Me, Myself, and I are in CHARGE!

This is a good time in our lives to find, define, and execute what is good in our lives. It is a time to not allow the times that we live in define who we are or how we will behave or carry out our day-to-day activities.

If we just stopped and thought about it, we would all agree that before this pandemic we had problems, crises, concerns, and issues to which we had no solution(s).

The major difference now is that we have physically (staying at home), mentally (worrying and obsessing over the pandemic), and spiritually (not able to attend worship services) because of social distancing.

However, I would ask you, especially those of us that are over sixty (60) what did we do before there was a television in every room? How about those walks to the grocery store and that long walk back home with all those bags of grocery that made you have to stop several times before reaching home -- no car, no bus, no money? Does anyone remember sitting around the table playing games with parents, cousins, and others as the best form of entertainment?

I remember Sunday school, Bible Study, and church in my living room with family and friends or just with "us" -- Mother, Jimmy, granddaddy, and Aunt Mozelle. It was too cold to walk to church, it was raining too hard, or one of us was too sick to be out in public. Our spiritual needs were not focused on the building but on God, and we were told that He (God) was everywhere and the church was in your heart.

Mental gymnastics was an everyday occasion. You were always learning the Bible, Bible verses, poems, history, or something else that you had to memorize and be ready to recite on command.

There were limited outdoor parks, especially for Blacks in my neighborhood. The nearest beach was in Fernandina, Florida, and for an outing of some magnitude, a trip to Jekyll or Saint Simons Island was between heaven and earth. Selden Park in Brunswick often played a large part in helping us to enjoy swings, slides, and merry go rounds. How could you not have a big cookout/picnic with family friends and strangers?

Today is no different, not really. We all have exactly what we had back then -- me, myself, and I! We had to use the resources available to us and to create independently our goals and objectives. There were no talking heads/pundits to tell us what to think, what to do, or how to behave. The social norms, values, and integrity told us that along with good old home training, including discipline helped us to practice out mental demeanor, physical strength, and our spiritual lives.

Well, you could argue that most of the last paragraph no longer exist, but I would say that it does, we just don't practice or use those skills too often. We have settled. We go along to get along or we exercise more often than not "the pack mentality -- everybody else is doing it." Look at where that has gotten us.

We were born individually for a purpose. We are uniquely complete. We have the ability to find, define, and execute what is good in our lives, and to make someone else's life better. We do not need the talking head/pundits to tell us that. The challenge is ours to accept and do or to continue to follow bad leadership and bad examples.

Where is your head, heart, soul, and mind today? You do know that you are in control right?

Peace and blessings always.