By Derrick Brown (follow on Twitter @dbrowndbrown)
-001.jpg)
Dear Hannah,
Love seeks the highest good for others ...
... and works without fail to make it happen.
Love seeks the highest good for others ...
... and works without fail to make it happen.
Love's challenge is best phrased this way ...
"I am decent at loving what I like."
"I am LEarning to love what I do not like."
Welcome to honesty.
Self-honesty.
Welcome to LIFE.
REAL LIFE.
LEarning to love what I do not like is not my nature ...
... it is my standard, though.
"I am decent at loving what I like."
"I am LEarning to love what I do not like."
Welcome to honesty.
Self-honesty.
Welcome to LIFE.
REAL LIFE.
LEarning to love what I do not like is not my nature ...
... it is my standard, though.
Love,
Daddy
Support Our Work - Buy This Podcast (SEE BELOW)!
"LEarning (The Declaration of Love)"
By Derrick Brown
8-14-2017
Current events can distract me from "The Big Picture" - and the work required to make it happen.
I was born to love God and others.
What's love got to do with it?
Everything.
Love seeks the highest good for others ...
... and works without fail to make it happen.
So while today seems bleak,
I know that yesterday was bleaker.
I know that tomorrow carries today's hopes and dreams.
So God bless the dreamers.
And God bless the schemers.
Not the architects of arrogance, mayhem, and vitriol.
Not those schemers.
But the purveyors of purpose, power, peace ...
... patience, persistence, priority, pursuit ...
... passion, possession, and planning.
See, the only things that happen by accident ...
... are accidents.
Change and success are intentional, inspirational, strategic, and spiritual.
You might hear this music playing in the background, and you're like ...
"When is he gon start rapping?"
I've been rapping since the first word.
Shall I proceed - yes, indeed.
Love is a many-splendored thing ...
... that means it is full of magnificence and marvel.
It is also filled with challenges ...
... challenges that help us grow ...
... then know ...
... that we don't know ...
... then show ...
... that even though ...
... even though cashflow ...
... even though woe and sorrow ...
... we are a people who sow (we give) ...
... we are a people who sew (we fix) ...
... we are a people who go (get it) ...
... we are a people who flow ...
See, love's challenge is best phrased this way ...
"I am decent at loving what I like."
"I am LEarning to love what I do not like."
Welcome to honesty.
Self-honesty.
Welcome to LIFE.
REAL LIFE.
LEarning to love what I do not like is not my nature ...
... it is my standard, though.
It is my stature.
It is how I will stand taller than my greatest enemy.
'Cause when the enemy comes in like a flood,
The Spirit of the Lord will raise a standard against him. (Isaiah 59:19)
Hear me.
I am that standard.
Search me, Lord - and know my heart ...
... try me, and know my thoughts (Psalm 139:23).
For out of the abundance of my heart, my mouth speaks (Luke 6:45).
Guard my heart, Lord - for out of it flows the springs of life ... (Prov 4:23)
Then I will stand at my watch, and position myself strategically ...
... to see what God says, and what I will then do. (Habakkuk 2:1)
See, I do not care for the whims and ways of this world.
Furthermore, I do not care for the whims and ways of the church.
On their worst days, they are indistinguishable.
But I love this world.
Because we are the world.
I love the church.
Because we are the church.
That admission may be my path ... to LEarning to love what I do not like, huh?
When I face my enemy, then realize that on my worst days, I am my enemy.
Then my fight becomes less about defeating my enemy.
And more about loving myself and others.
It becomes more about strengthening my weaknesses.
It becomes more about asking God to change my heart.
The heart is the intersection of the mind, will, and emotions.
I will change my LEarning.
I will change my focus.
I will change my finance.
I will change my work ethic.
I will declare that ...
"When in the course of human events, I find that the rhetoric ain't my reality.
And the rules of engagement are unwritten, unspoken, unfair, unjust, and unchanged.
And I get tired of watching frogs sip tea, reposting quotes, watching videos, sharing pictures of food, explaining racism, and arguing with the wind.
It is then that I realize I need a strength greater than I can perceive or achieve on my own.
That strength is love.
Not that "lovey dovey", "groovy" kind of love, but that "bear all things", "decision" kind of love.
Love that will help me cross that wide chasm between who I am and who I need to be.
Then I will stop watching, lamenting, and commenting ... and will start planning, strategizing, organizing, creating and working.
Though change tarries, I will work for it while I am waiting.
And it will come.
Because it will begin with me.
Selah."
About Derrick Brown (Principal Consultant)
I am Keisha's husband, and Hannah's father.
My *other* passion is empowering people via methods that balance skill & will, analysis & synthesis, ideas & execution, and activity & achievement.
I am the product of my mentoring relationships, peacemaking (and peacekeeping), and problem-solving ability.
I am a publisher, filmmaker, executive coach & registered mediator with engineering degrees from Clemson and Georgia Tech.
My education began when I finished school.
After school, I enrolled in a lifelong curriculum that includes the following classes ...
- ministry (serving people)
- entrepreneurship (developing solutions that serve people)
- stewardship (taking care of relationships, possessions, talents, body, mind, and time)
- literacy (reading & writing skills)
- numeracy (math skills)
- language (communication skills)
- self-expression (sharing "who you are")
- self-identity (knowing "who you are")
- analysis & synthesis (solving problems & sharing solutions)
KnowledgeBase is a ministry that has evolved from wisdom earned through lessons learned.
I want to share this wisdom to build teams of "triple threat" fellows - mentors, mediators, and problem solvers.
We will collaborate in simple, powerful ways that allow us to help people.
I now know that power is work done efficiently (with wise and skillful use of resources, interests, communication, and expertise).
Copyright © 2017 Derrick Brown. All Rights Reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment