Why You Gotta Be So Mean?

As I was going through some picture files recently I found the following video. My grandson, Rhett, who was 3 years old at the time started singing to his cousin, Cambrie, also 3, the Taylor Swift song, Why You Gotta Be So Mean? Take a look.

After watching the video I got tickled at the thought of the next time someone is mean to me that I just might react in song. Can you just see me belting out, "Why you gotta be so mean?" The Bible says laughter is like a medicine. Surely the atmosphere would change, yes?

This brought back a memory of meeting my friend, Martha, for the first time. You may not have known this about me however, back in the day, I tended to be a bit of a bully. I was 6 years old at the time and she was 7. My dad always had a coke box at his shop and from time to time he would bring home iced cold bottled drinks for us kids. On the day of our meeting Martha climbed aboard her bike and began to ride down the block to where I was standing with my drink. I had decided already that I didn't like her so I began to shake up my Dr. Pepper so I could spray her as she passed me by. 

What happened next sealed our friendship to this very day! Just as she was about to pass, out popped my finger from the shaken bottle. I was ready to blast her! Only, not one drop got on her! Before I could utter the word, "Gotcha" I realized that I was totally drenched in Dr. Pepper! My plan backfired! She took one look at me and belted out the biggest laugh I had ever heard! My anger instantly turned to laughter and I can't tell you how many times we have laughed about it through our 40+ year friendship. 

1 Corinthians 13:4  Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵ or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. ⁶ It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. ⁷ Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

There is a lesson to be learned here and I think Taylor Swift had such a gracious attitute when she was verbally assaulted last year. Instead of arguing or trying to defend herself, she wrote the song, Why You Gotta Be So Mean? Did you see the standing ovation she received after singing it on The Grammy's? Even she was amazed!

So, next time someone is mean to you, try busting out with laughter, sing a song, or do a little dance. Who knows, you might make a life long friend!

In the beginning...

I was thrilled at the thought of having a blog however, I didn't realize just how stressful it would be to get it going. My daughter, Candra, who is an expert at this type of thing is not here to walk me through the "set up" so I am winging it!

I have spent this past week by myself. My entire family is out of town! For a social person such as myself I knew there could possibly be a melt down coming at least midway through this challenge. Right away i decided that I had better pray and ask God to help me through it or loneliness would soon set in. He has never failed me and I have sensed his sweet presence with me all through the week. I love him like that! Do you ever have those moments when you know you heard a word from the Lord? My moment came in a song Wednesday (hump day). I am dealing with some things in my past and after leaving a particular meeting I got in to my car to leave and a song came over the radioand it was like the Lord was singing it to me. Every word resonated and was reassuring of His love for me. Even though I didn't cry in the meeting I cried when I heard the words, "I am with you." My response to Him was thank you and I smiled back!

I titled my first message "In the beginning" because I am doing a scrapbook project called, My Neighborhood. There is something about going back to our early beginnings that can bring so many emotions. I drove around snapping pictures and reminiscing about my life on 33rd street. The many summers the neighborhood kids and I spent at Maxey Park swimming in the coldest pool ever! At 8 years old it was the first place I mustered the guts to jump off the high dive just to land flat on my belly! Oh the tears! I knew I had plunged to my death but hallelujah, I made it to the ladder and climbed out. It was a long time before I tried that again!

Our neighborhood gang loved when it rained. We would all high tail it down to Maxey Park to ride the gutters down to the lake. (It's a wonder none of us ever drowned) Our mother's would have beat the tar out of us had they known. After a long day of riding down the raging gutters the gang began the 3 block walk back to our street when I noticed the kids were laughing and pointing at me. Much to my embarrassment I had rubbed a huge hole in the back on my pants and they could see my bare bottom! That managed to happen to most of us at one time or another.

I sometimes miss the "gang," the laughs, the fights, knocking on doors and running to hide, hide n seek, walking home from school, my mom's voice that everyone could hear from blocks away, Blue Birds, Maxey Park, red rover, and all the things we did as kids. Those were the days my friend. Driving around the neighborhood was refreshing and made me smile...until that man ran me out of there for taking pictures.

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Just kidding!

                                                                Maxey Park

The gutter we used to ride when it rained.

                                                         My Neighborhood on 33rd