Do You Know Who You Are?

Who are you now? What would you like to change? Why haven’t you changed it? What things can you change right now, tonight, this minute? What things are holding you back from being the person you would like to be? What stories have you told yourself about your past? Are they true? Or are they Satan attempting to keep you from the light that is YOU?

You, yes, you are the Child of an All Powerful Being. You have purpose, depth and meaning. You have strength more than you know and courage bubbling just beneath the surface.

What will you do today to change your story? Can you pray? Do you have a moment to meditate and find the light within you? Are you willing?

One of the biggest lies we believe, as humans, is that we don’t matter, that we are boring, that our life is just a body passing though time. But as Tennyson says:

Life is real!  Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

You are here for a reason. Find your mission. Find your Father in Heaven act knowing that you are his child. The path to discovering your truest self lies in discovering Him. Once you understand your relationship with Him, your eyes will be open and you will have a light for your path. Not a flood lamp or a light house, but a candle, just enough to take the next step. Then, as you grow to trust the guidance, you will realize that is all that is needed.

Throw out your chest and declare that you will move forward and achieve what you were sent here to do. Change the stories you tell yourself. Forgive yourself for past failures. Learn from them. Failure is fertile soil.

Please do it! Pick one story you’ve told yourself about your failures and let it go. Write it out, change the ending.

And I will do the same. And I will teach my children. And they will teach theirs. And one day, one day we will have a world full of people who know who they are and understand their value.

~~~

Your writing prompt for today is to write about a negative story you tell yourself about your past and then change it to showcase the positive.

(Incidentally, this writing prompt is not my idea, I learned it from a colloquium I am a part of. Join a book club! So much good comes from it!)

Spreading Light

Dear readers,

Today is my day to post. I have one about the Top Ten Writing Related Incidents we have experienced. It’s funny, and all of the things I list are things which this group has experienced in one way or another.

But I can’t post it.

This world is aching and sometimes I feel it within my soul. Sometimes it seeps into my pores.

People are angry. I’ve seen posts on Facebook, blogs, and websites that are full of vitriol. But they are all lovely people. Even in those I don’t agree with, I see value and beauty and goodness. It is right there in them, this greatness that seems to shine through even the darkest words. Why can’t people see it in each other?

I just wish that things could work out without this venom that sometimes comes through. I know that it’s naive and maybe I am just tired and will feel differently tomorrow.

But, I don’t think so.

I think that what I feel for people is real. I think that what I feel for all of you is the most real thing there is in this world. I just wish that we, as human beings, could act on what is real instead of this…I just…I want things to be different.

Dear readers, your writing prompt for today is to write a description of someone you love. Write down what you love about them. Write how they’ve touched your life. Abandon all restraints and write it.

Then give it to them.

Spread some light and love.

A Tomato Sandwich – The Perfect Comfort Food

It is my ultimate comfort food.

There have been a few times in my life when I was so stressed that my diet consisted entirely of tomato sandwiches. When you can rely on one food to sustain you for weeks at a time, you know you’ve found your ultimate comfort food. I love them and I never get tired of them.

I just received the last tomatoes of the year from my Step-Father. They’re small because the weather began to turn, but they’re the last, and they’re mine.

I was so busy today that I forgot about them right up until the time everyone was in bed. I had just finished working on a project, sent an email to my boss and realized that the only sound I heard was the fan my son keeps in his room to help him sleep. Peace…

Then, I remembered the Last Tomatoes!

I tip toed in my worn gray-white socks to the kitchen and began to prepare the tiny feast for my soul. Opening bread bags can awaken sleeping children and the operation had to be done silently.

Once the bread was prepared I selected a tomato from the bag. It was firm and fragrant. I cut into it. The scent of summer came rushing up to me and memories of the weeks of anguish which were highlighted only by the quieting peace of tomato sandwiches flickered across my mind. Juice ran between my fingers as I placed the tomato on the bread.

Curling up into my favorite chair, I ate my sandwich and listened to my son’s fan. I rarely get moments of peace like this, and when they comes I revel in the solitude and quiet.

I put away my plate and knife then realized that there was also a tiny bit of cinnamon applesauce left in the refrigerator. And I ate that too. Because right now, I don’t need to eat tomato sandwiches to survive. Right now, it is just the last of them, and tomato sandwiches are my favorite.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your writing prompt for today is to describe, in detail, something that seems mundane to the rest of the world, but brings you simple happiness.

Mistaken Identity

Hello Fire Fans,

This is a piece which I started so long ago that I barely remember writing it. This is really in a Fragment Friday vein, but I’m part owner of this blog so I’ll go ahead and do what I want.

I like the characters in this piece and I think I’m going to continue on with it one day.

Your writing prompt for today is this. Go through your old folders, find something you wrote, either one that you like and want to continue, or one that you despise that needs adjustment.  Add something, a description, dialogue, a whole scene…anything. Your old pieces deserve attention too.

Mistaken Identity

Sharon heard a woman’s voice calling “Ann, Ann!” She continued to look through the pages of a novel, killing time until she could pick up her daughter from dance class. “Ann! Ann!” the woman continued to call.

I wonder why Ann doesn’t answer, she thought to herself.

Sharon felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to find at a tiny woman wearing a tattered brown coat over a baggy purple T-shirt and faded jeans.

“Ann, I’ve been calling you and calling you. You always get so wrapped up in your books. It’s been so long since I’ve seen you. How have you been?”

Shocked and embarrassed, Sharon opened her mouth to tell her that she must be mistaken, but before she could utter a word, the short, ragged looking woman continued.

“I’ve waited for your phone call. I thought I had done something to make you angry. You know, ever since Hank died it seems I spend a lot of time waiting for that old phone to ring.”

The woman nervously pulled on her coat, conscious that it was out of style, worn and dirty. She laughed anxiously and said, “What are you doing right now? There’s a coffee shop right here in the store, would you like a cup?”

Shaking her head, Sharon intended, again, to tell her that she was not Ann. She looked into the woman’s gray eyes and was stunned by absolute loneliness. In that moment, she became lost in a stranger’s sorrow.

“I think you bought the coffee last time.” Sharon said, “Why don’t you let me buy this cup?”