An Abiding Love

 
You are more  than the choices you have made. 

You are more than the sum of your mistakes, 

past or present.

You are more than the situations 

or undesirable circumstances in your life,

many of which you unconsciously or consciously

helped create.

You are a child of the Most High God,

in whom He is well pleased,

despite the moments along life's journey

you stumbled and fell or missed the mark.

He is not keeping score of the countless

times you may have failed to rise to the

occasion;

because the only true failure

is failing to learn from each experience

you go through,

which helps you grow and develop the

wisdom to choose differently the next time around,

thereby, avoiding the same unpleasant outcome.

No, God is not condemning you

for your mistakes or human errors.

It is we who harshly hold ourselves

and each other in condemnation

through our personal judgments of self

and one another.

God on the other hand, loves you so deeply

and unconditionally that He gives you

the grace and blessing of a new day,

that brings with it the gift of a new beginning;

A new day that offers a fresh opportunity

with a clean slate to start over and try again. 

A One Love Production

By Anna "Ms.Poet" Hendricks 

Copyright 2014

My End of Year Inspirational Love Note:Farewell 2013

As we prepare to cross the bridge of time together tonight from 2013 into 2014, let us do so leaving all baggage and blockage behind that will weigh us down, slow us down, block us or prevent us from moving forward and progressing upward and onward to our higher greater good in the coming year.

Let us welcome in the new year 2014 with an open and receptive heart ready and willing to give our best and receive the very best life has in store for us in return. Let us go forth across the bridge of time into 2014 with open arms and high expectations for the glorious future full of blessings that lies before us.

Lastly, let us remember that no matter what you went through in the year now ending the best is still yet to come. And though you may have uncertainty's about what the future holds remember that it is God who holds your future. Therefore, go in peace and love knowing all is well. See you on the other side of the bridge to the New Year 2014.

"Remember not the former things, neither consider the things of the old. Behold, I will do a new thing..." Isaiah 43:18

Until next time...I surround you in Love & light! So remember to keep your heart open and your LOVE light on.


A One Love Production
By Anna M. Hendricks
Copyright 2013
References: Holy Bible, Lamsa's Aramaic Translation

Honesty,Trust and Respect:The Three Key Elements To a Healthy Relationship

I am a firm believer that honesty really is the best policy in relationships. The problem with this is that the truth is often hard to hear and even more difficult to accept even from someone you know truly loves you and has your best interest at heart. For this reason, people say they welcome honesty in their relationships and do perfectly well giving it. Ironically, most people are shocked to discover they really can't handle when it's their turn to be on the receiving end of it. The other problem here is that you cannot give to or do for another what you have not yet learned to give to or do for yourself.

In other words, you cannot experience a healthy relationship dynamic with another if you do not have a healthy relationship with yourself. So if you notice that people seem to run amuck in your life, because you have not learned how to set healthy boundaries for yourself that you stick to no matter who it is attempting to cross them, then you do not have a healthy relationship with yourself. Likewise, you cannot be honest with another if you have not learned to be honest with yourself about unhealthy behavior patterns you may have. 

In fact, if you were to be completely honest with yourself as you read this article and you know the aforementioned person sounds a little or a lot like you. As hard as it may be to accept, find the courage to do a self-awareness audit by taking a good, honest look at the role you played in the outcome of your past relationship experiences.  What you will most likely find is that you have certain, attitudes, beliefs and behavior patterns  that have proven themselves, by the repeated undesirable outcome of your relationship history, to be unhealthy and not conducive to maintaining the kind of lasting and loving relationship you desire. Therefore, honesty, trust and respect are not only the three key elements that are important for having a healthy relationship with others but with yourself as well.

A healthy relationship with yourself or others cannot survive without the three key elements of trust, honesty and respect. And you cannot have one while lacking the other because each one leads to the development of the other. Speaking personally from my own self-awareness, I know that I cannot grow to respect someone I cannot be honest with. Nor am I able to trust people who have not also earned my respect. The key word in that sentence is earned because while trust, honesty and respect are three key essential elements to a healthy relationship, they are also virtues that should be earned not just handed over on a silver platter. 

However,  the catch 22 here is you cannot be honest with your genuine feelings with someone you cannot trust your heart with. Nor can you trust someone you do not respect or who does not make you feel respected by their repeated negative or unhealthy behavior patterns in your relationships.

So what do you do in this case? I say, when your relationship comes to this point it's time to seriously consider if it's even worth your continued effort to try to maintain it. I say this because it's virtually impossible to maintain a healthy relationship that lacks the room or ability for open, honest, heartfelt communication even when the truth hurts and in most cases it does. And you don't have to be mean, purposely hurtful or demeaning in order to be honest with someone. In all communications with another you can and should use tact, compassion for the other persons feelings and a sense of decorum. When people choose to do the latter when expressing their feelings and say it's all in the name of, "I'm just being honesty", they're are lying. When people are nasty, critical, judgmental and demeaning they are not having honest communication from a heart of love with good intentions. 

They are instead having fear based conversation rooted in their own hurt. Their words are coming from their shattered ego and broken pride usually stemming from some unhealed wounded place within them they have not dealt with. Or your heartfelt honesty shared with them in the past or present that they were unable to handle, accept and digest as the hard-core truth about them or the situation you both are going through. So they wait until you're having a vulnerable moment and they dumb all their ugly, negative words on you disguised as " the truth."

The real truth is they are making a sad, unloving attempt to make you hurt because they are hurting. And as the saying goes, hurt people...hurt other people. So when this happens don't buy into it or take it personally because it's absolutely not about you. Nor is it the kind of honest, open, heartfelt communication we're talking about here. 

That being said, I stand on my opening statement and belief that you cannot have, build or maintain a healthy relationship dynamic without the three key elements of honest, trust and respect. I believe this so strongly not only because these three virtues are the core principles for living my life. They are standards in which I hold myself to and expect from others in my relationships. In fact, these three virtues are so important to me that, as a new mom, I am already planting these seeds as core values to live by in my eighteen month old daughter.

Also, my personal life experiences and relationships have taught me, if nothing else, that you cannot have a genuine affinity with another if the relationship the two of you share does not afford or allow authenticity. More simply put, if your relationship does not allow you room to be "real" with each other on a deep genuine level then what you have is not authentic. If you're having to walk around on egg shells all the time because the minute you speak your truth from your heart it upsets the apple cart and all peace is suddenly lost. Then you have to question if you really have genuine energy of peace between you to begin with. 

If you have to candy coat your words all the time because the other person can't handle you being direct and honest even when you are kind, calm and loving in your approach they still become defensive and shut down all communication. Yes, all relationships be it family, friends or romantic partners, experience growth spurts where you have arguments. However, a relationship that has an authentic exchange of love energy is one where both parties understand that the real purpose of relationships is to help each individual grow and gain better understanding and awareness of self and love for their own personal development and the other person involved.

In an authentic relationship where there is also a genuine affinity and exchange of  honesty, trust and respect, you both equally care about each others personal growth, happiness and overall well being. And a relationship cannot grow, thrive or reach its full potential, nor can the two people involved in it grow and reach their full potential, without these three key elements. Why not you may ask? Because at the end of the day, and at the heart of the matter, honesty through open, heartfelt communication builds trust..trust builds respect. The three of these elements together leads to the strengthening of the bond between the two of you which nurtures and prospers your relationship in genuine...authentic..deep and abiding...Love. 


Until next time...I surround you in love & light! So always keep your heart open and your LOVE light on.



A One Love Production
By Anna M. Hendricks
Copyright 2013

Healing Your Inner Child Through The Power of Forgiveness

Anyone who has children, or has worked extensively with children as a profession, knows that when they reach the toddler stage of development it's very common that they begin to "act out." Why is it then when we see a newborn baby or infant crying we recognize it as normal behavior yet we have an entirely different perception of a toddler having a tantrum? In fact, our initial response to a  fussy or crying infant is usually, "Awwww...don't cry baby." We then follow up that initial reaction by holding and coddling the baby while showering him or her with high doses of patience, love, attentiveness, empathy and compassion.

In contrast, when that once cute little infant reaches the stage of toddler and begins displaying age appropriate behavior for that stage of development as well, otherwise known as "the forbidden temper tantrum", all our patience, attentiveness, empathy and compassion goes out the window. Instead of giving the toddler the same understanding and patience we did during its infant stage, like probing to figure out the root cause of their undesirable behavior, we become frustrated and try to force them into having model behavior. 

As a society we quickly blame the parents, especially the mother, as failing to properly discipline the child. Some people also place judgmental labels on the toddler behaving like this as being bad or spoiled. And who thought it was a good idea to even go as far as to stamp this stage of child development as the parentally dreaded, "terrible twos"?

Truth is, just like the infant, a toddler does not have the vocabulary, understanding or emotional skill level yet to effectively express what they’re feeling either. So, in most cases, they are simply acting out some emotional or physical need or desire they are not getting. They have also not yet learned a better way to get their parents or caregivers attention to meet that need. 

Just as likely, they may be mirroring the same behavior they see the adults in their life handle their emotions when not getting their needs or desires met. For example, they may frequently see mom and dad bickering, arguing and fussing with each other a lot. Perhaps the primary adults in the child's life are often screaming curse words, slamming doors, stomping or exuding negative angry energy and body language toward each other while the child is present witnessing the chaos.

Sounds childish and irresponsible? Absolutely! However, this is because, just like a physical child, adults have an inner child that occasionally behaves in this same childlike way as a toddler having a knock down, drag out, ugly, tantrum. And when they do it's usually for the same or similar childlike reasons a toddler does. If that sounds too ridiculous for you to accept or believe then perhaps no one ever informed you that emotional maturity is NOT synonymous with age. 

Like a toddler just learning the use of language as a form of communicating its thoughts and feelings, some adults do not always have the vocabulary rage, communication skills and emotional maturity level to effectively and appropriately express their thoughts, feelings or desires.  Equally so, no one may have ever properly taught or shown them by example how to handle emotional situations and express their intense frustrations and anger in a healthy way.

More often than not, people who are well into adulthood still lacking the ability to respond rather than react to situations that arouse intense emotions,thereby resulting in them expressing their anger and frustrations like a toddler having a tantrum, is usually because they grew up in a home environment where such behavior was the norm.  In fact, library and book store shelves are filled with books written by experts who have done studies on human behavior and proven that, unless someone in our childhood teaches us differently, we usually take into our adulthood interactions with others the same social and emotional behavior patterns learned from our parents and childhood environment. 

So in the aforementioned case of the adult still lacking the social, emotional and communication skills and abilities of a mature adult, they probably saw such emotional conduct and behavior demonstrated by the adults who raised them. If this is the case, they are most likely none the wiser that such behavior is inappropriate as an adult and pushes people away. Truth is, we are products of our environment which is why most of us reach adulthood still struggling with and trying to overcome issues and wounds that goes deep back into our childhood and is in desperate need of healing. 

Unfortunately, in order to heal your emotionally wounded places you are required to also be emotionally vulnerable enough to face your wounded places within. For most people this is not an easy task to accomplish due to fear of being rejected, judged, criticized or looked down on by others once the mask is off and your wounded inner child has been exposed.

What's funny is when we see such behavior in other adults, that mirror the tantrum prone toddler, we tend to label them as “crazy”. Yet, when our own, childlike behavior or “inner crazy” comes out we excuse or justify it as venting or blowing off steam. But at the end of the day yelling, shouting, cursing, slamming doors and pouting, i.e. staying mad for hours or days at a time, is an adults inner child having a toddler tantrum. 

So the next time someone says or does something that causes a disturbances in you or pushes your buttons resulting in you having an adult tantrum. First, remember they are just that, your buttons and you are the only one responsible for your actions or reactions regardless of what anyone else says or does. Second, remember the manner in which you choose to react or respond to something or someone is ALWAYS about you not the other person. It is a reflection of what's already going on inside you, not the other person. So own your "stuff".

Lastly, should you find yourself reacting to what someone says or does in a manner very similar to a toddler having a tantrum, remember it’s just your inner child reacting to a need or desire that’s not being met. Like the infant crying and the toddler pitching a fit trying to get mommy and daddy's attention to its needs, your strong childlike reaction is your inner child's way of getting your attention to its needs. 

It is a direct indication of your inner child attempting to bring to your awareness the wounded places you are still holding on to from past hurts that are still in need of healing.  The same is true when you see this behavior in other adults in your life. And just like with a toddler it is best to calm down and respond NOT react.

And the best response to your inner child's cry for help and healing is to refer back to paragraph one of this article to the example of the infant baby crying. Then find some place private and quiet you can go to be still and embrace your inner child with high doses of patience, compassion, understanding.

Follow up by probing yourself, perhaps with the aid of a therapist if necessary, to uncover the root cause or reasons for your repeated undesirable, socially unacceptable, strong emotional reactions and behavior. Also, be honest with yourself, and those closest to you if necessary, especially if your explosive emotional episodes is jeopardizing your relationship with your spouse or mate. 

Most importantly, repeatedly give your inner child the maximum doses of love and forgiveness you are capable of giving, no matter how many toddler like tantrums you continue to have along your journey to self healing.

Until next time...I surround you in love & light! So always keep your heart open and your LOVE light on. 

  


A One Love Production
By Anna M. Hendricks
Copyright 2013

Peace: The Gift Forgiveness Gives To You

Forgiving others can be challenging depending on the degree of the perceived offense. Yet, often times forgiving ourselves can be even harder to do. In this human experience we are all subject to making mistakes. We say things we don't mean in the heat of an intense emotional upset that we later regret. We also allow our deep seated fears to sometimes control our behavior and cause us to to act out in a manner we later feel embarrassed or ashamed of. 

Yes, we all have a touch of crazy within us to one degree or another. And when the "crazy" within ourselves comes out, causing us to have temporary insanity, we experience moments where we do or say things that does not reflect our true character or represent our core believes and standards for living. When this happens we can be very hard on ourselves for such slip ups. In fact, we're often times harder on ourselves for making mistakes than we tend to be on others for their humanness.

Perhaps it has something to do with the idea that we expect other people to have a touch of crazy but not ourselves. Or it could be that we some how think we are exempt from such human tendencies. So when we fall short of the otherwise perfect image we secretly and subconsciously have in our minds of ourselves it can be hard to accept and even harder to forgive. 

The mind begins it's incessant negative chatter saying things like, "why did you say that to him or her...you never think before you speak." Or, "You're such an idiot, why did you do that...you know better than that, your mother/father would be so ashamed of you for doing that if he or she were still alive." Here's another good one, "You're such a failure, how could you allow yourself to get pregnant again." Or, "No one will ever love you now that you're a two time divorcee. You're so unworthy of love."

Why do we punish ourselves so harshly like this for simply being human. Living is about learning and the best teacher to help us learn is our own life experiences. Forgiving ourselves for our mistakes allows us to get the lesson and the blessing that comes along with every experience we go through in life. And the extra bonus gift that comes along with self-forgiveness is inner peace also known as peace of mind.

Truth is, when you forgive yourself you are no more condoning your own inappropriate behavior than you are when you forgive someone else. What you are in effect doing by forgiving yourself is loving yourself enough to extend the same grace to yourself as you do to others when they err.

Self-forgiveness allows you to remember that you too are a child of the Most High God. And as Peter said in, Acts 10:34, "...God is no respecter of persons." This means the same goodness, grace, mercy and forgiveness that is available to others from God is also readily available to you. It also means the unconditional love that Holy scripture tells us God has for all His people includes you as well. But you have to learn to accept yourself unconditionally as God does in order to feel such abiding love within and the pathway to such love is through self-forgiveness.

So the next time you're "inner roommate" is playing the recording that reminds you of all your past mistakes, mess-ups, and missed opportunities non-stop, the way to shut it up is to pray for forgiveness, then forgive yourself. And the next time your deep seated fears makes your inner crazy show up causing you to behave in a manner that is so unlike you, just remember this acronym for the word PEACE by, Iyanla Vanzant, best selling author, teacher and life coach on her television show, Fix My Life, from her book, Until Today!, she writes,  "Please Excuse All Crazy Experiences."

Forgive yourself , spend no more time beating yourself up. Allow yourself to move beyond the feelings and thoughts of shame, guilt, embarrassment and unworthiness. As long as you are living you are going to make mistakes in order to continue learning and growing. Yet, if no one ever told you before know as of today that no matter how many mistakes you make, as a child of God, you will always be worthy of Love.

Until next time...I surround you in Love & Light! So always keep you heart open and your Love Light on.

A One Love Production

By Anna M. Hendricks

Copyright 2013
References: Holy Bible, Lamsa's Aramaic Translation, Until Today!, Iyanla Vanzant

Two Key Elements of Unconditional Love: Forgiveness and Grace

Loving unconditionally also means learning to extend grace and forgiveness to another for things both big and small. It’s not always the major offenses like betrayal, deceit or disloyalty that lead to the breakdown of a relationship. Sometimes it’s the little things that we fail to truly forgive and let go. Over time such small offenses build up and turn into an unconscious resentment that begins to show up in our attitude and behavior when interacting with the person.

For example, certain personality differences, habits and repeated small mistakes or oversights made by the person that your, more meticulous, attention to detail, personality type finds extremely annoying, careless or irresponsible about the other person. However, before you judge the imperfections of another so harshly remember in our human nature we are all flawed to one degree or another. This means, as hard as this may be to believe, accept or digest, the truth is that you too have some personality traits, habits or idiosyncrasies that really annoy someone else, rather they’ve brought it to your attention or not.

This is not just with friends and those we work with but it’s especially true in our close personal relationships of those we have to live with as well. Like a husband, wife, romantic partner, roommate, or siblings who still live at home with mom and dad. Maintaining a meaningful relationship of any kind is hard within itself. Yet, trying to sustain a relationship on top of adding co-habitation to the mix to raises this challenge to a whole new level.

Anytime you put two or more people in the same living space together it requires a great deal of patience, compassion, understanding, consideration, and yes…enormous amounts of grace…i.e. forgiveness. Why? Because although we meet people throughout life with whom we have much in common, reality is, God made no two people exactly alike. Which in effect means, in order to live in harmony we have to learn to accept the differences between our personalities and another’s that in due time will surely show up. And the best way to accomplish this huge feat is by finding a way to embrace rather than resist the things about another that makes them as unique as your own personality quirks also makes you uniquely you.

So the next time your spouse, mate, lover, co-worker, sibling or friend does that thing he or she does that just really irks your nerves, remember this scripture from Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Be patience and extend them a little grace.

Forgive, let go and don’t sweat the small stuff because in the grand scheme of things if that person, you otherwise so dearly love, were to die tomorrow all those little habits and things they do that annoy you so much would suddenly become small things. So why not see them for the truth of what they really are now. Doing so will allow you to get on with enjoying your relationship and loving that person to the best of your ability while they’re still here today. As I’ve said before I say again as a reminder. “To err is human but to forgive is divine.”

Until next time…I surround you in Love & Light! So always keep your heart open and your Love light on.

A One Love Production

By Anna M. Hendricks

Copyright 2013

The Power and Importance of Forgiveness

December is here already which means it's time for us to prepare our final farewells to yet another year that has so quickly gone by. In doing so, we also cross the bridge into another new year filled with excitement and uncertainty over the unknown possibilities of dreams still ahead of us to fulfill, and new wonderful experiences yet to unfold. And the best way to kick off  the new year is with a mental and emotional clean slate. Along with an open heart ready to embrace life and all the love that makes life worth living. 

So to help you bring 2013 to a close in peace and enter 2014 ready to prosper, my Inspirational Love Note messages to you this month will be on, The Power and Importance of Forgiveness. Here's why....

The holiday season is a wonderful time of year that brings us together with family, love ones and old friends we haven't seen or  spent quality time with in awhile. Yet, this time of year often also reunite us with people we haven't seen or talk to in a while for a reason. That reason most often being due to a falling out, an argument, misunderstanding or mistake from the past that led to deep wounds, hurt feelings, and a broken relationship that now desperately needs mending. 

However, while a relationship may desperately NEED mending doesn't always mean it's possible to do in every situation. Especially if  the damage done was severe and the offender refuses to apologize. Even worst, they may be unable to see the inappropriateness of their actions, words or behavior that resulted in the painful outcome. Or they just flat out and stubbornly don't feel they did anything wrong. 

Yet, despite the pain the situation may have caused you to endure and the other persons unwillingness to at least meet you half way on the road to redemption, your lack of forgiveness of the person or situation causes you to suffer more than anything they may have said or done that caused your initial hurt. Holding on to grievances, resentment, anger, over things of the past does you a huge disservice and brings you absolutely no good. 

In fact, holding grudges is a complete waste of your energy and time because it takes more energy to stay mad than it does to forgive and move on with your life. It also poisons your heart which blocks your blessings, keeps you locked in a mental and emotional prison, and over time can even begin to negatively affect your health. 

So you see, in truth, forgiveness is NEVER about or for the benefit of the other person. Forgiveness is ALWAYS about and for you. Contrary to what many perceive and believe about it, forgiveness doesn't let the other person off the hook, validate, or excuse their behavior or offense. Nor does it prove them right and you wrong. Forgiveness doesn't even mean or require that you resume having a relationship with the person. 

And it most certainly doesn't mean that you are weak and they are strong. It takes a great deal of spiritual and emotional strength and maturity to perform the act of forgiveness. Therefore, it is you who are proving to be the strong one by choosing not to allow the behavior of another to steal your inner power and joy. 

Forgiveness free's your mind, purifies your heart, heals your soul, and allows you to move on with your life while continuing to let your love light shine. It also allows you to be more open and receptive to your blessings, use your energy more productively. Most importantly, forgiveness allows you to spend your precious time here on earth sharing your life with those who are truly deserving of being a part of it.  Remember, to error is human...but to forgive is divine.

Until next time I surround you in Love & Light! So always keep your heart open and your Love light on. 

A One Love Production
By Anna M. Hendricks
Copyright 2013

Purposeful Perspective: Letting Go...and Letting God

I woke up this morning with a new attitude,
grateful for what I have yet still yearning
for more spiritual food
Peace of mind and clarity in my soul,
'cause as of today...pursuing joy and happiness
while claiming my dreams,
has become my new life goal

I hear my inner voice of Spirit softly
saying to me, "the reason you desire
the things you do so strong & passionately,
is because they're not just frivolous dreams
but part of your Divine Destiny.
Pursue them with boldness
and fierce tenacity
And they shall come to pass...
surely they shall come to be

Let go of yesterday, for there's no room
for regrets of the past where you're now going
All you need is your faith, clear vision
and a spirit of knowing

Let the word of God be a lamp to your feet,
trusting in Him to guide you along your way.
He will lead you in the paths to the good life
where you'll be more than a visitor
'cause He's prepared a place
for you to stay

This is your season...now is your time...
Therefore you must move forward and not delay
Your life's destiny is now calling...
and to its great command you must listen,
take actions and obey

Humanity is waiting for the unique impression
your talents will leave on the world
and all that they are worth
So don't take the gifts God gave you
to your grave...leave them here
to be a blessing upon the earth"

Yes, I woke up this morning with
a new life perspective...
Fulfilling my purpose for living is now
my daily objective...
Allowing the God light in me
to be more potent and reflective...
Choosing to use the power
of my thoughts & words more selective...
Expecting results that prove
to be more rewarding & effective...
Trusting Divine Order to be my only directive.

"Thou wilt show me the path of life, and I shall be filled with the joy of thy countenance, with the pleasure of victory of thy right hand." ~ Psalm 16:11

The moral of this Inspirational Love Note message is to encourage you to leave all regrets over missed opportunities and situations you wished you had handled differently had you know what you know now behind. Leave the mistakes of your past in the past and take on a new perspective about your life from this point forward.

Starting today begin to wake up everyday giving the best you've got to the moment you're now in while pressing forward toward the glorious future God has in store for you. The key to doing this effectively is by Letting Go...and Letting God have His way and His will for you...in you...through you. By doing so you will soon see Divine Order unfold in your life leading you exactly to where you are divinely purposed to be.

Now click on the video link below and fill the Holy Spirit of Truth move through Bishop Paul Morton and his church congregation in the live performance of his soul stirring song perfectly suited to compliment my message to you today entitled, "Let Go and Let God."




As always I love hearing from you so please continue to send me your Love Notes...and I'll continue sending you mine.

Until next time....I behold the Spirit of Christ in you...and surround you in Love & Light!


A One Love Production
By Anna M. Hendricks
Copyright 2011

The Power of Choice

Through our God given power of choice,
we each have a voice...we each have a say,
To determine in any situation we find ourselves facing,
if it's in our best interest to walk away or stay

Through the power of choice we can choose to be a giver,
or choose to be the one who always takes.
We can choose to keep doing the same things over and over
getting the same result or we can choose to use wisdom
and learn from our past mistakes.

We can choose to repeatedly
find ourselves in conflict with others
by allowing ourselves to be driven
by our emotions, insecurities, and fears.
Or we can choose the path that leads to peace
by being slower to speak and swifter to hear.
After all, this is perhaps the reason
God gave us one mouth and two ears.

We can find ourselves enjoying more harmonious relationships
if we choose to do better at practicing humility
and come to fully understand,
that pride comes before the fall of every great man.
So it behooves us to choose to be happy
versus arguing to prove we are right
as often as we can.

We can choose to continue to feed the insatiable need
to feel the only way to get the outcome we desire
is by attempting to control every person
and situation in our lives.
Or we can choose to let go...
be still and know
that God rules the heavens and earth
and by right of our birth
we were created to prosper and thrive.

You see, the power of choice is a wonderful gift indeed.
And praying for discernment to use it wisely
is sound advise of which we should all take heed.
For choosing to see one another through the eyes of God
with an understanding heart of forgiveness, love & compassion
is more of what we need,
To heal our wounds and close the gap of separation
in all humanity
and see more of our relationships succeed.

A One Love Production
By Anna "Ms. Poet" Hendricks
copyright May 2011