What A Pretty Picture! Unopened Dreams

Years ago someone gave me a package of seeds to plant. I took them home and they stayed on my kitchen counter for a long time. Eventually they made their way to my drawer and remained there until I moved back to Detroit. I have no idea  where those seeds are, maybe I threw them away. I do remember that it was a nice picture on the front of the package.     read more . , ,

The Secret’s Out: My Father Isn’t a General | Celebrating My Father

“Don’t Tell LBJ, But Gen. Holmes Isn’t a General.” This was the headline plastered across the Detroit Free Press on April 19, 1969. My father had been allowed to escort President Lyndon B. Johnson to the podium at a Labor Day Celebration. There is nothing unusual about this except my father had never served in the armed forces and he was definitely not a Brigadier General. Yet at this celebration when they needed to have someone escort President Johnson to the podium and couldn’t find the right person, my father was there with the full attire ready to take his position as an unofficial Brigadier General.

Then one day they realized that he was not a Brigadier General but a man who headed up a drill team of youngsters and worked in the mail room of the Army’s Tank’s Automotive Command in Warren. Did he set out to deceive? Not really. He was just fascinated with the military.

Howbeit my Father never served one day in the military. You couldn’t tell because he knew military policies and procedures. Heck, he knew more about the military than most people who served in the armed forces.

I can’t quite tell you what his fascination was about the military, but I can say that in the instance where he was mistaken for a Brigadier General, he was a hero. He knew exactly what to do when he escorted President Lyndon B. Johnson to the podium. He had studied it. In essence, he had mastered it. So when the opportunity presented itself, he was ready. So ready actually that he deceived the U.S. President and his Secret Service.

Preparation is a key element to your success. If you have not prepared yourself then when the opportunity presents itself you will miss it. My Father was prepared and for one day he actually lived out his dream. For one day, for all intense purposes, he was a Brigadier General with one of the highest honors; to escort the President of the United States to the podium at a Labor Day Celebration.

What if he had not been prepared? He would have missed out on an opportunity of a lifetime. As a result, he was invited to the White House to personally meet the President as his true self.

My Father was a colorful guy who kept you laughing all the time. Nevertheless, in the words of my mother, “That is your Daddy and he will always be your Daddy.” We wouldn’t have had it any other way but to have Brigadier General Leon Holmes as our father. He was the real thing to us!

In your celebration of Father Day, don’t forget the fathers, natural and spiritual, in your life that have made you proud. We were and still are proud of the fact that my Father escorted the President to the podium. We are even proud of the fact that he was able to live his dream, if only for a day and make his mark in history.

Celebrate Fathers!

Happy Father’s Day!

 

Break A Record! At Any Age! Showers’ Blessing

Ernestine Shepherd, Guinness World Record Oldest Female Bodybuilder.

Completing questionnaires I found great joy in checking off the box in the 18-25 year old age range when I was younger. It represented endless possibilities in living and fulfilling my dreams. Gradually, I’ve etched beyond that place where the world was my playground to do with whatever I will. In many instances, I did.

As I’ve emerged beyond that age, I’ve come to realize that those categories are there for one purpose and that is to garner statistical information. It in no way can limit me from living my dreams and fulfilling my purpose. All too often people allow age to limit them and they stop dreaming and they stop living, especially if their age has etched past the 35-plus mark. God forbid if they are over 40, 50 or 60!

Our expectancy decreases primarily because our society indoctrinates us to think that as we mature we become useless. God never said that. I’ve come to realize that each age brings new nuances and new expectations. Regardless if you are in the first, second, third or fourth trimester of life you can still live your dreams and fulfill your purpose.

Think about it, when you were in the age bracket of 18-25 there was so much you didn’t know, yet you had such anticipation for your future. Howbeit you have combined all the wisdom you’ve garnered to truly become all God created you to be as you have matured over the years. Who says that you are too old or even too young for that matter? If you can dream it, you can do it!

Recently, I’ve found a hero, a 75-year young woman, Ernestine Shepherd, who is the oldest female bodybuilder alive. Guess what, she didn’t start exercising until she was in her mid-fifties! Now that is a wow for you! I’m decades her junior but my body doesn’t look anywhere near hers.

In essence, she has not allowed age to stop her from living her dreams. She envisioned her dream and she set out to accomplish it. That she has done! What an awesome role model not just for seniors but for everyone! She holds the Guinness World Record as the oldest female bodybuilder. Wow! Awesome! You can break records at any age! You don’t have to be confined to the status quo!

You know, there is a reason God in His infinite wisdom impregnated Mary and Elizabeth at the same time; a young virgin girl barely old enough to give birth and an older woman well-passed her child-bearing years. Each of them carried the seed of purpose and promise. Neither one of them, because they understood the dream seed placed inside of them, allowed their age, open ridicule and even scorn to prevent them from fulfilling their purpose.

You see, Mary and Elizabeth understood that the seed they carried was not about them, but about the will of God. As much as they understood the purpose of their seed, they also understood the purpose of each other. In doing so, it brought even more clarity to their respective assignments.

A number in time is all your age is all about. It is a number that God has provided to you for you to celebrate His gift of time, but never to limit you. When we allow age to prevent us from embracing and living our dreams and life to its fullest, we take God’s precious gift and throw it back in His face. We do not hold the gift as sacred. Embracing the sacredness of the gift is when we maximize every minute God has given us to fulfill His purpose for our lives in the earth realm. That is celebrating your age! Now go break a record!

SCRIPTURES

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 (KJV)

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: Eccl 3:1 (KJV)

Then said I, O Lord God! see, I have no power of words, for I am a child. But the Lord said to me, Do not say, I am a child: for wherever I send you, you are to go, and whatever I give you orders to say, you are to say. Jer 1:6-7 (BBE)

And Sarah, laughing to herself, said, Now that I am used up am I still to have pleasure, my husband himself being old? And the Lord said, Why was Sarah laughing and saying, Is it possible for me, being old, to give birth to a child? Gen 18:12-13 (BBE)

And Zacharias said to the angel, How may I be certain of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is far on in years. Luke 1:18 (BBE)

And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. 36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing shall be impossible. Luke 1:35-37 (KJV)

PRAYER

Father, Age is just a mere number and I will no longer be in bondage to it. Regardless of my age, I know You have impregnated me with so much potential that if I lived to be a thousand years old I would never be able to tap into the full reservoir of blessings You have for me. Regardless of what age bracket I may be in, I will never stop dreaming and believing that You have created me for greatness for such as time as this as I live out my purpose. Amen