notes in the key of R

theresilient:

                                                   “Secrets”

We read through Matthew Chapter 1 tonight and it was awesome…Well for me at least…. Somehow I always manage to leave with something lasting.

Matthews got me thinking…….

Matthew tells the poignant story of Mary and Joseph and her unexpected pregnancy. Joseph is already engaged to her when he finds out that she is pregnant and this is his response. “And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly” I learned something special about manhood today. I know that if I were to be in Joseph’s position and my fiance had gotten pregnant, in addition to the heart-break, I’d be tempted to let the whole world know about that pain. I’d be tempted to put her to public shame. But The Bible says that Joseph was a “Just Man” and that he wanted to do everything in private. To me, this means that in my relationships with the opposite sex, being a “Just Man” means keeping her secrets safe. There is something special and heroic and stoic about cherishing a woman’s secrets and faults. Being unwilling to embarrass her and letting her know that her secrets are safe and that there is always room to make mistakes. Even if she is in the wrong there is never a need for public humiliation. There isn’t a need to yell it in the streets or play her faults over a loud speaker. “Real”, “Just” “Authentic” Manhood is knowing that you are to Keep her secrets safe. 

Sincerely,

~The Resilient

that was a secret that i never shared with you

(via artiswildandfree-deactivated201)

theresilient:

                           The Old Man and The Coffee Shop

As I sat, back against the window, reading a book on inner healing and drinking a richly dark and bitter coffee, I noticed the old man sitting across the room staring at an old issue of The Chicago Tribune. He looked composed, except for the constant tremble of his left foot. I wasn’t completely sure if it was the rush of caffeine surging through his body or if he was in deep thought over a carefully crafted ruse.   

He peered up and over the towering newspaper, tilting it back just far enough so that I could see the bottom of his spectacles. His hair lay neatly about his head and his voice stood as sturdy as thunder. He said “Young man, why don’t you join me for “a cup of joe”?….I sat there hesitating for a bit not able to let the words out in time. Interjecting, he said “Now you’re not going to let an old man sit by himself are you”? Absolutely not I muttered. I grabbed my book and cup of coffee and sat down directly across from the old man. He stuck out his hand, reaching out and over both his coffee and mine, and as we shook hands I felt as if his grip had told a thousand stories  of where he had been, and of people he knew, loves he’d once held dear, and dreams that had managed to elude him.

“You’re palms are quite sweaty young lad, don’t worry I won’t bite ya” he said this with a warm and inviting smile.  I want to be honest with you he said, I can barely read or write. I just find it liberating to sit here and pretend. Sometimes I’m a business man,  and there are other times when I’m a painter, maybe a tortured poet perhaps.” I sat there feeling compassion for the handsome old man as he told me his story. He told me that he came of age in the late thirties early forties, during a time that saw the devastating effects of the great depression and the early onset of a second world war. He grew up in New York City: a town bustling with new people and new cuisines and new ideas.  His grandparents had both come to NYC looking for work and new opportunities because of the Irish Potato Famine. His grandmother worked as a seamstress for the Union Army and his grandfather worked in a coal mine in New Jersey.

My parents were better off than my grandparents he said…taking a sip of his vanilla bean brew. They were both able to get jobs as school teachers and buy some land in Mount Vernon. But a few days after my 13^th birthday they were both killed when a boat they were on got caught off the coast in a bad storm. So instead of going to school, I got a job and worked the land they had bought in Mount Vernon.

“I don’t mean to be a Debbie Downer” he spat. I had a good life: a life full of love and crushes and fine dining. It’s just that I have always wanted to feel accomplished, to feel like I help bridge the gap between knowledge available and knowledge known. I just want to learn. You understand you skippy? I understand I spat back. I know I’m 79 years old but I still have hope. I still believe that I can accomplish anything I put my mind to. Indeed you can I said… Indeed you can.  We sat there for a little more than two hours laughing, sharing and getting “high off of caffeine.

I went home that night and thought about the old man and his story. His story was one of perseverance and strength but also one of unsung Hope. Inspired by his story I decided to give him a call the next morning and get him enrolled in a reading and writing course. 6 months later he took GED prep classes and yesterday I received a handwritten letter from him saying that he had passed and gotten his GED. Now it’s time for college!

Sometimes things seem impossible or un-attainable. Life seems to knock us down and try to stomp on us to keep us there. But of this old man’s story tells us anything it tells us that we must continue to hope. We must continue to believe that there is a way out of no way. If it’s a crisis of faith, let us hope. If we’ve lost a loved one let us hope. If we feel like “The One” has slipped away and that we will never be loved or love again, let us hope.

If there is anyone out there who has lost hope… don’t

But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Romans 8:25

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:”

Lamentations 3:21

Dedicated to and inspired by notesinthekeyofr.tumblr.com

Sincerely with love and compassion,

~The Resilient

imgfave:

★ discovered on imgfave.com (social image bookmarking)

worthyofhislove:

princess, don’t settle for just any guy who call himself a Christian.
Wait for the man of God that He had prepared for you.

Patience darling :)