“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love & affection.”

- Buddha

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.”

- Edward Estlin Cummings

Thanks Margaret from Sao Paulo, Brazil!

Hey Love Muffins, I have a question for you guys. This morning I was reading my Entertainment Weekly (perhaps some of the wittiest writing of all the pop culture magazines out there), when I was struck by this photo. Initially I paid the picture no mind. It just looked like another screen cap for an upcoming movie, however, when I read the article I realized that the black man in the middle is in fact Oscar nominated actor Robert Downey Jr. …. in Blackface! He plays a white actor who choses to play a Black role in the movie-within a movie.

The picture is from the new Ben Stiller movie “Tropical Thunder” which is supposed to be a comedy satirizing Hollywood. To be honest, I really don’t know how to take this. Blackface when done with clear malice or racism is by no means acceptable but if it’s done for the sake of comedy can it ever be OK? I personally think that comedy is one of the ways people have become comfortable with the subject of race and addressing all the baggage that comes along with it. I can’t watch Comedy Central, Def Jam, or Comic View without hearing a joke infused with some sort of racial humor. For the most part I laugh because I understand where it’s coming from.

On another point we let actors step out of their normal lives all the time without complaint, should race be any different. Straight actors are allowed to play gay (Tom Hanks, Heath Ledger), women allowed to play women (Cate Blanchett, Felicity Huffman), and White people have played Interracial (Angelina Jolie in “A Mighty Heart”). In all in roles there was no intent to be humorous or satirical. Each of these roles the actors were trying to convincingly play someone of the opposite sexuality, gender, or race. One may argue that there are too many availible gay or ethnic actors to have other people stepping in on the very limited number of roles available to them in Hollywood.

I know this was a little long (and believe me, I cut it down) but this just struck me as a good talking point. Thoughts?

“What God intended for you goes far beyond anything you can imagine.”

- Oprah Winfrey

Your Major Gifts will make room for you. Your Minor Gifts will establish you.-Tudor Bizmark

There is so much inside of you that needs to be used. We all have major gifts. Some of us sing, dance, write, excel at sports. Others use their intellect to challenge ideology, act, draw, design, etc. Those can be considered major gifts. Your major gift will make room for you. It will open doors for you.

However, we also have minor gifts. Michael Jordan’s major gift is putting a ball into a hoop. His minor gifts are selling underwear and real estate. Michael Jordan’s major gift made room for him. His minor gifts are what have established him. Just think if Michael Jordan hadn’t allowed his minor gifts to establish him. He would have been the greatest ball player to ever touch the court – and just a fond memory from our past.

Use your major gifts to your advantage. Allow what God has given you to open doors for you. But also be mindful that you have so many different talents inside of you. Search deep and use them as well.

[Translated understanding of a sermon by Bishop Tudor Bismark]

The most powerful thing that I’ve ever known in life is love. Unconditional love looks completely different than the fleeting love that we give and take to and from one another daily. But a patient, kind, non-envious, non-boastful kind of love; A love that is not proud, rude, self seeking or easily angered… a love that keeps no record of wrongs, does not delight in evil and only rejoices in the truth – A love that protects, always trusts, hopes and perseveres – That’s a love that will never fail. That’s the kind of love that can conquer all things…

- I Corinthians 13:4-8

“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”

-Psalm 30:5