Party Party Party

In a song called 'Paso (The Nini Anthem)', produced by Sak Noel, the singer croons:

Monday – Party!Tuesday – Party!
Wednesday – Party!
Ok!
Thursday – Party!
Friday – Party!
Weekend, weekend, weekend – Party! Wow!

I’m telling you mama, there's no need for drama. I don’t wanna study. I just wanna party.

I’m a nini, mom;
You know what a nini is?
Don’t wait for me awake.
I’m coming home late –
Maybe at 5 ... maybe at 6.
Look at me, mom,
I’m dressing like a ...
I just wanna party, party ... Mama, yo paso de todo. Wow!

The lyrics are a little sparse, but the music moves!

If your Spanish is a little rusty, 'nini' is a word that is used to describe a young, rebellious, global generation person who is only interested in having a party – no job, no study, only party. This kind of person is a 'nini' because the word 'nini' comes from ni estudia ni trabaja, which means 'neither work nor study.' I'm not really sure about yo paso de todo, unless it means 'I'm giving the party all I got.'
If you've ever read the Apocrypha you may remember something that's stated in Ecclesiasticus 31:31. It goes this way: "Don’t correct your neighbors at a wine banquet, and don’t show them contempt when they are partying; don’t say any reproachful word to them, and don’t trouble them with any demands." I think the point there is that correcting your neighbors while they're partying is probably not the best time to do it.

I would never correct the singer while she parties, but I will say there comes a time when partying wears you thin. The drinks, the laughs, the monotonous small-talk – all of it can leave you feeling hollow after awhile. Like you realize the parties add very little meaning to your life. Sure, it's fun to celebrate when it's called for, but celebrating just because it's something to do gets old quickly. Find a little time to be by yourself, to be quiet, to be open to something unexpected that might happen. Too much partying will leave you numb.

Which Will You Employ

James Allen once asked a rhetorical question. He wrote, The will to evil and the will to good are both within thee, which wilt thou employ?

I know he asked this in an old stuffy form of the English language, but you've got to admit, it's a darn good question. So which will it be? And careful now before you answer, because doing right can be costly.

Isaiah says by the time a child turns twelve years old, he or she is able to make moral decisions (Is. 7:15). So the question is not can we do it; it's will we do it. Will we choose to do what we feel is right even when it costs us, or even when no one else agrees with us?

The actor, Edward James Olmos, said, "Life has a tendency to teach what's right and what's wrong, and you learn it from experience. Trust, integrity, commitment – we must have that. If we have that, then we have everything." And Maya Angelou, "If we are honest and fair, then we are known by that. If we're not, alas, we're known by that as well. What we want to do is do right, but you have to say it. You have to show it, and not stop." Like they say in the Union Bank slogan, "Doing right. It's just good business."

The next time you are conscious of the will to evil and the will to good scuffling deep in your soul, remind yourself you have a choice, and do good. You'll feel better in the morning.

Bloom Where You Are Planted

In prophecy given after the Babylonian exile, Isaiah promised that Israel's children would sprout up like trees in the grass, like poplars beside channels of water (Isaiah 44:4). Drawing on that imagery, I would suggest that God intends for all us to grow up in our walk with him. If you need a biblical proof-text, take Paul's "God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do" (Ephesians 4:15 MSSG). If you prefer a source from outside the Bible, take the quote attributed to Francis de Sales, who said, "Bloom where you are planted." Grow up in Christ. Be real. Love yourself, and sprout up like flowers in the garden.

A Little Party

Fergie's 'A Little Party Never Killed Nobody' makes me want to test that theory to see if it is true. I think Fergie knows what she's talking about though, because it looks like she was born to fly the Let's Party! flag. "A little party never killed nobody, so we are going to dance until we drop – drop. A little party never killed nobody, right here, right now is all we got."  Now let me say before I go any farther: Count me in. I'd love to dance with Fergie until I drop, or until I am dropped by the unlucky soul who catches me doing it. I'm not a good dancer.

 

I love this song, but I just can't get my mind around that last line, "Right here, right now is all we got," because I believe we've always got some more. Some call it a second-chance; some label it reincarnation. I like to think of it as heaven. Another singer-songwriter who lived over 260 years ago named, Isaac Watts, put it this way: 

 

Oh! could we make our doubts remove,

These gloomy thoughts that rise,

And see that Canaan that we love

With unbeclouded eyes –

 

Could we but climb where Moses stood,

And view the landscape o'er,

Not Jordan's stream, nor death's cold flood,

Could fright us from the shore.

 

Now, I'll admit: Watts' song doesn't have the dance umph that Fergie's has, but he makes a good point. There's more to life than meets the eye, just waiting for anyone who hopes to see it. Go ahead – a little party never killed nobody. But just remember, there's more of life to come on the flip side.

Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town

One of the songs I sing in the shower is an old Mel Tillis song Kenny Rogers sang ages ago called, Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town.

In the song, a wounded soldier begs his girlfriend, Ruby, to keep her love at home. Whenever the sun begins to drop behind the pines, Ruby lets her passion get the best of her. She slips into a nice dress and heels, paints her lips, curls her tinted hair, and slams the door behind her.

I've always heard that love is fickle. I like that word fickle because it reminds me of the word pickle, and pickles are one of my favorite vegetables. I can eat them right out of the jar. I guess when people say that love is fickle they mean that love is unstable, unpredictable, changeable. The Oxford Dictionary, which is about the size of a small piece of luggage, states that when something is fickle it is treacherous and unsafe.

At first I assumed that Ruby's love was fickle, because the sunset made her do wild and crazy things. But Ruby's love is not nearly as unsafe as her hero's. At the end of the song, her boyfriend who is confined to bed says, "She's leaving now 'cause I just heard the slamming of the door, the way I know I've heard it some 100 times before. If I could move, I'd get my gun and put her in the ground. Please, Ruby, don't take your love to town." And then I like the last line, "Oh Ruby, for God's sake turn around."

Whew! I don't know about you but, if we all let love bring out the worst in us, I'd rather stick to being single. 

Speeding Towards You

I was browsing through a few old journal entries and came across this quote from James Allen. I probably picked it up from a book of his collected works called "Mind Is the Master." The quote I'd scribbled in my journal is: "If you love people, and speak of them with praise, until they in some way thwart you, or do something of which you disapprove, and then you dislike them and speak of them with dispraise, you are not governed by the love which is of God."

Because you see the love which is of God is unconditional. It doesn't appear when we behave and disappear when we misbehave. I don't remember watching this, but I've read that in 1983 the magician, David Copperfield, made the Statue of Liberty disappear on live television. He raised a giant curtain on Liberty Island; then lowered it again a few seconds later to show that the space where the statue stood was empty. A nearby helicopter crew filmed an aerial view of the illusion, and the statue appeared to vanish.

God's love never vanishes. It is always constant, always streaming toward humanity at super-spiritual speed.

Allen believed if the love we extend to others fluctuates on the basis of their behavior, it isn't the kind of love that comes from God. It is the kind of love which comes from people, and let's be honest here. We normally extend our love to folks who either agree with us or please us in some way. People mete out love this way, which is why the Scriptures warn, "It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man" (Psalm 118:8).

If you're feeling betrayed or misunderstood, chin up! God's love is nearing your heart even you as you read!

Soul Food

A year or so ago my wife, Karen, bought a Groupon for a meal at a soul food restaurant in Rochester – fried chicken and waffles, turnips with ham hocks, the works! For those of you unaccustomed to soul food, a ham hock is the lower segment of the pig that corresponds to the ankle or calf region. A hock is made tender from all the collagen that breaks down during cooking. Best of all, the whole thing is covered in skin, and as soul food lovers always say, The more skin the better! I should probably confess that I made a pig of myself on Lake Avenue.

My Jewish friends have never really gotten over their memories of Eve taking the forbidden fruit. Moses instituted dozens of clean and unclean food laws for the people to comply with in his day, and later the Pharisees added so many of their own laws and long-winded explanations, lawyers were needed to unravel the mishmash of dietary data for the average man and woman on the street.

When Jesus came along, he got on to these legal food warriors by saying, “Alas for you, scholars and Pharisees, hypocrites that you are! You pay tithes on mint, fennel, and caraway seed, and have neglected the weightier matters of the Law – justice, compassion, and good faith. These last you ought to have put into practice, without neglecting the first” (Matthew 23:23).

God has given us bodies capable of assimilating the food he provides for us to eat. They are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ (Psalm 139:14) to ingest, digest, and convert into physical energy the huge variety of foods we enjoy every day.

But really there are two kinds of soul food – the kind of food I grew up with in Georgia, and the kind of food which comes out of my soul, like the goodwill and compassion I try to extend to others. It’s probably helpful to ask yourself: What sort of food am I giving out to others today? Does it help them see God more clearly? Does it ease the trouble they are in? Does it give them lasting sustenance? If the food we give is to be of lasting value, it must always be good – for, to paraphrase Stephen Grelley, we may not ‘pass this way again.’

Think about this: God has given us a spiritual diet chart of good and bad foods. In Mark 7, Jesus tells us that the foods we must avoid are: sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, haughtiness, and folly. “All these wicked things come from within, and do defile a person." In Galatians 5, Paul lists all the good foods: "love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindliness, generosity, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control."

What kind of diet are you on? Stick with the good foods, because the good ones are food for life!

Can't We Get Along

I’ve always been a big James Allen fan. Allen believed there are four tendencies in the human mind which interfere with our ability to get along. The four tendencies are: Pride; Self-love; Hatred; and Condemnation.

Allen was convinced if we’ll be a little more modest, a little less interested in our own petty wants and wishes, a little slower at tossing the first stone, and a little faster appreciating people we have yet to understand, there’s a good chance we can become friends with people we never dreamed of knowing.h

The four foundation stones which contribute to friendship are: Humility; Self-surrender; Love; and Compassion. Whenever these four things are present, there exists a possibility for unity and peace. The problem is these things run contrary to human nature. I don’t always want to put my neighbor’s interests first. I find it hard to bite my tongue, to control my temper, and especially hard to love people who disagree with me. And my compassion tank, oh my! that runs awfully low at times.

In Allen’s words: “Where two are determined to maintain an opposing opinion, the clinging to self and ill-will are there, and Brotherhood is absent. Where two are prepared to sympathize with each other, to see no evil in each other, to serve and not to attack each other, the Love of Truth and Good-will are there, and Brotherhood is present. All strifes, divisions, and wars inhere in the proud, unyielding self; all peace, unity, and concord inhere in the Principles which the yielding up of self reveals. Brotherhood is only practiced and known by him [her] whose heart is at peace with all the world.”

Oh Lord, give me a heart at peace with all the world!

Not Their Life

It is good to acknowledge that each of us has our own life to live. If I choose to live my life in a way that dissatisfies you, I'm sorry, but you'll have to admit, it is my life to live, not yours. And what suits me may not fit you at all. I might enjoy sleeping outdoors on air mattresses and in canvas tents, while you prefer relaxing in plush suites at the Hampton Inn. I might take a late night stroll through a dimly lit village, while you would never dream of taking such a risk. Each of us is different, which is why each of us is so interesting. I guess Karle Wilson Baker captured the crux of the issue in a poem she wrote called, Creeds (Macmillan 1938).

Friend, you are grieved that I should go

Unhoused, unsheltered, gaunt and free,
My cloak for armor – for my tent
The roadside tree;

And I – I know not how you bear
A roof betwixt you and the blue,
Brother, the creed would stifle me
That shelters you.

Yet, that same light that floods at dawn
Your cloistered room, your cryptic stair,
Wakes me too – sleeping by the hedge –
To morning prayer!

So enjoy who you are, who you were meant to be, and don't worry if some don't get it. It's not their life to live.

Fake Love

Lately I've reconnected with Blende’s Chordashian Remix of Fake Love, released in September 2012. The vocals are sung by Rebecca of Sweden’s Rebecca and Fiona.

 

In the song Rebecca believes that people who fake love can take love, but then she warns the predators to not go messing with her heart. If they do, it’s gonna come back to them. She’s known boys who have pretended to care, awhile, then they show their true selves, and it’s not quite true. So she says, “Don’t go messing with my heart, cause it’s gonna come back to you.”

 

In the scriptures, the principle of coming back to you is called reaping what you sow. If you offer your concern or respect to someone, when all you want to get out of the arrangement is something for yourself, beware! One day it will come back to you. Maybe when you least expect it, the tide will change and someone will tinker with your emotions, go messing with your heart, leave you feeling misused, abandoned and alone.

 

Rebecca says we can’t erase the hurts we bring on others, and the hurts can always be traced back to one who lies.