
To share me with the world
And set my glory free

And I shined

You thought you left
An old worn out stone

Because you forgot
I was a rock

Musings of the Glory Journey

It's late, or early morning whichever way you want to look at it. Just finished an hour of praise music.

I have had a long day, a difficult day yesterday and what lies ahead when I wake is unknown.

This I do know, God is everything. And I have said this before, if God gives you a word, Write it! I am compelled to share. To provoke thought at my own expense.

I am a great giver of advise but rarely follow my own, so tonight I look within to ask myself why.

We walk around with these huge voids within ourselves, searching and pursuing to fill. And nothing, money, fame, material possession, relationships, children, careers....nothing fills it but the Almighty.

We and I mean me, spend so much time on all those other things, knowing what lay beneath is the unquenchable desire for Christ and the Father. If only I would drink from the well that never will run dry.( More than an hour of praise music)

Instead I play, cyber games with internet puzzles and virtual friends and long lost loves and new romances knowing fully that none of these things will give me what I need. Neglecting the gifts inside of me, running on a wheel like a rat with no place to go. Afraid of my truth...Greatness. Power. Agape Love. Philanthropy. Service.

Because I will have to let go of these other things (even children) and embrace my magesty and it will require much. A circle so small only few dare to enter for fear of burning in the brilliance of the light, powerful yet vulnerable, exclusive yet exposed.

So what to do? Those who might read this may even think me to be crazy, because only few can understand such a calling. A calling that can indeed drive you to insanity when you try to ignore the echo in your ears, your heart, your spirit.

Everyone has their journey in the quest to fill the void, some will fill and know. Living their truth in God. Mighty or meak, satisfied, complete, whole. No holes, no wanderings of the mind, no running on spinning wheels, ONE.

Can I get there?
Will you go with me?

That's melavision. What's yours?

Americas Financial Crisis

As Americans argue whether or not Obama has done well by us during his first 100 days in office, I say it's time to take a really good look at how we got here.

A recent poll shows that more and more Americans are losing their religion. While Christianity still reigns at 76% with Catholics comprising 57 million in America, those numbers are still down 10% since 1990.

Non-Catholic Christians continue to decline whereas more and more consider themselves Christian but non denominational or practicing no religion at. I am included in that number and I had to ask myself why?

In a nation obsessed with instant messaging, fast food meals, 45 sports channels, microwave dinners and endless unreasonable social calendars, who has time to set aside two to three hours on a Sunday morning for worship?

A country where our options are so diverse that a trip to the grocery store can give one a head ache just trying to select cereal, we have come to see ourselves as totally individual and exclusive.

While we profess our spirituality what we are really saying is, I reserve the right to believe in a God that fits my lifestyle. If we want to keep up with the Jones, and be a part of that exclusive group of "celebrity like" people we will believe in a God that helps us do that.

If we want to love trees and the ocean and the creatures of the earth and lay aside material things, and reject all others who think differently than we do, we will Believe in a Goddess which supports that way of living.

If we want to be a sexual being that loves whomever whenever and however we wish to perform it, we will also choose a God that exemplifies that lifestyle.

If we want to believe in classism and racism and all the other ugly isms we will choose our own misconstrued interpretation of biblical scripture to argue that as well.

We have chosen what we want to believe with what really is. No matter what religious affiliation one has, there are truths and principles that bind them all.

Religion is not just about which God you believe in, but its about which God you serve. It is about community and being held accountable for your actions or lack of action to a group of individuals. It is about public worship and confession of your acknowledgment that you cannot survive this world alone and need a higher being for guidance and support.


We who no longer speak to our neighbors and hustle and to and fro trying to out glam, out sport, outrage one another have no time for a God that has rules and holds us accountable.

In a politically divided nation we have made the word religion and even God a dirty word.

Well you say, writer what does all of this have to do with our struggling economy?

This lack of Godliness in our homes, in our schools and in our communities has spawned in us a new religion of Greed.

This nations insatiable desire for more and more and still more has made us void of our common humanity. Our Gluttony for fine foods and excessive living. Our Sloth to nurture our families with home cooked meals and time for gathering and reflection has left us weak in mind and body. Our Envy of our neighbors things has led us to borrow more than we can pay back. Our Lusts for all things pleasurable has replaced quiet moments to be introspective and robbed us of our ability to connect to one another with true intimacy, in every sense of the word. Our Pride has rendered us shamefully exposed as a nation of pretenders. And finally our Wrath sent us in to a war against a peoples who would dare challenge our Godless way of life and maintain power of our dependence of their richest resource.

A Godless nation is a divided nation. Swarmed by the immigration of those seeking not a better way of life, but a richer, greedier way of life. A life where all the things they coveted from afar are attainable. A place where the ACLU is more concerned with making sure Christians have no rights that they are at risk of losing their own.

A nation falling to its knees.

How unpatriotic writer, you say? Can anyone say Rome?

This is nothing new, from early testament we as people have been warned,


Malachi 3

6For I am the LORD, I
change not;

7Even from the days of
your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them.
Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye
said, Wherein shall we return?

8Will a man rob God? Yet
ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and
offerings.

9Ye are cursed with a
curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

You see our religious practices, fellowship with other worshipers binds our common humanity and helps us hold ourselves accountable and accountable for, and to, one another.


While many of our churches would like us to believe that tithing is merely 10% of ones income, tithing is actually giving the best part of your whole self worth. I do not wish to argue scripture or theologians, but I would dare say according to historical data including scripture, your money, your time, your talents, your compassion; the best you have to give to another in honor of an Almighty God is what is required from us all.

Right now we are operating under the fear our greed has left us with. However, I believe once we return to practicing and participating in our religions and placing God and others first, the financial crisis will be healed. For He has not given us the spirit of fear, but He has given us the spirit of love, the spirit of power, and of sound mind.


Let us be one minded for a rebirth of our nation and watch and see!


Malachi 3

12And all nations shall
call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.


I pledge to find a church to publicly confess my hope and my salvation, to worship and to hold myself accountable for my sake and your sake and the sake of this great nation.

That's Melavision

What's Yours

The Lost Boys of America

Yesterday I lost a young son. He was not my biological son, he was not my step son or adopted son, he was America's son.
His name was Tommy Brandon Mcguire. He was 21 years old. He has sat at my table and ate my food. He has taken a nap on my sofa and laughed with friends on my front porch. He has wrestled with my son and shot hoops on courts while I watched. He has teased my daughter and hugged my grand daughter.
And he was a thug. A menace. A criminal.
He has been institutionalized and victimized and demonized until he became everything that we hate, that we jump up out of our sleep at night in fear of when we hear a shudder banging in the wind or a loose screen door slam with the breeze.
He was that boy you pass by at the mall on the street in the convenience store and pull your purse a little tighter or look over your shoulder to watch him walk away.
He was father less and had a mother less than equipped to raise a half breed son in the south where white people still call black folks niggers openly and white women with black children nigger lovers.
His family was the streets and he learned that love does not pay bills or buy clothes or all of the material possessions that were shoved in his face in television commercials and music videos and block buster movies.
He felt alone and abused and neglected and un cared about and grew angry and bitter until he thought there was no hope for a future for a man child like him.
He sought comfort in the arms of hoochie girls and wanna be vidoe ho's and families who gave him just a little of their time and a smile and a hug and a word of encouragement but not enough conversation to penetrate his troubled mind. Families like mine who thought we were doing good feeding him a slab of ribs at a barbeque, telling him that a God he could not see or hear or feel loves him. Singing songs of a better way but not showing him how to get there.
And now he is gone. Lost in a spray of gun fire. The victim of his victim.
Another black, latino, asian gang banger, trap boy, burglerer, petty thief, felon thug. Son, brother, nephew, cousin, friend, father.
Bout to make a change, filled out his application for trade school and learned to love by the smile of his baby girl saying daddy.
Menace.
Lost American Boy.
Tommy Brandon McGuire October 8, 1988 - February 27, 2009

2009 Grammy's

Happy Monday readers!

Wow,if you are like me and spent way too much time watching the Grammy pre-show red carpet and the awards show, you might be just a little bit sleepy today.

I'll leave the fashion comments to the other sites, because though I like to dish it out with my daughters on how everyone looked I don't like publicly commenting on the aesthetics of other people. I am a work in progress and I have left that nasty kind of behavior for my former self.

Speaking of which my favorite performance last night was T.I. and J.T., that's Justin Timberlake to the uninformed. Can I just say that I fell in love with T.I. all over again! I remember when my daughter Dee became a fan when he was still underground and she has been swooning over him ever since. Not a huge rap fan myself, I just didn't get it. Well, we all know he is such a cutie, but besides that his latest offerings from 2008 Paper Trail and I Am Part II, show us a more mature introspective young man. The duo's Dead and Gone performance was exceptional!

And what about Wheezie! Lil Wayne. Such a brilliant artist. Mo matter how you feel about his appearance and his obvious drug use, this guy has alot to say and has a phenomenal mind. It's true. His tribute to New Orleans was awesome and though I officially became a fan last year, I really enjoyed him last night.

Surprises for me, was just how out of the loop I am with the whole music scene now that I am a little older and an empty nester. Kim, my youngest definitely kept me up to date, and Dee who loves all genres of music used to keep me open to artists I might not normally listen to.

Among my must get CD list now is, ColdPlay, Duffy...yeah I said it, Adele and country crooners Sugarland!

So while the annual show will never replace my girls blasting their music around the house or dragging me over to the computer to look at the lastest video, I am glad that I turned on and tuned in.

Low notes for me were the pre-show with Ryan Seacrest who seemed determined to make certain artists feel uncomfortable with questions better left for a Barbara Walters special. Also M.I.A. While I would like to give her kudos for performing on her due date, it really was unattractive and oh so unlady like to watch her girating and thrusting her pelvic at the public.

My Whitney....lawd....I'm still praying for my girl. She looked good, but seemed whacked out. Having personally spent a little time with her, I know that she is endearing and lively and intelligent. So I am hoping she is just terribly uncomfortable speaking to her peers. Especially after such a public battle with addiction.

And finally, I was pulling for Jennifer Hudson last night and thought she handled her return to the music world with grace. A moving performance and touching acknowledgement of her lost family.

That's melavision. What's yours?

Hope We Can Believe In

As I reflect on yesterday, the wonderful Thanksgiving meal shared with family and friends, I think about our recent historical election of our first black president.

For those of you who care to read my blogs, you know what a supporter of Barack Obama I am. You have probably received countless emails from me over the campaign urging your participation in not only voting but becoming active in your community to motivate others.

I haven't taken the time to sit down and write about what this has meant to me, and what it means for all of us.

As many Americans did, I chose to vote early. The lines in Georgia were extremely long. Everyone was energized to get out to choose their candidate. People were polite in the lines, though no one discussed which candidate they were voting for or any of the political issues.

About half way through my 3 1/2 hour wait, my feet and back began to ache. I read a book off and on to keep me distracted. Even though I had some doubt that my state would win for Barack, I couldn't give up. During that three hour period many thoughts traveled through my mind. One of my first thoughts was about my role as facilitator for discussions on race while working at Emory University.

While leading those talks, I was amazed at the antipathy many of my counterparts shared regarding the struggles of black people in America. It awed me that there were students from Asia that didn't believe that slavery in the U.S. actually existed! I recalled being disappointed in the anger I heard from some of the white men. Their indignation palpable in the room. I felt disheartened by some of the elder southern white people that were bitter about carrying the burden of their ancestors past.

I'd come on board the project full of naivity and vigor, certain I would be able to effect the lives of those who participated. I left my post feeling cynical and hopeless about the prospect of change. I am ashamed to admit that I also left with a new distaste for white people in general. Wishing I could erase their blood from my own DNA. Something I had never felt before, and am happy to say now that I have recovered from.

While admiring the great pine trees of Georgia, my mind wandered to the movie Rosewood about a small town in Florida whose predominately black community was devasted by hatred and murder in 1923, Emmit Till brutaly beaten to death in 1955, the four little girls in the church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963 at the height of the Civil Rights Movement.

I thought about our dear Martin Luther King Jr. his tenacious courage, his wife Coretta and her stoic support. I visited reels of tape in my mind showing black men and women hosed down in the streets, stomped on, billy clubbed, spat upon. I reflected on John Lewis and Andy young living here in my city still standing up for all of us.

I thought about an exhibit I saw and a panel discussion I sat in on a few years ago called "Without Sanctuary". It was a photo and propaganda display of the lynching of black people in America. One of the persons photoed, shares the same name as my grandmother, Helen Nelson. That exhibit was something I will never ever forget. You could feel their spirits, smell their flesh...it was unbelievable. I wrote in a book that was there for personal reflections which is now part of the King Library. I hope someday in the not too distant future, a student will read my musings and imagine what a terrible place America used to be.


As my toes begged for relief my mind drifted to the middle passage where men and women jumped overboard slave ships choosing certain death over a ravaged life. I heard the moans and groans of those who endured the heat and the stench in the belly of the ships when the first African spirituals were passed along without words. And I said to myself, "It has come full circle. An African man will be president."

On November 4th I wasn't with my fellow supporters, did not get to revel in the joy and excitement of the crowds. Though my wireless phone lit up with text messages and phone calls, I was not among the celebration.

I was sitting in the family room of my fathers home in the very important electoral state of Pennsylvania. He was recovering from a recent illness. He sat in disbelief. There was no smile on his face. He was annoyed with the bells and whistles of my phone. He had only hours before, warned me that my exhuberance would be met with disappointment. And I was a little ticked off. I wanted my moment in history with the rest of the world.

But the next day, after the news had sunk in. After dad had seen that no secret society of white men was going to steal this from us. He did smile. And he said to me, "We got a black man for president! And I got to see it come true last night with my daughter."

So yeah, I missed out on the fellowship of the believers, but what a moment that was for my dad. What affirmation of the divine revelation I felt back in June when I wrote "A Dream Come True"!

The old fold is dying off. The generations of hatred and division are disappearing. There are a new people in this country who want to move forward. There are a new people in this country that want America to mean something good again. There are a new people in this country who have loudly said no more. Half breeds, pure breeds and your breeds have overwhelmingly declared,It ends with us!

Does that mean racism is over? Hardly. Is this a cure for all of the oppression black people still experience in 2008? Absolutely not. But once again God has shined on the United States of America and the world, and given us hope we can believe in!

That's melavision. What's yours?

Putting It All In To Perspective

You know there is so much going on in the world today. Literally just this day alone, the world market has bounced back with an 888 climb in the Dow. Whatever that means, I know its good. Christians are being tortured and murdered in India. The war still rages on in Iraq. Crazy Kim Jong II has recovered from his stroke and is still ruling North Korea. There are floods in Yemen, Prince Charles is worried about the climate, while thousands of people are running from rebels in the Congo. Hundreds of thousand of people across the U.S. are waiting in voting lines up to 12 hours long for this historical election, with racial and ideology division brewing hatred and fear.

It all sounds pretty troubling. The economy is at an all time low and if you haven't been downsized, retired early or fired you are probably worried it's just around the corner. Your grocery bills are too high, the price of gas to fuel your car has finally gone down, but the price to heat your home has gone up. You have auto repairs and medical bills and your water heater went out. Your oldest child or your youngest child just got in to some minor trouble with the law, or they got a bad grade in school. The price of day care is eating up your pay check. The lists can go on and on.

And its all about power and money.

As we worry over all of those cares this week, one of our celebrated young women, Jennifer Hudson has lost almost her entire family in a heinous crime. Mother,Darnell Donerson, brother Jason Hudson and 7 year old nephew Julian King, have been violently murdered. Jennifer has realized the start of a budding and brilliant career, is newly engaged to a handsome and successful man, admired by thousands of fans, and yet I'd bet she would give it all back to have those three people alive and well. Three trips, in less than a week to the coroners office to identify the remains of her loved ones. Can you imagine?

When you look at the tragedy happening in this young woman's life and that of her sister Julia Hudson, doesn't it make your problems seem a little small today?

Have you told the people in your life that you love them? Are you with the one you love or wasting years with someone you are entirely incompatible with? Have you kissed your child, your mother or your brother today? Have you taken a niece or a nephew for some special time alone? When is the last time you spoke to your grandparents? Have you hugged your dad lately?

As I pray for Jennifer and Julia I am humbly reminded that we are all mortal. We get so caught up with the cares of our immediate world and the world at large that we forget it is all temporary. Those frightening headlines and bills and career dilemmas seem so monumental. We strive to achieve or to get by, exhaust so much energy in worry or competition. And yet no matter what our level of success or burdens, the only, truly important thing, is family.

That's melavision what's yours?