...Like a Tree...

I hollowed this tree out when I was a kid. The scars still remain decades later. The tree weeped and oozed when I cut behind the dry, craggy, gray bark and into the viable, bright, yellow inner trunk. I left a mess, yet the tree still lives to this day.

When I took the photo, it was the first time in over 20 years that I had considered the tree there as a manifestation of my own life.

Have I been wounded by my past? Yes.

Do the scars still remain? Everyday.

Am I still alive? Without a doubt.

Pain from my life experiences hurts me to the core, yet when I look back, I see a road paved with signs that weren't there before. I see opportunities for growth, and I see testimonies that will benefit others on the same road.

Sadly most of us attempt to hide our most visible wounds as if they cannot be seen through our actions and emotions. What we don't realize is those scars have shaped us into who we are. Hiding them denies us our freedom from them and the freedom of others who remain bound. Oftentimes we do look like what we've been through.

I encourage us (you and me) to reveal our holes, our cracks, and our bleeding spots from our past. They are God's way of giving us a platform to share who we really are. We are all going to live after our most devastating attacks on our spirit and will. However, we always overcome when we show how we got over the pain.

Our trunk may be distorted or damaged, but our roots remain deep and unshakable.

Keyboarding in the Park

I met a 26-year-old man playing his keyboard in the park today.

"What kind of music you like to hear?" he asked.

"I'd have to say gospel," I replied.

From there, he went on to tell me how he doesn't like playing hip hop music and how he didn't allow his daughter to dance to it. Finally,  he testified about his deceased mentor and his ailing grandmother.

After praying with him, I encouraged him to continue his ministry and to allow God to lead him on his journey.

Sometimes people just want a listening ear rather than a condemning tongue. We should listen for whom God wants to use to minster to us and to whom He wants us to minister.
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This is Your Brain on Literature

Great literature is like a rush to the brain. This Time Magazine article seeks to prove just that. I pray my words can provide such mental and spiritual stimulation.

http://time.com/77555/reading-literature-brain-neuroscience/

Free Times Blurb

I enjoy partnering with my friends at Free Times not only on stories but also about my publications. Find a brief blurb about The Very Least of Me poetry book below in the Arts & Culture section.

http://www.free-times.com/pdf/042314/

It’s Time for You to Be You by Len Lawson

This blog entry is devoted to integrity and individuality in writing. A poem from my debut poetry book The Very Least of Me speaks to these themes. 

to be you

you 

well you’re you

but you want to 

be me too

and you

well you’re you 

yet I want to

be like you

now you,

you’re you

but still can I be like you

too?

listen, you

be you

but just let me be you

too

you’re you

and I’m you

we’ll be you

and me too

now we’re you

I’m me too

no room for you

too

goodbye, you

I’m you

oh, you

should have just been you

My blog from the South Carolina Writers Workshop website below speaks clearly to writer integrity and individuality. It serves as an encouragement to writers.

It’s Time for You to Be You by Len Lawson

Your Passion, Your Problem, & Your Purpose, Part 1

I'm starting this new series of blogs that has been on my heart to write. It will one day be converted into a non-fiction book once the time is right, but I want to introduce the principles here. These are principles that I have found to be proven in my professional and spiritual life. I pray they will be beneficial to this audience and beyond. This blueprint for success connects your passion in life; your understanding, acceptance, and embrace of your problem; and ultimately the fulfillment of your purpose. Much has been written about these self-help categories, but I seek to blaze a trail behind me for others who have had shortcomings in life as I have. We are not far from achieving success in our lives when we have a plan in place to address and not duplicate our failures.

We start with passion. This can be a nebulous term. It does not have to always be sensual, but it is still rooted in that concept. Here are ways that I define what your passion is or should be in life:

1. A gift or talent that you feel is worth developing for a lifetime. Your passion starts with something that you quite literally were born to do. Inside all of us is a desire to be great at something. Often, however, we neglect the tugging of that passion within us and brush it off as a hobby or a whim. If we seek deep within, we will find that thing and harness it for a lifetime of fulfillment and continual success.
2. Something you do not have to be compensated for. After we have earnestly discovered this passion, we will find that we do not have to make money right away from doing it. Your passion is something that fulfills your soul, not just your pockets. That usually comes later. Truly, if you identify something as your passion, you will want to do it and nothing else. Your passion can honestly become your addiction (which is not so bad).
3. Something that will eventually "work" for you. Here is where the money comes in. After you have developed your passion well enough, people will eventually recognize you for it. They will want to compensate you for your gift or talent. This is how you can convert this passion from just a hobby into your life's work!
4. Something that does not feel like work. Your passion should never feel like a chore. Certainly, there will be difficult, challenging days while you discover what your passion is and how to achieve success from it. However, the stress should be minimal--if not non-existent. If this is something you truly want to do for the rest of your days, then you will feel fulfilled by the rough times as well as the smooth ones. Your passion should give you a reason to wake up in the morning and be excited! Your passion will drive you to stay up late at night to perfect it. It should never be something you have to do. When it does, then you know you have not found it yet.
5. Something you can teach to others. When you have developed your passion well enough, you become an expert at it. Others will want to sit at your feet and learn from you. This could also lead to compensation but more importantly to fulfillment. Consultants are some of the most sought-after people in today's society because they possess the intangible quality of wisdom. Your passion will put you in the class of the elite amongst your peers if you accept the light burden of developing it.
6. Something you can leave a legacy behind you for doing. Your passion will outlive your days here on earth. You will begin blazing your own trail once others grow to respect your work ethic and your "passion" for your passion. Generations remember people for wealth, fame, intelligence, or strength. These things, however, are merely the products of a well-developed passion. They start with the idea that you have a gift that you want it to be more than a hobby. It is your life's work and your immortal reward.

Once you get a grasp of what this passion is, you will usually receive a platform on which to perform your passion. For example, before I became a professor, my initial passion was writing. It was my ultimate goal to write poetry, short stories, and novels. However, teaching is my platform for ultimately displaying my passion for writing. A platform literally is a flat surface that something can stand on. In order to launch your passion into the world, you need a firm platform to stand on so that your passion can soar.

Search your heart and discover what you were created to do in life. No one can tell you what this is. You have to discover it for yourself. The journey may be long to find it, but once you do, it is like finding a long-lost treasure that will change your life and fulfill you for a lifetime.

Thorns & Nectar/Peace in the Raging Storm

Meet Frances Dubose Singleton. She is a retired educator from Sumter, SC, who taught English in South Carolina public schools for 40 years. She earned a bachelor's degree in English from Morris College in Sumter, SC, and a master's degree in English from Clark-Atlanta University in Atlanta, GA. Mrs. Singleton has written two books of poetry and plans to publish a children's book. Her work centers around the themes of Southern living, Christianity, and purpose. She has given her life to writing, teaching, and having a strong relationship with God--the blueprint for my own passion and purpose.



Therefore, imagine my surprise when I was seated next to this marvelous woman at the Excellence in Teaching Awards Banquet. She noticed on my profile in the banquet bulletin that I, too, am a teacher and a writer, and we enjoyed a wonderful conversation on writing. God has a magnificent way of bringing the perfect people into our lives with impeccable timing.

I asked Mrs. Singleton for samples of her work which I would have gladly paid for, but she gave me two signed copies of her poetry books as "a gift to you as you embark on your career as a writer," according to her. Within the cover of each book, she wrote heart-warming inscriptions. One of them ended with a quaint yet powerful message on becoming an author:

"Bon voyage, my son."

 

 

 

Although she is retired, Mrs. Singleton still found time to educate a young man aspiring to be anything and everything. That night she taught me that whether outside the classroom or beyond the campus walls, educating and mentoring never truly ends. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to meet this special lady and for her to enlighten me with her work and her wisdom. In my eyes, Frances Dubose Singleton is a pillar of Southern poetry and education in this country. I am blessed to know her and sincerely humbled to carry on her legacy.

 

 

For more information about Mrs. Singleton and her poetry, her contact information is below:

 

 

Frances Dubose Singleton

P.O. Box 341

Sumter, SC 29151

francesdsingleto@cs.com