good morning!
today is day 6 of my lenten project;
it's also february 28, 2013,
and i want to welcome you:)
~@~
on tuesday i wrote that
i shared in my first video
i was baptized in the catholic church,
and then yesterday i revealed
my middle name was chosen
from a catholic saints book.
with all this talk of the catholic church
one might assume i was raised
in the church.
however, i was not.
i did go enough, though,
i memorized
most all of the prayers and creeds;
but, that was the extent of my church experience...
until i was nine years old.
when i was in the fourth grade,
sherry, a dear friend and co-worker of my mom,
invited us to her church.
it was a small, southern baptist church
on the edge of town.
we attended regularly for almost a year.
~@~
in that short period of time,
i learned a lot!
~i learned GOD was a savior.
~i learned, if saved, one would not go to hell.
~i learned being saved is another word
for being born again
and...
~i learned i wanted to be saved
so i would not go to hell.
ha, i suppose i learned plenty about hell!
oddly, though, all that talk of hell
never scared me. at least i do not remember
ever being afraid.
(maybe it was because
she
was sitting right there behind me.)
~@~
in that short period of time,
i met a perfect stranger.
her name was
miss.mary.slaughter.
she was an older lady who walked with a cane
and sat on the third row from the front
on the right (the piano side).
she sat right behind jennifer, daphne, and me.
for some reason she took to me
and i to her.
i felt like she loved me
for no reason at all.
and i loved her.
i never knew much about her
other than the obvious,
but we shared something
rare and intimate...
something quite unconditional.
the twinkle in her eyes spoke to my soul.
in return i hope my smile and warm embrace
spoke to hers.
~@~
though i learned a lot of baptist terminology
in that short period of time,
(terminology that would someday mean EVERYTHING to me)
the most important lesson i learned
(at the time)
i learned from
mrs. slaughter.
it was to live life as a perfect stranger...
to greet each person
without condition and go from there.
it was and is my way of paying what
miss mary slaughter taught me...
forward.
love and God's blessings,
dani xxx
once i was on the other side of
my being saved (born again),
i realized one of the great gifts
of HIS HOLY SPIRIT
was i could really see and understand
where i was and how i had gotten there
and
most importantly,
that HE was with me all along the way.
~@~
i explained the HOLY SPIRIT
is also a great reminder;)
~@~
i shared in my first video
i was baptized in the catholic church,
and then yesterday i revealed
my middle name was chosen
from a catholic saints book.
with all this talk of the catholic church
one might assume i was raised
in the church.
however, i was not.
i did go enough, though,
i memorized
most all of the prayers and creeds;
but, that was the extent of my church experience...
until i was nine years old.
when i was in the fourth grade,
sherry, a dear friend and co-worker of my mom,
invited us to her church.
it was a small, southern baptist church
on the edge of town.
we attended regularly for almost a year.
~@~
in that short period of time,
i learned a lot!
~i learned GOD was a savior.
~i learned, if saved, one would not go to hell.
~i learned being saved is another word
for being born again
and...
~i learned i wanted to be saved
so i would not go to hell.
ha, i suppose i learned plenty about hell!
oddly, though, all that talk of hell
never scared me. at least i do not remember
ever being afraid.
(maybe it was because
she
was sitting right there behind me.)
~@~
in that short period of time,
i met a perfect stranger.
her name was
miss.mary.slaughter.
she was an older lady who walked with a cane
and sat on the third row from the front
on the right (the piano side).
she sat right behind jennifer, daphne, and me.
for some reason she took to me
and i to her.
i felt like she loved me
for no reason at all.
and i loved her.
i never knew much about her
other than the obvious,
but we shared something
rare and intimate...
something quite unconditional.
the twinkle in her eyes spoke to my soul.
in return i hope my smile and warm embrace
spoke to hers.
~@~
though i learned a lot of baptist terminology
in that short period of time,
(terminology that would someday mean EVERYTHING to me)
the most important lesson i learned
(at the time)
i learned from
mrs. slaughter.
it was to live life as a perfect stranger...
to greet each person
without condition and go from there.
it was and is my way of paying what
miss mary slaughter taught me...
forward.
love and God's blessings,
dani xxx
