MAKING A CHOICE

We should all learn to forgive people, not because they deserve our forgiveness but because we deserve "PEACE".

MOTHERHOOD

MOTHER OH MOTHER

SENT FROM OUR HEAVELY FATHER
TO NURSE AND NUTURE US TO BE BETTER
HER HANDS LIKE THE HANDS OF THE PORTER
HER OFFSPRING IS AS PRICELESS AS HER TALENT

MOTHER. MY PRIDE, MY LOVE, MY FRIEND
YOUR CARE YOUR WARMTH, YOUR GRIP, ALL SEE NO END.
MOTHER ...OH MOTHER, JUST LOOK AT THOSE EYES THAT SMILE, THAT SCOLD, THAT NOD, THAT DON'T GO
THAT NO CHILD OF MINE WOULD...THAT YOU ARE MY PRIDE
ALL GEARED TO ME...MY GROWTH, MY FUTURE, MY RISE

MOTHER....MY MOTHER USED TO SAY.
MY CHILD, MY EYES.
I SEE ONLY THROUGH YOU
WHEN THE WORLD STARE AT YOU
IT'S ME THEY CURSE, THEY PRAISE OR SLAY.

MY BESTY

MY BEST FRIEND "MINA" 
The day she is not with me
is the day that I die
following her always,
with no frown or no sigh.
My life would not be complete
without my very best friend
I know she'll always be here,
until the very end.
I thank her for life
and all the joys so far
praying to God always,
on a lucky star.
I love you so, so much
you are my everything
thanks for being you,
and taking me under your wing.
Raindrops on roses
and a few of my favorite things
her face would always glisten,
each time she would sing.
Beautiful by nature
a true friend at best
surpassing all the others,
she's better than the rest.
Whatever it may be
boys, a cough, or just a mood
she will always sit and listen,
never, ever being rude.
I never have to say
when I'm feeling down
she only just knows,
by my hidden frown.
Her hug or her smile
can break my mood so fast
making me see the bright side,
putting the bad to the past.
Now as I'm older
you could call us a pair
our looks, wit, and charm,
are only a few that we share.
My world is only whole
with her by my side
having her always there,
to love and to guide.

TO A SPECIAL FRIEND

                 TO A SPECIAL FRIEND 

You are strong.
You are courageous.
Your heart. Your mind. Your soul.
Those are the things I love most about you.
You are the one person I can open up to.
I can confide in you without the fear of being judged.
You are truly a remarkable human being.
More than a man. An angel.
My guardian angel.
Helping me through the savage trials life has put me through.
Though I have let you down before, I never will again.
Though I have hurt you before, I never can again.
Know that you can lean on me. You can depend on me.
I'll stand strong for you and be there when you need me. No matter what.
You are my Anam Cara, my soul friend.
Whatever life throws our way, we can remember that we have each other.
Our friendship has gotten us through the thick and thin.
Whenever you are low, remember this.
I'm here for you in every way.
When everyone in this world turns and you feel alone, reach out and I'll be there.
Always.

Thank you for being my best friend.
Thank you for everything.

I FOUND A SISTER

           I FOUND A SISTER                                 

A sister is someone who loves you from the heart,
No matter how much you argue you cannot be drawn apart.
She is a joy that cannot be taken away,
Once she enters your life, she is there to stay.

A friend who helps you through difficult times,
Her comforting words are worth much more than dimes.
A partner who fills your life with laughs and smile,
These memories last for miles and miles.

When she is by your side, the world is filled with life,
When she is not around, your days are full of strife.
A sister is a blessing, who fills your heart with love,
She flies with you in life with the beauty of a dove.

A companion to whom you can express your feelings,
She doesn’t let you get bored at family dealings.
Whether you are having your ups or downs,
She always helps you with a smile and never frowns.

With a sister you cannot have a grudge,
She is as sweet as chocolate and as smooth as fudge.
Having a sister is not just a trend,
It is knowing you can always turn to her, your best friend.

That's who you are to me Faridah

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

                                    UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

TELL ME, HOW TO LOVE SOMEONE WHO DOES'NT LOVE ME BACK.
TELL ME ,HOW TO RESPECT SOMEONE WHO DOES'NT DESERVE MY RESPECT
TELL ME, HOW TO TRUST SOMEONE WHO BETRAYED ME SO BADLY.
TELL ME, HOW TO CARE FOR SOMEONE, WHO NEVER CARED ABOUT ME

TELL ME, HOW TO SPEAK NICELY TO SOMEONE WHO ONLY SPOKE DOWN TO ME WITH BAD WORDS
TELL ME, HOW TO  GET ALONG WITH SOMEONE WHO BROUGHT ME NOTHING BUT ENDLESS TEARS.
TELL ME, HOW TO GET CLOSE TO SOMEONE WHO CAUSED ME SO MUCH PAIN.

TELL ME, HOW TO FORGIVE SOMEONE WHO HURT ME SO SEVERELY.
TELL ME, HOW TO OPEN MY HEART TO SOMEONE WHO BROKE IT TO PIECES SO MANY TIMES.

INDEED IT IS A VERY DIFFICULT THING TO DO, SOMETIMES OUR GREATEST BLESSING'S COME THROUGH CIRCUMSTANCES WE NEVER DREAMED WE WOULD EXPERIENCE.
BUT IT IS UP TO EVERYONE OF US TO LOVE UNCONDITIONALLY.

                  A BIG CONGRATULATIONS TO THE GRADUANT'S OF CLASS 2013




TO HALIMA: This is the time of truth, and if the truth must be told, I must admit that your golden qualities a match to my aspirations. If I am asked to choose my friends again, I will still choose you. In just less than 12 months you have proved yourself to be a worthy friend and sister. Thank you for all the support (so far)...you have been a pillar!
Having my back, protecting my pride sustaining my honor and most importantly being a true friend. A true friend says what they think there friends should hear, even when they think there friends may get angry, a true friend doesn't leave because he/she is afraid to be with you, a true friend doesn't leave when the fun stops and things get uncomfortable, there are just of few of the values that real friends hold dear. in short a true friend recognizes the value of the friendship and holds it sacred ..Thanks dearie...

THIS IS FOR YOU HALIMA!!!

FRIENDS ARE FAR, FRIENDS ARE NEAR
FRIENDS WILL BE THERE TO LEND AN EAR
THEY LISTEN, LAUGH, AND CARE
BUT MOST OF ALL THEY ARE ALWAYS THERE
THROUGH THICK AND THIN, UP AND DOWN
YOUR FRIENDS ARE ALWAYS AROUND
FOR TREATS, HUGS AND REAL BIG SMILES
THEY'LL TRAVEL TO YOU FROM SEVERAL MILES
THEY WOULD ALWAYS BE THERE TO HOLD YOUR HANDS TIGHT
ANYTIME, NO MATTER IF IT'S DAY OR NIGHT
YOU REALLY KNOW WHEN YOUR FRIENDS ARE SINCERE,
WHEN THEY ALWAYS SHOW UP TO LEND THERE EAR

TO FARIDAH: You have taught me so much,  so much that I plead to know more....you corrected my perceptions,  taught me about the egotistic,disingenuous,intricate,contemptuous, and barbaric nature of human beings. You have no idea what you have done to my self esteem within these past months, or even how many mistakes you stopped me from making with your fervent and magnanimous speeches. There are so many more I have to say, but  I just want to sum up my gratitude in two words,  THANK YOU. You are one of the most amazing life changing persons I have met in a long time. I which you the very best in life


TO SHERI: My New Yorker...I will really miss you. You were always available when you were most needed, always willing to help out and make life comfortable even when you had your plate full....I appreciate all you did for me and am saying a big THANK YOU.


TO HADIZA SANI: Ok, what can I say... I admire your simplicity, kindness, care....name it. I can't categorically tell you how we came this far, but I know this is one friendship I actually adore. I wish you the very best in life also, and I look forward to hear your success story.


It is 3: 15 am, and I am sending this to you from the very debt of my heart...it is my feelings poured out in writing. You might see it as one of my random clingy acts, but while you are at your judgement...have it at the back of your mind that not everyone would spend such time to appreciate your importance in there lives, that is if they even notice it.......


         ENJOY THE REST OF YOUR  DAYS  IN  YOUR  PRESTIGIOUS UNIVERSITY !!!

A HOSPITAL IS A MICROCOSM OF THE WORLD.

WHY? Let me explain

On the surface, a hospital appears to be a great place.The sheets are clean and the staff is friendly. Nurses come and go with warm smiles.Doctors periodically appear wearing nice loafers, a tie, and a kind face. Friends and family visit bringing pretty plants and friendly words.

There is a curiously large number of smiles here. I've walked the halls and been greeted by the smiling Candy Strippers pushing the the coffee cart.The gift shop downstairs is full of magazines with smiling people on the covers.The lady selling them smiled broadly at me when i bought one.The receptionist at the front desk smiles when you pass by.

Along with the smiles and the comfort is the escape hatch.The TV is placed near the ceiling and through it you can climb into the outside world.Just flip the switch and you are riding on the Love Boat or watching the Yankees game.

Smiles,efficiency, distraction. I've seen some resorts that don't offer this kind of treatment. My, you almost forget where you are.

In fact were it not for the undisguised reminders, you would forget.But just when you relax-just when you begin to smile to yourself, just when you giggle at Bill a friend or family member- a siren reminds you.The scream of the patient next door reminds you. Paramedics rushing a stretcher towards the emergency room remind you.

And the reminder is sobering.This is a hospital. The sole function of this building is to bargain with death.The walls can't be white enough nor the staff polite enough to hide the stark reality of the bottom line:

People come here to give all they have to postpone the inevitable. We give it our best shot.We put up the best we have-the best technology,the best minds,the best equipment  and yet at best we walk away with an extension,never a solution. And though we may walk or be wheeled out with smiles and waves of victory, down deep we know it is just a matter of time until the best we have won't be enough and the enemy will conquer.

So a hospital is a paradoxical place.  A place where the reality is hidden, yet can't be hidden because the reality is to real.Our world is identical to a hospital.Have you ever noticed the endless extremes to which a person will go to hide the realities of life?

                                               TO      BE     CONTINUED!!!

                                                    ABSURDITY IN THE FLESH
You mean to tell me that God became a baby...
The one poising the question was puzzled. His thick eyebrows furrowed in doubt and his eyes squinted in caution. Though there were places to seat, he opted not to do so.He preferred to stand safely behind the crowd, unsure, yet intrigued by what he was hearing.
"Yes, that is what I mean to say," the instructor responded."And then, after becoming a baby, he was raised in a blue-collar home?
He never wrote any book or held any office, yet he called himself the son of God"?
"That is right."
"He never traveled outside of his own country, never studied at a university,never lived in a palace, and yet asked to be regarded as the creator of the universe?"
"That's correct."
"And this crucifixion story...he was betrayed by his own people? No followers came to his defense? And then he was executed like a common junkyard thief?"
"And after the killing  he was buried in a borrowed grave?"
"Yes, he had no grave of his own, nor money to purchase one."
  The honesty of the dialogue kept the audience spellbound. I realized I was witnessing one of those rare times when two people were willing to question the holy. Here were two men standing on opposite sides of a deep chasm, one asking the other if the bridge that stretched between them could actually be trusted.
There was a hint of emotion in the student's voice as he carefully worded  the next question.
"And according to what's written, after three days in the grave he was resurrected and made appearances to over 500 people?"
"Yes."
"And all this was to prove that God still loves his people and provides a way for us to return to him?"
"Right."
I knew which question was coming next, everyone in the room knew it. It could have gone without being asked. In my heart of hearts, I was hoping that it wouldn't be asked.
"Doesn't that all sound rather..." He paused a second, searching for the right adjective. " Doesn't that all sound rather absurd?"

                                                      TO BE CONTINUED..............

LIVING WITH PURPOSE "The journey to an unknown destination": E...

LIVING WITH PURPOSE "The journey to an unknown destination":                                                  E...:                                                  EYEWITNESSES OF HIS MAJESTY We can live next to something for a lifetime, but unless we ta...

                                                 EYEWITNESSES OF HIS MAJESTY
We can live next to something for a lifetime, but unless we take time to focus on it, it doesn't become a part of our life. Unless we somehow have our blindness lifted, our world is like a blind cave.
        Think about it.Just because one has witnessed a thousand rainbows doesn't mean he's seen the grandeur of one. One can live near a garden and fail to focus on the splendor of the flowers. A man can spend a lifetime with a woman and never pause to look into hers soul. And a person can be all that goodness calls him to be and still never see the author of life.
          Being honest or moral or even religious doesn't necessarily mean we will see him. No. We may see what others see in him. Or we may hear what some say he said. But until we see him for ourselves, until our own sight is given, we may think we see him, having in reality seen only a hazy form in gray semidarkness.
         Have you seen him?
         Have you caught a glimpse of his majesty?
 The man.The bronzed Galilean who spoke with such thunderous authority and loved with such childlike humility.
The God. The one who claimed to be older than time and greater than death.
Gone is the pomp of religion; dissipated is the fog of theology. Momentarily lifted is the opaque curtain of controversy and opinion.Erased are our own blinding errors and egotism. And there he stands.
JESUS.
Have you seen him?
Does who first did were never the same.
"My Lord and my God!" cried Thomas.
"I have seen the Lord," exclaimed Mary Magdalene.
"We have seen his glory," declared John.
"were not our hearts burning within us while he talked?" rejoiced the two Emmaus-bound disciples
But Peter said it best."We were eyewitnesses of his majesty." The emperor of Judah. The soaring eagle of eternity. The noble admiral of the kingdom. All the splendor of heaven revealed in a human body. For a period ever so brief, the doors to the throne room were open and God came near.

                                     THE EVOLUTION OF CHRISTIANITY
God tapped humanity on its collective shoulder. "pardon me," he said and eternity interrupted time, divinity interrupted carnality, and heaven interrupted the earth in the form of a baby. Christianity was born in one big heavenly interruption.
              Just ask the Bethlehem Shepherds. We know so little about these men. their names? their age ? how many were on duty that night? we don't know. But this much, we can safely assume: They had no expectations of excitement. These are sheep they are watching. These men expected no excitement, nor did they want any. Any excitement was bad excitement- wolves, mountain lions, poachers. Shepherds treasured the predictable. They coveted the calm. Their singular aim was to be able to tell their wives, "nothing happened last night."
                   Just because they wanted a calm night, however, didn't mean they would get it. And forgive the reminder: just because you want a calm life, don't bank on having it. The minute you sink down in the easy chair of life, heaven pushes the remote and changes the channel:

                                     The financial aid office says "no"

                                      The doctor says "pregnant"

                                       The boss says "transfer"

                                        The text grade reads "F"

                                        The auto insurance says "expired"
"I am the one who creates the light and darkness. I am the one who sends good times and bad times.I, the Lord, am the one who does these things." And our typical response is like that of the shepherds. Fear. " Then an angel of the lord stood before them. The glory of the lord was shining upon them and they became very frightened".
                Change always brings fear before it brings faith. We always assume the worst before we look for the best. God interrupts our life with something we have never seen, and rather than praise we panic! We interpret the presence of a problem as the absence of God and scoot!

                              Christianity, in its purest form, is nothing more than seeing JESUS

                               Christian service, in its purest form, is nothing  more than imitating him who we see.

                                To see his majesty and to imitate him, that is the sum of Christianity.