Time to feel, Cassandra.
That’s what God said to me.
NO, I hollered back.
I don’t want to.
Too bad, feels have said to me. They are running around, beloveds, everywhere!
I find them in my sleep. I find them hanging around the coffee pot. I find them in the bathroom. They are in the shower. They have stolen my commas!
My feels are soooooooooooooooooooooo ready, to lament about all the happenings that have befallen me.
I don’t know what to do with them. I don’t know what to do with ME.
Sleep escapes me. Every night.
The next step(s) keeps running up ahead.
Yet, God has been forever silent. Leaving ME to shout liberally and loudly. The silence is just soooooooooooooooooooooooo loud!
I don’t want to feel. Anything. Anytime soon. Anymore.
I am feeling the loss of a job I enjoyed for fourteen and a half years. I’m angry I have not been able to suck it up and go back to work. I am angry I have not been able to trick myself into pulling myself up by my bootstraps so I can keep on going.
I am angry the damned tornado tore up the damned yard!!
I am angry mom is not here to tell me everything is going to be alright!!
I am angry I don’t have a significant other to tell me how significant I am right now. I don’t feel significant!
Fresh hell, beloveds, I am angry. Again! Dammit. Crap. Geeeeeeeeeeeeez.
Just when I think I am okay, I open my door and see all the destruction and start the whole damned angry train all over again!
God, I am angry. Still. Not at You. Just angry. Not because these things have happened to me. Just because they happened at all. To anyone.
Ah, Cassandra. Time to feel.
I am not strong.
weak but here,
Cassandra
#YourLifeMattersToMe
Note: I have been unpacking all this mad so I can enjoy the rest of my day. Don’t allow your feels to keep you held hostage. Feel, process, deal with things then move on with the rest of your day.
It’s okay to be angry with losing that which has meant a lot to you. Who cares, why, eh? Losing sucks. It hurts. When loved ones leave, it hurts. When we leave a job, it hurts. When we lose a relationship, it hurts. When we have to move, it hurts. When we have to give up something, it hurts. The reason(s) why does NOT remove the pain.
Yet, God is there for us as we hurt and heal. Even for non believers. For those who have told God to kick rocks, I pray for you, still. I got you, okay? Don’t judge yourself to harshly. Occasionally, I go off on God about why in the fresh hell He has apparently allowed all manner of foolishness to befall us.
Be encouraged, beloveds. I love you. So does He. Love yourselves, okay? I know this sounds like a ridiculous request. It’s not. There was a time, if you can believe it, when I loved everyone in the world BUT me.
This is why I spend EVERY day praying for each and every person who visits this blog. Whether you join, leave, like or roll your eyes, know you are prayed for. EVERY day. I ask for blessings for you and your family. I ask that the way be made straight for you.
I pray and ask God to show you how. I ask God to give you friends who shall walk with you for the rest of your days. I ask that nothing befalls your precious heart. I ask grace for you. I ask peace for your souls. I ask that God opens your eyes so you can see the truly priceless and person you are.
Mostly, beloveds, I ask that God carry EVERY tear you have ever shared and that He sprinkle them upon your dreams to keep them freshly watered and cared for.
Be encouraged. You are loved and not alone. I promise. As did He.
One step.
One step.
One step.
You are loved.
You are NOT alone.
Keep on beingโฆYOU!
- SUNDAY WITH CASSANDRA. IT ME!
- MOVIE SATURDAY WITH CASSANDRA๐๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ฟโ๐ฆผ๐ฟ๐
- (no title)
- Today…
- ๐ฌ MAYBE THEY WEREN’T โTOO BLACK.โ MAYBE I WAS STILL HOLDING THE RULER. ๐ช๐Beloveds,I told you I caught myself watching Black romance movies and thinking:Too loud.Too boisterous.Too Black.๐ณAnd the Holy Spirit convicted me.Then I watched Deliver Us from Eva.WHEW.๐Because suddenly I wasn’t only watching Eva.I was looking at the ruler I sometimes used to measure everybody.Let’s start with Eva.She’s intelligent, professional, beautiful, protective, loving, bossy, controlling, loyal and complicated.All of it.๐She doesn’t have to become either the Angry Black Woman Who Needs Taming or the Strong Black Woman Whose Every Choice Must Be Defended.Eva needs correction AND Eva deserves dignity.She helped raise her sisters after their parents died. Protection became part of her identity.But eventually protection sometimes became control.โ๏ธ If I don’t manage everybody, everything will fall apart.๐ I can love grown people without controlling grown people.Her sisters need a key too.You cannot keep handing somebody the clipboard to your life and then get mad because she keeps writing on it.๐คฃEva has to stop managing.Her sisters have to start owning.Everybody gets a chair.๐ชAnd YESโTHE MEN TOO.๐คฃ๐ช๐ช๐ช๐ชRay begins by deceiving Eva.That matters.But eventually โthe problemโ becomes a person to him.Eva.And Ray changes.๐ Sometimes genuinely knowing somebody destroys the caricature we created from a distance.But Ray deserves his own humanity too.He’s working, dreaming, saving, flawed, funny, romantic, masculine and tender.He doesn’t need to become a CEO before he’s worthy of love.There’s that ten-times-better ruler again.๐Then Mike.Mike has a legitimate frustration with Eva’s interference.His solution?SIR. SIT DOWN.๐ช๐คฃBecause here’s another key:๐ A legitimate grievance does not automatically make every remedy legitimate.Pain deserves acknowledgment.Choices still require accountability.Then Tim made me ask:What does a Black man have to look like before we consider him โman enoughโ?Dominant?Always in charge?Never soft?Never uncertain?Why?Tim doesn’t need more masculinity.He needs his voice.๐A loud Black woman shouldn’t have to shrink.A quieter Black man shouldn’t have to perform dominance.Both get chairs.And Darrell?๐คฃSome people are intellectual heavyweights.And some people areโฆDarrell.๐คฃโค๏ธHE GETS A CHAIR TOO.Intelligence isn’t the admission price for dignity.Sophistication isn’t the admission price for love.Black people are allowed to be ordinary.Goofy.Messy.Wrong.Funny.Tender.Brilliant.Ridiculous.Rich.Poor.Loud.Quiet.Human.And suddenly the Holy Spirit’s conviction went deeper.Maybe I had become nervous when Black characters weren’t representing us โwell enough.โWhat will THEY think?Why are they so loud?Why aren’t they more polished?More educated?More professional?More respectable?Moreโฆacceptable?๐ณAnd suddenly I’m not watching a movie.I’m conducting a performance review of Blackness.โ๏ธThat’s exhausting.Because Black characters should not have to carry the reputation of an entire people on their backs.And sometimes, without realizing itโwe help load the backpack.That was part of what the Holy Spirit showed me.Not merely:Cassandra, look at them.But:Cassandra, look at your ruler.๐Who handed it to you?Why are you still carrying it?And I knew part of the answer.Ten times better.There was love and survival inside what Black folk taught me.They were preparing me for an unfair world.But:โYou may have to be ten times better to receive the opportunityโcan quietly become:โBlack people SHOULD be ten times better.โNO.โค๏ธโ๐ฉนI reject that.Black excellence is beautiful.Black dignity is unconditional.Eva gets correction and dignity.Ray gets tenderness and accountability.Mike gets frustration and responsibility.Tim gets quietness and voice.Darrell gets goofiness and dignity.The sisters get love and agency.Nobody has to become less Black.Nobody has to become ten times more human.EVERYBODY GETS A CHAIR.๐ช๐ช๐ช๐ช๐ช๐ช๐ชAnd maybe that’s what the Holy Spirit was really asking me:Cassandra, why are you still holding the ruler?๐ณMy answer?I’m learning to put it down.๐And maybe you have one too.Race.Education.Disability.Age.Money.Accent.Religion.Politics.Body size.Mental illness.Addiction.Sexuality.Somebody whose life simply doesn’t look like yours.Don’t perform an answer for me.Be honest with you. For, HIM.๐๐ฟWhat ruler are you carrying?Who handed it to you?Who have you measured with it?Have you measured yourself with it too?And if the Holy Spirit is showing it to you, maybe He isn’t giving you the ruler so you can beat yourself with it.Maybe He’s saying:Child. You don’t need that anymore.Put it down.๐โค๏ธโ๐ฉนPull up your chair.๐ชLet somebody else pull up theirs.And let people be fully human in front of you.Includingโyou.๐ฉ๐ฟโ๐ฆผ๐๐ฟโค๏ธโ๐ฅ๐Asking for A Friend,Cassandra#YourLifeMattersToMeNote: One step. One step. One step. You are loved. You are NOT alone. Keep on beingโฆYOU!Unapologetically His.Unapologetically yours.
