NEW TERRITORY: STAND IN THE WATER

While taking a bath one evening, I decided to sit in the empty bathtub while it filled with hot water, instead of my usual practice of filling it prior to attempting to submerge myself. Surprisingly, I sat there completely at ease and able to withstand the heat, because my body was getting exposed to it all at once.

Doing so, I was reminded of how much more difficult it is to step into a bathtub of already drawn hot water. Sitting is not even an option, because you must first bear the heat long enough to STAND. This is due to the fact that the hot water is new territory and our bodies are not yet accustomed to the temperature. So, we must ease in, and if we find the gall to submerge ourselves all at once, it is somewhat shocking to our system. So what do we do?...
If you're anything like me, you inch in, toe by toe, foot by foot, until you  are finally completely standing. Oh yeah, it's real hot right about that time, but you're in now! Therefore, you must make a decision to take the heat until the initial shock dissipates, and your brain tells the rest of your tense body that it is alright to ease into the steamy abyss. At this point, every muscle and joint relaxes into the realization that this is EXACTLY what was needed.
The same is true for us when we are approached with the opportunity to thrust our WHOLE BEINGS into the sometimes shocking territory of new ideas, dreams, and visions. How often don't we allow ourselves to get past the "big toe" test, jumping out of the water before we quite literally get proper footing?
In order to truly become successful in the area of NEW TERRITORY, we must make a decision that no matter how hot and uncomfortable it initially feels, we are going to take it! Standing on both feet, until the longing of our soul is at ease, knowing that we are EXACTLY where we need to be, doing what we are called to do!
---Love, Peace, and Progress,
Baria L. Jennings

Peace and Light

"My beloved, travel in Peace and Pack Light, because we can't take any of it with us and beyond this Earthly realm, all that will matter is the Peace we brought to others through the Pieces of our gifting."-BLJ

Not a Mirage

Sometimes life can feel like a walk through a barren desert with blistered feet and parched throats with the big picture taunting us like a mirage of refreshing, flowing water to quench our thirst and soothe our burning soles. Sometimes our dreams seem so far beyond our reach, we want to simply stop in our tracks, no matter how far we've traveled. Especially, when you are meant to lead, this walk through the desert towards your dreams can feel like the loneliest time in your life.
Oh, but if only we would keep walking, we would eventually feel the fine mist from the waterfall of hope, as our dreams become our reality. If only we would ignore any lies that lay  in our paths and keep our eyes on our own truths, we would surely be drenched in that reality before we knew it.  My friends, the bigger picture is not a mirage. It is your destiny. Stay focused and beware of distractions.--BLJ

-Love, Peace, and Progress

Heritage

"If heritage is determined by those traditions,treasures, and values that withstand the sands of time and weather the storms of generations, what will be your heritage? What are you passing down to descendants who may never know your name? What do you carry from those, whose names you never knew but faces stare at you daily in the looking glass? What will be your contribution to the steady stream of heritage, consciously and subconsciously, flowing through your lineage?"--BLJ

"Love and authenticity trumps ego driven intent any day." --BLJ

Get Off Of Your Own Foot!

I tried to move forward and wondered why I could not move. Looking down, as one normally does when they are in a state of stagnancy, I realized that my own right foot stood upon my left.

*Message!*

Elevate

"Today is the day to elevate your realm of thought. Earthly thinking can only reap Earthly results. A spiritual realm of thinking  reaps supernatural results here on Earth. Your mind and the thoughts that inhabit it will be  the only real hinderences or catalysts to your success. "

----Love, Peace, and Progress,

Baria Leshea Jennings 

Relationships

Who have you listened to today that took you three steps away from your purpose? 


Who have you lent your ear to today that brought you one step closer to your destiny?


If your list for the first question is longer than the latter, it is time to reevaluate some of your relationships.




Love, Peace, and Progress,


Baria Leshea Jennings

Big difference?????

As we walk through the spaces and places on this planet, we must be reminded that the circumstances and details of our beings which differentiate us, are not merely as important as those that unite us. You may be able to avoid those who stand on the opposite side of your philisophical, political, and socio-economical fence. But, in the end, we all breathe the same air, bathe in the same rays of sunlight,  and are searching to look into the eyes of one other human being and have them say "I hear you. I may not completely agree, but I understand your position in the big scheme of this grand Universe." 
This is the longing that connects us all. The entire human race is working out a way to have their voice radiate like the sun onto someone else's darkness, to get another to inhale their point of view in a stifling room, or to be the raindrop that quenches a stranger's parched soul.
No, in the grand space of the Universe, our differences matter not. It is recognizing the most obvious commonalities that the evolution of the human race is depending upon. 


----Love, Peace, and Progress, 
Baria Leshea Jennings

Redefine The Box

"Thinking outside of the box may be change enough for the present, but redefining the box will   carry us into the endless possibilities of our future."--Baria Leshea Jennings

Persistence and Determination

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." -Calvin Coolidge

Open the Door

"You can only fulfill your purpose if you open the door of your gifting and let God come in! When the Lord comes knocking, be hospitable. Let Him get comfortable and be sure to offer Him a plate full of faith and a cup of your gifting to moisten His parched throat. Next thing you know, He'll take over the joint and never want to leave! Folks will come from far and wide to get a glimpse of Him in your window"---BLJ

Dumb Down! :)

Dumb down a bit..."Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible."  ~Doug Larson

Happy International Women's Day

Peace and Power to all of the women across the globe working to change the future of little girls' names they may never know. Today, I pray for you, remember you, and celebrate you. Forever, on the back of my life's mission I will carry you.---Love and Life, BLJ

T.K.O

Sooooo, I'm back!! Alot has happened during my absence from the official G.A.L.E blog, but most of all I"ve been reflecting, praying, and tackling the finish line of some major personal goals. Yes, that's right folks-tackling!! You didn't think anything worth having came without a fight did you?!

When we are working towards a desire, vision, or purpose driven assignment, the hardest parts of the job are getting started and finishing up. This is because discouragement will sneak through any crack of opportunity you give it! So, doing what we know we've been called to do requires us to suit up, put our boxing gloves on and come face to face with our greatest opponent: ourselves.

"Yes, your greater self must look your discouraged self in the eye and sock that liar in the jaw with an uppercut full of prayer, affirmation, and action! Give that discouraged, overwhelmed self a T.K.O. --until the only one standing is THE YOU God Made!"

--Love and Life,
Baria Leshe Jennings

JFK...revamped!

"Ask not, what this day will bestow upon you. Instead, ask what is resting in you to bestow upon this day." ---Love, BLJ

Begin.

It has been said that the hardest part of any task is getting started. I have found this to be universally true. Looking back on my own life, no matter the obstacle that had been placed before me,  I realize that a stalled start could have either delayed or aborted the entire journey. In fact, stagnant feet don't have a journey, instead they maintain a solitary position, transfixed in time. Therefore, the art of beginning is necessary to our evolutionary development as human beings.

When we are already in the midst of a challenging task, enduring and completing seem to be the most arduous and important facets of the journey. But, if we'd allow our minds to reflect on the beginning, we'd realize that the most difficult portion of the assignment is already done. To begin, requires us to choose courage, discipline, and drive when we could very well settle upon being cowardly, reckless, and unmotivated.

So, if you have chosen to begin when everything within you is fighting, know that you are already en route to whatever is divinely and victoriously yours.

If you have yet to begin the pursuit of your dreams, put away all fearful notions and make the first move. Fear will stifle and misdirect you without fail, but faith will freely release you in  the direction of all things possible!
Start the work today, no matter how hard it seems. Breathe out, breathe in...BEGIN!---Love, BLJ

The Mountaintop

Today we celebrate the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. What a remarkable life of service and sacrifice he lived so that our own freedom would ring a song of  sweet, melodic liberty. In his very last speech, he prophetically proclaimed:
 "I don't know what will happen now. We have some difficult days ahead, but it really doesn't matter with me now...I just wanna' do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain, and I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you, but...we as a people will get to the Promised Land."

Dr. King paid the ultimate price so that we would have the opportunity to live freely in an America that has fulfilled her promise of democracy and human equality. He climbed the mountain, ascending all the time with each  peaceful demonstration met with violence, each mobilizing speech met with overnight accommodations in a jail cell, each step of faith and love met with degradation and hatred. Dr. King made it to the mountaintop, looked over and caught a redeeming glimpse of a time when the right to vote did not equal a Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama. He peered over the peak into a horizon of equal opportunity whether gained through affirmative action legislation or peaceful protest. Perhaps he saw the glorious sun rising on a  day  when Barack Obama would be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. I don't know exactly what Dr. King saw when he went up to that mountaintop of freedom before he would be called home for an eternal rest. But, I can tell you that the climbing is not done.

It is up to those of us who are reaping the benefits of Dr. King's relentless dream and sacrificial service to humanity, to continue the hike. We must keep climbing up the mountain of equality, clutching the coarse terrain with bloodied fingertips, walking in the scorching heat of opposition with sweltering feet until we have too made it to the mountaintop. See, Dr. King wasn't worried about what was to come because he knew that he was leaving enough people behind to take up the fight, to persistently climb the necessary hike to freedom.

Let us honor him with a life of service. In all of our lives, we must mobilize and inspire those who are behind us on the mountain. Inspire that brother or sister to keep climbing. As Dr. King said, "don't let no injunction turn us around!" And so, when you get to the top of the mountain, you won't be worried either about the fate of your cause. For, whatever you have dedicated your life's work to shall be left in the hands of able-bodied climbers with their eyes on the mountaintop. ---Love, BLJ

V + A+ G + S = Purpose-Driven Action

"What you value frames your perspective on life and shapes your aspirations. Aspirations become goals, and goals merged with strategy become purpose-driven action. So, if you check your values, you will know what it is you aspire to. When you identify your aspirations, your goals will be clarified. And, when you devise a strategy to attain your goals, you  will find that you are moving in the direction of purpose."---Baria Leshea Jennings

Ripened Fruit

It is said that one's success can be measured by the fruit they bear. At the beginning of last year, I had a conversation with my mother where I summed up my feelings of spiritual development and maturation using this analogy. It was at the top of 2010 that I began to feel like "ripened fruit." Sounds strange right? My mother listened intensely as I elaborated on this simile. I explained that it is in seed form that all of our existences are founded, developing in the mother's womb until we are ready to sprout, announcing our arrival in this world.

As we grow, beyond the nurturing confines of the womb, there are several external conditions that we must face that either stunt or stimulate our growth. But, if we can weather the stormy days, we will look up and find that we are still standing, strong and fertile. While standing firmly, with feet planted deep within the earth's core is necessary for survival, what then signifies success. At some point in our spiritual and natural development, we must become more than solid trunked trees. We must bear fruit. So, what  happens to your fruit when it is your divine season?

The very fruit of our gifting, talents, and purpose was never intended for the tree itself. Sure, it is pretty to look upon, some even adorned with flowers. But, there comes a time, as I would explain to mom that our fruit becomes too ripe for the very tree that yielded it. It was last year this time that I began to feel like ripened fruit, ready for the picking. By this I mean, there was a knowing that the divine season to begin sharing my fruits of gifting, talents, and purpose with the world was at hand. When ripened fruit is picked or even falls from the tree, it is nature's way of saying "You are ready to be shared, to bring some other creation sustenance, or nourishment."

Now, we all know what happens to ripened fruit that is never picked or eaten in its divine season; it rots. The beautiful thing is the cyclical nature of the Creator allows for it to  decompose right back down to the seed and begin again within the Earth. But, that seed must patiently wait for that divine season of ripened fruit to come around once again. So, where are you on the tree of life? Are you the seed, the sprout, the deeply rooted tree beginning to bear fruit? Or, are you as I realized I was a year ago: "ripened fruit, ready for the picking?" 

Don't miss your divine season if it is indeed upon you. Seize it, for someone else is waiting to be nourished by your ripened fruit.---Love, Baria Leshea Jennings

2011: Climb, baby Climb!!!!!

If this year were a ladder and each of your goals were a rung on it, then which rung would  you be standing on in relation to your goals? If you ponder this image, you might visualize yourself at the very top of the ladder with much accomplished this past year. Or, maybe you are somewhere in the middle with some of your goals for 2010 lingering on to become a rung on the ladder of 2011. Still, there are some who may find yourselves on the very first rung with all of the distractions and foggy complications of life blurring your vision so that all you were able to see this year was the rung before you with the rest of the ladder obscured by life's circumstances. Even still, there are some who were content this year to simply watch others ascend their ladder of goals but never took the time to step on their own.

However, all hope is not lost. In fact, tomorrow is the day that you can firmly place your brand new ladder against the wall of life and begin to climb fearlessly towards your destiny. Take the time today to write down your goals for the new year. In this way, your rungs will be positioned for your eminent success in 2011 and beyond. After you have constructed your ladder with goals, go ahead and get a head start. Place one foot before the other and begin to surmount your greatest fears, rise to the occasion of your deepest desires until you breathe in the crisp air at the altitude of your wildest dreams!Climb, baby climb!! Keep rising my friends,as I will, and this time next year we shall meet each other at the top!!
---Live with Love, and Love like your Life depends upon it.----Baria Leshea Jennings