Feeding the People

Image Captured from NPR

        Whenever I have one of those days where I am feeling listless and not useful, something shows up to slap me out of my conundrum. Just before going to bed one night, I watched one of my late-night show homeboys, Stephen Colbert. His two guests were Chef Andrés and Ron Howard, discussing their recent trip to Ukraine. This segment was a simple reminder of the reason why we cannot get bogged down in our woes because there is someone in a far dire situation.

        José Ramón Andrés Puerta, a Spanish chef and founder of World Central Kitchen, heads a non-profit devoted to providing meals in the wake of natural disasters. I was watching him recently when he reluctantly allowed Ron Howard (my Opie Taylor from The Andy Griffith Show) to do a documentary about his organization. He was reluctant in the beginning because he didn’t want the attention on him but on his mission to feed people in disaster-stricken areas just when they needed it. Ron Howard was extremely compassionate and understanding as he captured the essence and heartbeat of volunteerism.

        Chef Andrés empathetically stated that everyone can do something, whether it’s picking up litter in your community, planting a tree, or helping an older person put groceries in their car. Each of us has been given something to work with, regardless of who we are. Chef Andrés noted in his recent trip to Ukraine that a kid volunteered to deliver meals on his bicycle to victims who were hungry and bunkered down in a temporary shelter. He would deliver the meals and then come back to deliver more. The next day, the boy was back with his bicycle asking what he could do. Even when the kitchen where they were preparing the meals was destroyed by a Russian bomb, they found somewhere else to set up shop and continue their mission.

        This was a kick-in-my-butt reminder that determination is a powerful and positive motivator that changes our lives.

Feed My Sheep

Children, children have you any food?
it’s a new day and time for us to rise,
cast your nets, stretch out your hands
feed my sheep, feed my people.

For when I was hungry, did you feed me?
For when I was thirsty, did you give me a drink?
For when I was a stranger, did you take me in?
For when I was naked, did you clothe me?
For when I was in prison, did you come to me?
Feed my sheep, feed my people.

Inasmuch as you did these things to one of the least
my brethren, you’ve done it unto The Lord
when you’ve done these things out of love,
from the depths of your compassionate heart
together we can change the world
together we can make a difference
feed my people, feed my sheep
well done, good and faithful servant.

© Kym Gordon Moore, 2022

“Determination is the wake-up call to the human will.” – Tony Robbins

Image Source: WikiMedia Commons

Image Captured from Collider.com

One Moment in Time

Image Credit: crkmaga, Pixabay

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill

How did our enthusiasm go from 100 to 0 in the first 12 days of this new year? I recently listened to and read about how so many people from so many different sectors express how much they feel like they have hit a brick wall and were left unconscious on the sidelines.

While none of us have a crystal ball to see into the future, we have this moment to give Divine praise for life. When you have life, you have an opportunity, and with hope, you can add value to your life. I was reminded this morning of Whitney Houston’s song “One Moment in Time,” and it refreshed this present moment of why I do what I do. Don’t look down right now, look up. In this moment in time, rise, feel empowered, and have a productively FANtabulous day! Besides, what do you have to lose?

Time Will Tell

Image Credit: Peggy_Marco

If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got! -Anonymous

 

I looked at the calendar, then I looked at the clock

I am lost in my stupor of how time flew,

or how time walked, or how time ran.

 

I feel like I’m in a time warp,

distorted between fiction and nonfiction,

lost in a foreign world of confusion. What time is it anyway?

 

I wonder where did the time go,

I wonder where could it be but it’s gone

and it ain’t comin’ back, that’s a fact. Time. 

 

So I ask myself,

“Self have you utilized your time well, or did you waste it?”

“Self, how productive were you, and did you serve your purpose well with time?”

Now you see me, now you don’t. Time.

 

Am I frozen in time, unchanged, not updated, and just stuck? No.

Is it breaktime for me to briefly stop working and rest? Possibly.

Am I conjuring up times from the past, once upon a time, to remember the way it was and how it is now? It doesn’t hurt.

 

Am I running out of time, having more to do and not enough time to get it done in? Sometimes.

Am I stuck in time, antiquated or obsolete? Not in the least.

Do I embrace a time capsule of nostalgia with historical remnants collected during a time to revisit at another time? A time to remember? Yes, I do.

Image Credit: Peggy_Marco

Is this your time to make changes and avoid putting off what you can do today? Is this your time to spread your wings, ignite your imagination and passion, and then fly to new heights of possibilities and opportunities? The waiting is over. It’s now or never. Embrace it, take a chance, and take a leap of faith. If you don’t move, and if you don’t change, if you don’t try or attempt to learn something new, time will certainly tell and then you are stuck like glue. 

 

Image Credit: geralt

Finding Opportunity in Small Places

 

“How about scratching my back little buddy?”

What fascinates you? Sometimes big things excite us, yet oftentimes it’s the small things we tend to overlook which makes the biggest difference of them all. 🙂

The Will to Write by Any Means Necessary

Image Source: The Mirror (Ten-year-old Sara (left) with her sister Veronica)

You know, some days when I’m feeling overwhelmed by the mound of adversity that seems to crash down on me like a ton of bricks, even in spite of my issues, there is always someone or something to quickly remind me of how blessed I am. When I saw this story on television last week I was humbled and brought to tears.

Cursive writing, once a requirement in school for me when I was growing up, seems to be a lost art form nowadays. I still don’t understand why so many school systems no longer offer this as a requirement, regardless of modern technology soaring to keyboard expressionism.

Image source: Yahoo (Sara Hinesley’s entry form for the 2019 Nicholas Maxim Award)

This story, while one may ask what the big deal is about some 10-year little girl winning a national handwriting competition, you first need to know about this extraordinary student. First, her name is Sara Hinesley, a third-grade student at St. John’s Regional Catholic School located in Frederick, Maryland. Sara won the 2019 Nicholas Maxim Award for her cursive writing.

Still not impressed? Oh, did I mention Sara was born without hands? Yes, this remarkable little girl has a “Can-Do-Anything” attitude and moves beyond what we see as impossible. She does not focus on her disability. She climbs, draws, and swims just like any other kid born with hands and finds a way to tackle an obstacle when she is challenged to do some task requiring the usage of your hands.

Image source: Yahoo (Sara Hinesley, 10, completes an art project. Photo – Cathryn Hinesley)

What impressed me, even more, is that Sara is adopted and came to the United States from China about four years ago. At the time she could only speak Mandarin but quickly learned English with the help of her sister Veronica.

So on those days when I throw myself a self-indulgent pity party, I am reminded of stories like Sara’s that jerk me back to a state of humility, gratitude, and a reality that makes me feel ashamed by the thought of complaining about things I truly have no control over. Congratulations Sara and thank you for your unselfish inspiration! Continue to let your light shine brightly!

Image source: GMA (ABC News)

What’s Ahead for Your New Year?

I am not a fortune teller, so I don’t have the foggiest idea what this new year is going to evolve into. I can only hope, pray, and work towards a year of renewed beginnings for greater productivity for that which I am called to do.

Each year we feel relieved in some way that the former year is far behind us and that we can somehow navigate through each new day happier and more fulfilled. In reality, we know we will face the joy of the good-better-best which will be interwoven with events of the bad-worse-worst.

While we cannot control what happens in our daily goings and comings, we can control our attitude towards said occurrences. As the road ahead looks questionable, adventurous and often a little scary, we can start each day with the mantra to do our best with what we have, and not go ballistic over what we don’t have or probably shouldn’t have. Do your best, and once you’ve done that, learn from your mistakes, don’t repeat them, let it go, and then move onward.

Our Hidden Greatness

Potential: /pəˈten(t)SHəl/ Latent qualities or abilities that may be developed and lead to future success or usefulness.

Years ago, I read the book “Understanding Your Potential: Discovering the Hidden You” written by Dr. Myles Munroe. The objective of Dr. Munroe’s message makes you discover the untapped wealth of your potential ability, and rise above your past experiences to unearth hidden treasures within.

Whether or not you’ve read this book or are familiar with any of Dr. Munroe’s work, this book started out with the following explosive epiphany: Where is the wealthiest spot on this planet? In the oil fields of Kuwait, Iraq or Saudi Arabia, or perhaps in the gold and diamond mines in South Africa? Nah! The richest deposits on our planet tragically lie in our cemeteries and graveyards. They contain potential that remained potential.

The wealth of dreams has been dashed into the poverty of discouragement. –Dr. Myles Munroe

If I coulda, woulda, shoulda! So this got me to thinking about whether or not I am truly exercising my right to live my best life, not the wealthiest life, but my best. What spiritual gifts and physical talents has God blessed me with to use and enrich the lives of those who need encouragement to help them pass it on and to encourage others? How will we emerge from the ashes of hopelessness into the inferno of hope?

How do we successfully plant the seeds of potential that grow into trees of plenty? How do we leave our footprints in the rich sands of history and not buried in the dirt of a cemetery? Focus on what you have and then build from there. Start this minute if you haven’t begun already. We can’t allow disappointments to disarm our determination. If we allow adversity and discouragement to win, then we’ve already lost the fight before we even got started.