Black or White

I am currently participating in a "private" on line course about Michael.  I have learned so much already and I am very grateful for this opportunity given to us by Diana Foley.  After four weeks I can sum it all up so far, by saying that I have become more aware of the Magnitude of Michael's reach, his affect on people and his amazing way of handling it all so perfectly.  When we look at him and think he made mistakes, maybe it is us who are not seeing the big picture.  We are stuck in our own small viewpoint.  In my opinion, he always had the whole of humanity in mind whenever he made a decision about how to behave and how to respond.  In doing this, he had to sacrifice his own comfort and reputation by the small standards we tried to place on him.  Why didn't he support vitiligo research?  Why didn't he explain it more fully, instead of letting people speculate about his desire to be white, his decision to lighten his skin?  I think the answer to that is "I'm not going to spend my life being a color."  By responding to the questions, he would have made the question of skin color relevant, when he was trying to demonstrate that it is not relevant.   He left it up to each of us to struggle with our own views about color and come to our own conclusions.  His silence on the topic puts the ball in our court, to learn from if we choose, or to judge him if we choose.  How incredibly selfless is that??

Love is Still the Answer

Terrible things happen in the world every day.  Sometimes we hear about them and sometimes we don't.  Sometimes they affect many people, sometimes only one, or a family.  Sometimes they affect us personally and sometimes they are simply a passing story on a newscast that we barely pay attention to. They are all equally terrible.  They all demonstrate a lack of love in the human heart.  We can take away weapons, we can try to protect ourselves from one another, but until the hatred inside our hearts is healed, there will be no end to these events.  Living in fear is not the answer, buying locks and weapons and staying home is not the answer.  Yesterday there were many stories of love and giving and open hearts.  People offering their homes to strangers, people running to help others, not knowing if they were putting their own lives in danger.  In any tragedy there are always huge amounts of heroism and love to counteract the pain and the hatred.  Let's pray for them all and also for the people in the world who have such a lack of love that they can even conceive of these horrible acts.

The Kids Get It

Last night Siren and I went to see a Michael Jackson Impersonator.  I am not going to write about the show because I am not sure what to say about it.  The aspect of the evening that I want to share is the fact that there were many children there.  The show started at 8 and ended at 11, which is very late for any young child, and it was also a school night so I was quite surprised when I looked around and saw so many children in the seats.  I was wondering how many parents brought the children to teach them about Michael, and how many children love Michael and brought their parents.  We were sitting beside a young girl about eight years old and her mother and grandmother.   We asked if the little girl, Olivia, liked Michael, and her mother told us that she and her little brother watched Michael videos on youtube constantly.  The little brother was too young to come.  How disappointing for him!  We asked how Olivia had learned about Michael, and the mom told us that in June 2009, she heard and saw the news about him on TV and asked who he was.  (She must have been very young at the time)  Ever since then she has loved him.  Siren took her quote cards out and gave a few to the mom.  I had brought copies of Ever After with me, but had left them in the car, so I gave her my email and also told her how she could order one on Amazon, along with Forever Loved.   It would have been smart of me to bring the books into the theatre, but I really was not expecting to see children there!  At the end of the evening there was a little boy out in the foyer dancing with a crowd of adults around him.  Many of the kids had sparkly fedoras and white gloves that were being sold there.  It really was the highlight of the night to see, right in front of my eyes, the evidence that children see the truth of Michael, just as we do.

Whatever Happens, don't let go of My Hand

Take heart lovely ones, all of this is fluff, nothing of substance here.  The AEG trial, Conrad Murray talking, wasted breath, wasted space.  It is oh SO painful, but it will not last.  What lasts forever is our love for Michael, his love for us and his legacy for the future.
It might not seem like much to think about Love and visualize peace and truth.  It may not seem as though it makes any difference at all, but it does.  It really, really does.
I don't know if I will be able to stand watching all the details of this trial.  It hurts.  I think I will, because I was not there for him when he was here, it's the least I can do for him now.  Either way, I will be remembering what really matters, and whatever happens, I won't let go of His Hand.

Love One Another

I heard a story yesterday about a woman who came from a very wealthy family.  Her father died when she was young, and her mother took over the family business and instilled values in her daughter regarding how to handle money.  When the daughter inherited a big sum of money at the age of 21, she immediately set out to use it to help people.  When her mother died and she inherited another vast amount of money, she took it upon herself to set the money free to go out into the world and do good for as many people as possible.  She did not see it as HER money, she saw herself as the custodian of it, for the greater good.   This reminded me so much of Michael.
This young woman, and Michael, both saw the whole of humanity as their family.  They did not separate themselves by gender, by nationality, by age, by state, town, or education, skin color or any other way that we choose to separate ourselves from one another.  If you think about it, all the ways we use to identify ourselves, are the same ways we separate ourselves from others.
Most of us don't have the problem of too much wealth.  We usually feel that we need to accumulate more and more, to provide for our families and to ensure their, and our, security in the future.  There is always a measure of us versus them.   Along with this goes a sense of not enough to go around.  If we don't take what we can, we may lose out.   It is very hard to overcome and change this way of thinking.
Even if we are not ready to sign our paycheque over to a stranger, we can start by sharing of ourselves in ways other than money.  We can give our time, our smiles, our talents and experience to others freely, not holding back for any reason.  We can let someone else go ahead of us in the supermarket line, let someone in front of us while driving, buy a coffee for someone behind you, hold the door for someone, say thank you, in this way, we become more a part of one another.  Not separating ourselves from others because of our differences, but uniting with them because of our similarities.  When I remember to do these little things, I find my day becoming joyful, and I feel closer to Michael as well.   I think of what he would want me to do, and I feel him applauding and laughing and spinning on his toes when I make a choice that serves someone besides myself.

What Will Become of Me?

After almost four years of being steeped in Michael, I think it is safe to say that I will belong to him for the rest of my life.  I try not to think about what that means exactly because it scares me.  If I try to remember what my life was like before June 2009, I don't even know who that person was.  Four years from now who will I be?  What will I be doing?  What new frontiers will I have tried?  In some ways I know nothing will change, and in other ways I am afraid to guess.  Would I ever have imagined that I would be writing a blog, writing books, being on Facebook, going on trips to a huge city like LA to sit on a sidewalk on Hollywood Blvd.,  speaking at Church, releasing butterflies, dancing in Thrill the World, doing sketches, donating to charities, giving to homeless people, planting a tree, having friends all over the world who I care deeply about.  None of these things were part of my life four years ago, they had not even entered my head for a moment.  The biggest change of all, falling in love with someone who has profoundly affected me in every way merely by being himself, sharing his love and his talents.  Michael has brought all of these changes into my life.
Is there any reason to think that it will not continue?  What will I be doing next?   I don't know, but I know that I will say yes, and that it will be so much fun, and it will make a difference to someone else, somewhere, someday.   Thank you Michael for this most wonderful adventure with you.  Thank you for showing me how to be me.  I love you.

Call for Love Devotion 13/03/13

When I sat down to write a devotion for this week, I found myself getting out my pencils and eraser and drawing instead.  Call for Love devotion 13/03/13