Over

"Over yonder," said the Prophet, "Where you want to go is over yonder."

The young girl looked at the vast body of water before her.  Like the blue crystal carbuncle that it mirrored, the ocean had never been prettier. As far as her eyes could see, the young girl could only see the ocean, yet the Prophet was telling her that where she wanted to go  was over yonder.

"But how do I get over yonder?" Replied the young girl. "I don't have a boat, and If I had one, I couldn't row it, and my swimming is not good at all. I need those baby fins for little children if I want to swim over that big body of water."

"Can't give you any fins," said the Prophet.  "Only the fish are allowed to swim over yonder with their fins."

"So, how do you expect me to get over yonder?  Do you expect me to fly?"

"Nope. I can't give you any wings. Only the birds are allowed to fly over yonder."

"Don't tell me you expect me to crawl over yonder. You can't crawl on water."

"Sure can't. Only snakes crawl, and they are poisonous little critters that will poison you  if you let them. You don't want to hang around them buzzards.  Besides, you weren't made to crawl."

So, how do I get over yonder? Are you going to carry me?"

Nope, I can't carry you, but I'll be your guide  and keep you company.

"You mean you're not going to leave me alone?"

"Of course not. What made you think that?"

"Because I don't see the boat that brought you here."

"Little girl, I don't need a boat."

"So, how did you get over here from over yonder:"

"The same way that you are going to reach over yonder."

"Now, I am really confused," said the girl. "It seems like we're  talking in riddles, and I hate riddles!"

"Nope,  we're not talking in riddles, little girl. Are you ready?"

To humor him, the  girl stood up beside the Prophet.  Both stood before the ocean,  and the waves played with their feet.

"I'm ready," she said.

"Whatever happens, don't look at the waves," the Prophet said.  "They can be mighty scary at times, but you're alright as long as you're headed over yonder."

"Oh, I thought you were going with me."

"I am, but there will be times when you won't see me."

"What do I do then?"

"Just keep going straight. If the waves get rough, I'll come and carry you until they quiet down."

"How do you know I'll need help if you're not with me."

"Trust me," said the Prophet.  "You are in my care, even if you don't see me. I'll be there.  It's time to start?"

The small waves rushed at their feet; Shocked, the little girl stood beside the Prophet. The waves lifted them up and stood between their feet and the sand.

With amazement in her eyes, she looked up at the Prophet.  "What's  happening? Why aren't my feet touching the ground?"

The Prophet laughed. "You want to go over yonder or have you changed your mind?"

"No, I want to go."

"Then start walking.  To get there, you have to learn how to walk the water."

Ciao,
Pat Garcia

Never - A Personal Testimony

Never was the icebreaker that catapulted me into  my change process.

I had lived in the United States of America twenty three years.  Having traveled extensively inside of the United States, my curiosity drove me––at the age of twenty-four–– to set out and cross the Atlantic Ocean  and live in Europe as a soldier in the United States Army.

Never having,

Flown across such a large body of water,
Lived in a foreign country,
Eaten a different cuisine,
Drunk bottled mineral water with gas,

I landed in Frankfurt, Germany on October 23rd and experienced immediate culture shock.  I had

Never been eight thousand miles away from family and friends,  
Never intermingled with different cultures, 

And for the first time ever, I was surrounded by people who I did not understand. The languages palpitating against my ear drums were German, French, Spanish, and British English: I desperately wanted to board a plane and return to what I thought of as  the real world.

My very first day was an unforgettable day that I will never forget.  Of all the years Germany had to choose from to hit record temperatures, it had to be on the day I arrived–– snow and ice covered the ground;  branches were hanging off of tree limbs that were about to break, and the wind chill was worst than a windy day in Chicago.

Sandals on my feet,
Bra-less,
Sleeveless shirt covering my upper body,
Thin pair of pedal pushers on my bottom,


The  freezing, cold wind was trying to pick me up and carry me as I  hurriedly walked through the open air terminal of Rhein Main Air Force Base.  It was ten degrees celsius––below zero––and I thought,


Never again! 

If someone had told me that I had just passed through the portal  that would systematically, step by step, obliterate, and restructure my small itsy-bitsy world, I would have screamed,

Never.............!

Yet, it happened, and  the Never in my life has been dwindling away into nothingness ever since. Where once I said Never  to indicate that I would not bulge or change my attitude or my behavior, or my way of doing things,  I now interpret my Never quite differently. I wake up in the mornings saying,

Nevertheless, just do it, Patricia,
Never say never, Patti,
Never mind the front door being closed,  the back door is still open,  just walk through it, Pat. 

Hence,

Never had I thought I would,

Learn two foreign languages and be able to converse lightly in two others, 
Eat Knoedels, or Tortellini, or Paella, or Corned Beef with Kidney with enjoyment,
Listen to Folk Music, visit the Opera in Verona, or attend an open air Rock festival,
Be expose to fear and anxiety through bomb threats and find a normalcy despite the angst,

But I have.

It is the Never in my life that challenges me to keep moving forward, and as I conquer it I adjust to change.

What about your Never?

Ciao,
Pat Garcia

Motivity

Motivity takes place only if we permit it.

It is,

The power of moving, 
Or initiating an activity, 
Or producing a motion, 

Which moves us outside of our,

Lethargic world,
Boredom, 
And our Comfortableness,
 
Into the undiscovered terrains of hidden talents buried within our lives.

Unlike Kinetic energy, which is a result of potential energy that is released from a combination of doing something and then resting, motivity demands,

We exert, 
 Initiate,
Or begin. 

Motivity brings us out of our restful state.  It is motion being produced to,

Make our fingers type quickly on a keyboard, 
Aide the finger dexterity in the pianist's fingers, 
Steady  the jeweler's hand as he carves out a diamond, 
Urge us to go back to school to reeducate ourselves, 
Help us learn  new technology, 
Encourage us to step up to the plate and expand our small little world. 

Motivity is the first step in change.

Change is initiated when motivity works.  You're moving, producing motion. It doesn't matter whether the movements are

Slow, 
Medium 
Or fast.  

Motion moves and produces movements.

It is like a sand house that is built near the sea.  Wave for wave, the sand house disappears as the sea reclaims what belong to it. So, it is with motivity.  When you began moving towards your goals, the motion within you produce movements that continuously build up on a continuum as you take control of your life.

Never underestimate the power  of your motivity.

Ciao,
Pat Garcia

Love

Love is not an emotion; emotions make you react unruly.

Love doesn't care,

If you are sitting in wheelchair,
Loss two or three limbs,
Or can't see or hear.

Love doesn't make you,

Lie, 
Cheat, 
Steal, 
Commit an adultery, 
Hate, 
Or accuse.


Love doesn't,

Freak out,
Follow the crowd,
And bend under peer pressure.


Love is never ugly; it's beauty in its purest form.

Love is not sex.


Sexual intimacy does exists. It causes the body,

To secrete hormones from the endocrine glands, 
That raises the body temperature, 
Until the body finds its equilibrium in an orgasm.  
It's a beautiful feeling,
But that is not love. It's called balance.


Love is neither right nor wrong; it is neither true nor false; it refuses,

To let anyone box it into a corner, 
Or label it with an adjective. 

It recognizes the innate gift that God breathed into humanity and accepts the consequences for its own decisions; it doesn't blame.

Love is boundless.

Its identity is not based on age or color. Don't believe me?
Look at Tamar who was waiting on Judah's son to grow up, so she could marry him, 
Or Derek Prince who married Lydia Christensen, 
A Danish woman whom he deeply loved until her death;
She was twenty five years older than he.

Whenever two people endow themselves to each other out of respect to the marriage covenant,
whenever they vow to serve one another with integrity, there, you will find love.

Hence,

Love is not subservient; it is the servant.
It doesn't degrade; it builds up.
Its focus is not within; its eyes are on others.

There is an undefinable ingredient in love that mirrors,

Acceptance without judgement,
And respect without demands.

Love procreates.

If you are not procreating someone, but things, then, re-think your love.
By procreating, I mean,

Taking someone under the arms and helping them to find their way, 
Adopting some loss person, 
Freeing some child from  abuse and offering them safety, or......... 
Examine the proximity that surrounds you and you'll see lots of needy people. 

People who need a father, or a mother, or both don't have age limits.

You find them,
In orphanages, 
In nursing homes, 
On the streets, 
In hospitals,
In  slums, 
And even in some of those humongous fancy villas.  

Love is not weird; it never condemns; instead, it transcends every,

Disease, 
War, 
Discrimination, 
Deficiency,
Rejection,
And poverty.

Greater love has no one more than this that he lay down his life for his friends.  
(John 15:13, NIV, 1984 Edition.)

Ciao,
Pat Garcia 

Knob

"Turn the knob," said the apparition speaking to the girl.  "Turn the knob."

The girl stood there  quite complexed.  Why couldn't it turn the knob, she thought to herself,  and she glanced at the apparition that sat beside her.

"Why don't you turn the knob?" she asked.

"I can't turn the knob this time," it said. "I  directed others to turn it for you until you were big enough to turn it yourself. Now it is time for you to step up and turn it."

"Do I have to?" The girl asked.

"No, you don't have to turn it. Many people go around door."

"What happens if I choose to go around the door and not turn the knob?"

"Can't tell you that."

"Why must I turn the knob and go through the door? Why can't I just walk around it like everyone else?" She begged.

"The knob is your key."

"Oh, I see," said the girl, " but I'm clumsy.  I'm always losing things. Maybe, I'll lose the knob."

"Don't worry,  because it will never lose you. The knob will disappear after you enter the door, and it will always appear when you get to the next door."

"You mean there is more than one door.  I only see one door."

"Of course, you only see only one door.  The next door will appear after you have walked through this door."

"When will it appear?"

"Can't tell you that. You have to keep walking until it appears."

"And what if it doesn't appear. What will I do then? Will I be trapped?"

"Don't worry. The door will appear when the time is right."

"And then I will have to take the two knobs along with me. Right?"

"No, my dear girl. You have only one knob, and that one knob is the key to all your doors."

"How many doors are there then?"

"Can't tell you that.  You have to keep walking through the doors until you reach your last door."

"But why do I need only one knob, if I have to walk  through many doors?"

"Because all of the doors have a hole that that one knob fits.  That knob will open each door."

"What does that mean?"

"It means you can look through the opening and get a short peek at what might happen if you walk through that door and then decide if you want to open it."

"Oh, I see," the girl said. "And what happens if I don't want to walk through it?"

"Then you will stay where you are, between your doors."

"So, how will I know when I have reached my final door?"

"The knob will disappear, and you will look back at the legacy you have left behind."

"Oh, I see."

"Do you really?" The apparition asked. "So what will it be?"

The  girl walked towards the door and bent down to examine the knob.

The knob gleamed in its splendor and threw back the reflection of a face she had not yet met.
 
The face sparkled, lined with happiness,
The eyes dazzled with contentment,
The hair tinge, partly black and grey adorned her head like a beautiful wreath.

The girl bent to take a closer look at the knob.  The shock stunned her, and she took a  deep breath.  The reflection on the knob looked familiar.  Filled with curiosity, she grasped the knob and turned it.
 
Off she went, walking into her destiny.

Ciao,
Pat Garcia

Jump

"Jump," whispered the Spirit,  "Jump."

Jumping is tricky.  It is something  everyone would like to do but

Tales of failure, 
Groans of disaster,  
Gusts of hatred, 
And tons of fear,

prevent us.  

None of us  like hearing, I told you so. You should have stuck with what you know best.

So, we let ourselves be lulled into false contentment and force ourselves to be happy with where we don't want to be.  

Jumping looks negative, and it could be if we haven't done our homework.  By that, I mean our research on the integrity or character of what or where we are  about to jump.

There are people out there who will try to discourage you before you jump,

Who don't want you to be an individual, 
Who love to persuade and deceive, 
And they will  distract you when you are busy doing what you know you are supposed to do,
If you let them.  

They utter such things as,

Stop jumping around, I am talking to you,
Will you be still and look at what I'm doing.  
You don't care anymore. 

Jumpy ignites the warning bell within us. We don't feel good about something we are about to do, although everybody else is doing it.  How many people  have hurt others, or tried to cheat the system, or did something they knew they were not supposed to do, and they had gotten jumpy before they did it. Jumpiness will warn us,  but it does stop us.

Jump demands obedience. It makes us leave our comfort zone. We act  or move in a direction with uncertainty. We jump up, and in mid air over the middle of the ocean we look down; the sharks have created a circle, waiting for us to land; mouths watered; they delight themselves over the tasty meal that is about to enter their province.

Jump declares a readiness to move in our purpose for being.

To forget what happened in the past,
To bury old grudges,
To come to terms with mistakes,
To stop procrastinating,

 And take steps toward our future.

Jump happens suddenly.  Almost never prepared, we are taken by surprise. We do not have a plan A or a plan B ready for the worst case scenario.  That little innovator within us catches us on our blindside, and those sparks of yearning that we thought were smothered begin to ignite, once again.

Yet, jump isn't pushy. It doesn't make us jump,

Before we do our research,
Before we  seek out the voice of the Spirit that slumbers within us and ask for guidance.

There is no one in this world that can tell us what will happen if we jump into our reason for existence, our  purpose for our lives, but there are bunches of people who can tell us what will happen if we don't jump.

Look at them as they talk about what they would have done, what might have happened, if only......

There will be many travelers along our way whom we will pass that will be able to give us a testimony about,
 
Taking the safe road, 
Sticking to what you know, 
Doing what you were told, 
Waiting for the perfect time, 
Wanting to make sure, 
Holding on to  security, 
Waiting for tomorrow that never come.

Yes, it is scary. There are no doubts about that.

No, we do not have any guarantees.

Yes, we will make mistakes, I can assure you.

And yes, everyone will not understand.

To jump places us in the middle of the eye of the storm, as we watch as all those things that we thought we needed become irrelevant. We learn to adapt because we have a reason to live.

Jump throws us two steps backward so that we may land seven steps forward, years later, but we never know, where we will land, unless we bend our knees and jump.

"Jump,"  said the Prophet, "Jump."

The Prophet had just thrown his mantel over the young man as he returned from Mount Horeb.

The young man solemnly looked at the Prophet. "Please let me go and kiss my parents goodbye."

The Prophet looked at him with a knowing smile in his eyes.   "Go back. What have I done to you?" And the Prophet walked away.

The young man went back, and he slaughtered the yoke of oxen that he had used to  plow the field, and  he cooked the meat and gave it to the people.

The bridges were burned. 
No more plowing the field, 
No more living within his comfort zone,
With his little group of people, 
His family, 
His friends,
His neighbors.

His world had broadened in a matter of seconds. 

Look at him as he jumps up to follow his predecessor.
Can't you see him standing in mid air, learning, observing, gathering all the information that he needed for future use.
Several year later, this young man landed as the successor to Elijah the Prophet.

Elisha jumped.

Have you Jumped yet?

Ciao,
Pat Garcia

Incredible, Incredibly Incredible, Simply Incredible, Incredibleness

Incredible

Events, 
Occurrences, 
And moments, 

Which turn years into,

Hours, 
Minutes, 
And seconds, 

Impressed themselves upon our lives daily, but we need to prepare ourselves to recognize them.




It is up to us,

To abandon the logic of seeing is believing, 
And to return to our roots that believing is seeing.  

It is the person that sees,

Beyond the poverty that tries to strangle him or her, 
Beyond the sickness that lames, 
Beyond the disability or hindrance that afflicts,
Beyond the color of the skin, or the nationality or the language, 
Beyond the complaints of what he or she does not have,

That moves ahead.  This, however, affords a declaration of war, against the deadliest disease on planet earth,

The never ending, 
Never stopping 
Attacks against your mind.

No one can protect your mind, but you.  Yes, I know it is difficult. How often have I sunken into desperation only to realize the power I needed resides in me.

I am also not talking about some kind of self-made man or woman power. Most of these self-made people achieve their goals by encroaching upon others, unmercifully.

No, the power I am referring  to lies in the Spirit of God. When you hear this voice, you'll know it because you will have then returned,

Back to the roots where believing is seeing. 

Changing our focus from without to within means stepping out there just as you are and beginning with what you have, and more than likely, what you have will be nothing.  However,  nothing starts a chain reaction that moves us slowly into the realm of heavenly entitlements.

Incredible doors open up that we thought would never open,

In hours, 
In minutes, 
Or seconds. 

Edison saw the light bud lighting up the world before he invented it.  Can't you hear Thomas Edison as he bumbles around in his laboratory making one mistake after the other?

Can you see him, people? 
Can you see him?

Germain saw herself attending school in France before women were allowed to receive an education. Can't you see her sitting in her father's study teaching herself Geometry, Calculus and Trigonometry?

Can you see her people? 
Can you see her?

Truth saw herself defending her right to be a woman, when black women were still considered property of their masters. Yet, this woman who was forced to walk through the back door to enter the building stood before a state congress and vocalized her speech, Ain't I A Woman? and a  congress was humbled by the authority that rang out of her voice.

Can you see her people? 
Can you see her?

Incredible said the family, friends, and people that gathered around Edison.
Yet, Thomas Edison invented the light bulb.

Incredibly incredible said the scholars of France. Women don't have the brains to fathom out Mathematics.
Yet, Sophie Germain was the leading scholar of her time, understand you, a self taught Mathematician.

Simply incredible said the Ohio politicians as Sojourner Truth stood before them as a woman endowed with the authority of a leader.
Yet,  Sojourner Truth walked her talk as she challenged the men about the injustices of a system established by them.

Incredibleness achieved by three people who started out with only the willingness to believe, and they laid down an incredible history that turned years into,

Occurrences,
Events,
And Moments,

That impact our lives today.


Can you see them people?
Can you see them?

Ciao,
Pat Garcia