Top Pot Donuts Are Da Bomb!!

I am so excited to announce that I was invited to try out the new donuts being offered at Starbucks. Well. . .I've been in search of the perfect donut for 30 years and imagine my surprise when I found out about these babies. They're made by Top Pot Donuts based in Washington state and they have a history of their own. Check out the web site. These little morsels are now available at your local Starbucks.

Sometimes happiness comes in a round package with a hole in the middle ;0

http://www.toppotdoughnuts.com/

January 21 - Feast Day

Saint Agnes

Feast Day: January 21
Symbol:young woman bearing a palm leaf or sword and holding a lamb

Agnes, is one of the four great virgin martyrs of the Christian Church and died for her faith in the early fourth century. St. Agnes, chose not to marry and was prepared to die for the sake of her faith and her virginity as "the bride of Christ", rather than become the wife of the son of a Roman prefect.

Maya Angelou - this day in 1993

Read her poem "On The Pulse Of Morning" at President Bill Clinton's Inaguration

A Rock, A River, A Tree
Hosts to species long since departed,
Marked the mastodon.
The dinosaur, who left dry tokens
Of their sojourn here
On our planet floor,
Any broad alarm of their hastening doom
Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages.

But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully,
Come, you may stand upon my
Back and face your distant destiny,
But seek no haven in my shadow.

I will give you no more hiding place down here.

You, created only a little lower than
The angels, have crouched too long in
The bruising darkness,
Have lain too long
Face down in ignorance.

Your mouths spilling words
Armed for slaughter.

The Rock cries out today, you may stand on me,
But do not hide your face.

Across the wall of the world,
A River sings a beautiful song,
Come rest here by my side.

Each of you a bordered country,
Delicate and strangely made proud,
Yet thrusting perpetually under siege.

Your armed struggles for profit
Have left collars of waste upon
My shore, currents of debris upon my breast.

Yet, today I call you to my riverside,
If you will study war no more. Come,

Clad in peace and I will sing the songs
The Creator gave to me when I and the
Tree and the stone were one.

Before cynicism was a bloody sear across your
Brow and when you yet knew you still
Knew nothing.

The River sings and sings on.

There is a true yearning to respond to
The singing River and the wise Rock.

So say the Asian, the Hispanic, the Jew
The African and Native American, the Sioux,
The Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the Greek
The Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest, the Sheikh,
The Gay, the Straight, the Preacher,
The privileged, the homeless, the Teacher.
They hear. They all hear
The speaking of the Tree.

Today, the first and last of every Tree
Speaks to humankind. Come to me, here beside the River.

Plant yourself beside me, here beside the River.

Each of you, descendant of some passed
On traveller, has been paid for.

You, who gave me my first name, you
Pawnee, Apache and Seneca, you
Cherokee Nation, who rested with me, then
Forced on bloody feet, left me to the employment of
Other seekers--desperate for gain,
Starving for gold.

You, the Turk, the Swede, the German, the Scot ...
You the Ashanti, the Yoruba, the Kru, bought
Sold, stolen, arriving on a nightmare
Praying for a dream.

Here, root yourselves beside me.

I am the Tree planted by the River,
Which will not be moved.

I, the Rock, I the River, I the Tree
I am yours--your Passages have been paid.

Lift up your faces, you have a piercing need
For this bright morning dawning for you.

History, despite its wrenching pain,
Cannot be unlived, and if faced
With courage, need not be lived again.

Lift up your eyes upon
The day breaking for you.

Give birth again
To the dream.

Women, children, men,
Take it into the palms of your hands.

Mold it into the shape of your most
Private need. Sculpt it into
The image of your most public self.
Lift up your hearts
Each new hour holds new chances
For new beginnings.

Do not be wedded forever
To fear, yoked eternally
To brutishness.

The horizon leans forward,
Offering you space to place new steps of change.
Here, on the pulse of this fine day
You may have the courage
To look up and out upon me, the
Rock, the River, the Tree, your country.

No less to Midas than the mendicant.

No less to you now than the mastodon then.

Here on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister's eyes, into
Your brother's face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope
Good morning.
(By Maya Angelou)

Speak Your Mind

"Even If Your Voice Shakes."

- Maggie Kuhn, Founder Grey Panthers

Happy Birthday Dr. Martin Luther King!

Happy Birthday to You!!!

"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Prayer for A Dying Friend

What does it mean when we hear that a friend or loved one is dying? For me, I think that we are all dying - with every breath we take - tomorrow, the next hour - the next minute is not promised to us. However, today I am reflecting on and praying for my friend - we'll call her "Kate." Kate is lying in a hospital bed as I write this, in constant pain, yet fighting to live.

My friend, Judith, died in 2006. A couple of months before she died, she shared the following poem with me:

Another Dimension

Bedside Manners
Christopher Wiseman

How little the dying seem to need—
A drink perhaps, a little food,
A smile, a hand to hold, medication,
A change of clothes, an unspoken
Understanding about what's happening.
You think it would be more, much more,
Something more difficult for us
To help with in this great disruption,
But perhaps it's because as the huge shape
Rears up higher and darker each hour
They are anxious that we should see it too
And try to show us with a hand-squeeze.

We panic to do more for them,
And especially when it's your father,
And his eyes are far away, and your tears
Are all down your face and clothes,
And he doesn't see them now, but smiles
Perhaps, just perhaps because you're there.
How little he needs. Just love. More Love.

Let It Go - by Bishop TD Jakes

Let It Go For 2007...
By T. D. Jakes

There are people who can walk away from you.

And hear me when I tell you this! When people can walk
away from you: let them walk.
I don't want you to try to talk another person into
staying with you, loving you, calling you, caring about you, coming to
see you, staying attached to you. I mean hang up the phone.

When people can walk away from you let them walk.
Your destiny is never tied to anybody that left.

The Bible said that, They came out from us
that it might be made manifest that they were not for
us. For had they been of us, no doubt they would have
continued with us. [1 John 2:19]

People leave you because they are not joined to you.
And if they are not joined to you, you can't make them stay.

Let them go.

And it doesn't mean that they are a bad person it just
means that their part in the story is over. And you've got
to know when people's part in your story is over so that you don't keep
trying to raise the dead. You've got to know when it's dead.
You've got to know when it's over. Let me tell you
something. I've got the gift of good-bye. It's the tenth spiritual gift, I
believe in good-bye. It's not that I'm hateful, it's that I'm
faithful, and I know whatever God means for me to have He'll give it to me.
And if it takes too much sweat I don't need it. Stop begging people to stay.

LET THEM GO!!!
If you are holding on to something that doesn't belong
to you and was never intended for your life, then you need to ...

LET IT GO!!!

If you are holding on to past hurts and pains ...

LET IT GO!!!

If someone can't treat you right, love you back, and see your worth ...

LET IT GO!!!

If someone has angered you ...

LET IT GO!!!

If you are holding on to some thoughts of evil and revenge ...

LET IT GO!!!

If you are involved in a wrong relationship or addiction ...

LET IT GO!!!
If you are holding on to a job that no longer meets your needs or talents ...

LET IT GO!!!

If you have a bad attitude ...

LET IT GO!!!

If you keep judging others to make yourself feel better ...

LET IT GO!!!

If you're stuck in the past and God is trying to take
you to a new level in Him ...

LET IT GO!!!

If you are struggling with the healing of a broken relationship ...

LET IT GO!!!

If you keep trying to help someone who won't even try
to help themselves ...

LET IT GO!!!

If you're feeling depressed and stressed ...

LET IT GO!!!
If there is a particular situation that you are so
used to handling yourself
and God is saying "take your hands off of it,"
then you need to ...

LET IT GO!!!


Let the past be the past. Forget the former things.
GOD is doing a new thing for 2007!!!

LET IT GO!!!

Get Right or Get Left
think about it, and then ...
LET IT GO!!!

"The Battle is the Lord's!"

National Black Catholic Congress

Here is a good link for African American Catholics and others who are interested. . .

http://www.nbccongress.org/default.asp

January 3, 1956 - CME

Colored Methodist Church, established in 1870, officially changed its name to Christian Methodist Episcopal Church on January 3, 1956.

Be Not Overcome By Evil,

But Overcome Evil With Good.

St. Paul