Lynn M. Dixon's Blog, page 20

Anew!

It is a new Christmas morn,
The day Baby Christ was born.

We honor His Holy birth,
We brought with him so much worth.

Sprinkling our lives with love,
Descending down like a dove.

As we chart unknown water,
We are reshaped by the Potter.

Like clay, He forms us anew.
To darkness, we say adieu!

Lynn M.
December 25, 2021

Blessed!

It is that season,
When we must reason.

We look at life straight,
All things, we must rate.

Dividends show up,
Hard work fills that cup.

God’s mercy appears,
Now, fewer arrears!

Lynn M.
December 18, 2021

It’s Already Done!

Once we slow down and come to our senses, we can pull back our proverbial curtains.  We look around and down at our feet and we may notice that it is already done. We used to sing that at one of our worship services in Atlanta.  “It’s already done!”

Everything we really need is right there at our fingertips. As one friend used to remind me, “You are prepared!”  Yet, somewhere in the midst of our fast movements through life, we forget that we had the wherewithal and subconscious presence of mind to continually prepare.

We did our homework even though we did not know exactly when this information would be needed for some future feat. However, we worked diligently and filed our work away in a safe place. And when the need arises, we can flip our rolodex and look through our files.

“Viola!”  There it is. Just what we need! It has been sitting there quietly, waiting.  If it could speak, it would say, “I was wondering when it would be my turn to help you advance your journey.” After having that oh yeah moment, we pull out our trusty, gathered information remembering that the legwork has already been done.

Now, it’s simply time to dig in and get busy. Quite like a sponge, we can soak up our handiwork and we give thanks for the golden fruits of our labor. We can now ease on down the road with all that we need in our hands!

Lynn M.
December 11, 2021

Life is An Adventure!

Life is an adventure!  It is comparable to snuggling up with a good book as we enjoy the journey of a special, fictional character.  As in real life, there will be battles to fight, dragons to slay and challenges to overcome as we put one brave foot in front of the next one. 

Good books take us on long adventures as we hold our breaths while our heroes and heroines fight the good fight. We pack our bags and take the plunge with them. We see Alice in Alice in Wonderland, Billy Bones in Treasure Island, Gulliver in Gulliver’s Travels or Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God. Each one works to overcome individual fears and make it home again.   

As we journey through life, we also cross over into uncharted territories.  We may see scary creatures pop out of doors as in haunted houses in an attempt to stop us in our tracks; but we vow to keep it moving.  Whether we are battling addiction, toxic relationships, joblessness, homelessness or harsh criticism, we can stay on the road and push through to the finish line. Quite like the characters in the classics, we too have a beginning, a middle and an end. 

The good thing is that we have silent angels and helpers standing guard and keeping a high watch as we move through the invisible locks. They are hovered above offering us that divine protection.  And when we are tired, we become like the weary travelers who tell the tales.  We simply need time to rest, regroup and rejuvenate and tally our data. 

We can take those great memories and impart what we have learned along the way! We have a lot to share with others in the forms of storytelling, writing, teaching or in photography.   We are happy to say that we have lived!  

As the French grandmother advised in the movie, An Affair to Remember, “Make your memories while you are young.  Reflect when you are old.” With that advice in mind, we give thanks for the opportunity to have experienced such great adventures! 

Lynn M. 
December 4, 2021 

Good Vibrations!

As a student at Hyde Park High School in Chicago, we prided ourselves on the fact that Aviator Amelia Earhart and Comedian Steve Allen had gone there. The other day, I decided to do a little fact-checking and yes, Wikipedia confirmed that the illustrious Amelia Earhart did walk those hallowed halls and graduated from there in 1916. She continually mystifies the aviation world who are determined to find out what happened to her and Noonan on that ill-fated flight. 

We also, bragged about being ranked as 17th in the nation back then, during the volatile 1960’s. Amid the war, we had state-winning cheerleaders who reminded us that SUCCESS, is the way to spell success at Hyde Park High. That mnemonic devise still rings in my ears and has sustained me over the decades. 

We also had many local greats that graduated from Hyde Park High such as Herb Kent, the Kool Gent. He reminded me that I was indeed a boss feznecki, (a good –looking girl) when I was going through the insecure pre-teen years. He interjected these hilarious stories with his silky-smooth voice as he played the latest hits on the radio. 

We had great leaders and teachers who led the young charge such the memorable Timuel Dixon Black, my cousin, Johnella Wells and the tiny sheriff/ assistant principal, Ms. Stacker. (We all feared her and we often went in the opposite direction if we heard she was in the hallway.)  Others such as Ms. McElroy (English), Ms. Marva Lee (PE), Ms. R. Johnson (English), Mr. Schwab (Science) all dot the lengthy list of teachers who guided us, admonished us, and steered us towards the finish line. 

Brian Doyle wrote, “A great deal of who she really is are stories we do not know, stories she may or may not share, stories perhaps even she does not know the meaning and shape quite yet. People are stories, aren’t they?” (Martin Marten) Thus, I share this story of some of the experiences from a place that truly shaped me in multiple ways. Hyde Park High helped me build upon a good foundation and walk on into the future singing the Beach Boys, ‘Good Vibrations!’ 

Lynn M. 
November 27, 2021 

Inner Wealth

We hear many conversations about generational wealth. It would indeed be great if that wealth was there to pass on to the next in line; however, if the funds are not there, it is another kind of wealth to be shared with others.

It is called inner wealth. It may not be a dollar amount, but the quality makes it priceless.  It too takes time to amass and is quite comparable to building blocks on a solid, sturdy base. Its effects are both far-reaching and permanent!

Once the rust of growth pains have been somewhat scraped away or subsided, a huge mountain of wealth appears on the horizon. That inner wealth include a wealth of knowledge attained over the roads of life’s meandering journeys; a wealth of compassion and love to share with those that are hurting and a wealth of relation-building with those who have touched our lives. 

That inner wealth also includes the consulting of experts and gurus who took the time to write down instructions for future followers. They left us pebbles of wisdom behind to guide us in applying financial laws or meditative techniques to help us remain calm during harrowing times. We can always re-visit their writings by reviewing our highlighted and underlined directions in our tattered books.

And quite like a pot of gold sitting at the end of a fresh rainbow, we realize that we have a lot to give, share and disseminate to others. Those with open ears, open hearts and open minds are ready to receive the gifts of our inner wealth.  For them, we scoop up a big heaping of what we have and blow it to those who are saying, “Yes!” with open arms.

Lynn M.
November 20, 2021

Judge Not the Former!

We should not judge others based what they did decades ago unless there is a repeated pattern of behavior. Just as Paul emerged from being Saul in the Bible, many people do evolve and grow into more enlightened souls. 

We are not the same persons that we were many years ago. That was a stage in the process of a personal evolution like the phases of a leaf. Hopefully, everyone becomes a better person who is more sensitive to the needs of others over the years. That is hopefully. 

Myriad experiences are like those pinions of light that change, alter, and heighten our decision-making. Quite like walking the labyrinth, people cross our paths to assist, help and open our minds whether through teaching, pain, or shock. Either way, we are made new and are no longer our former selves. 

When curious about someone’s inner ticking’s, we must remember that no one entirely knows anyone; not even families, friends nor spouses. We may know some aspects of a person, but we are a composite of years of living and walking this earth with many secret storage spaces. 

However, there is an invisible thread that runs true within people. If they were go-getters, that will more than likely remain to be true. Whatever lies deep within will continue to crop up over and over unless a deep cleansing takes place. Unfortunately, most people are not willing to take the time to get rid of the tarnish nor admit that there is a need to do so. It takes a lot of elbow grease and hard work to get a new shine.  

Lengthy periods of isolation, solitude, listening and admitting of shortcomings are required for those who genuinely want to become their better selves. They can then bunny hop forward on the number path of life, make new strides, and enter newer worlds as they leap higher and sprint onward!

Lynn M.
November 13, 2021

The Tally!

As we tally the fruit in our cornucopias, 
We delight in our gains from hard work. 
A feeling of calm permeates our being, 
As we begin to forget the pains of toil, 
The tears of anguish and tenseness from anticipation. 

We count it all joy because it is harvest time! 
We look over our inventory and do the checks. 
Things balance out as we stay on the path of rightness. 
We have kept our noses to the grinding stone 
And as Phoebe Snow sang, we now “Cash It All In.” 

As we smile for miles, we tarry forth, 
With a certain lightness of Spirit. 
We might even inaudibly hum a sweet tune, 
Or hear a timeless hymn singing to us 
Such as Blessed Assurance! 

Lynn M. 
November 6, 2021 

Heroes?

It came to thought, “What is a hero?”  I immediately remembered Tina Turner singing, “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)” in the mid-80’s.  Also, there was an old movie called, “Hero Ain’t Nothing but a Sandwich!”  The title alone spoke volumes. 

Recently, we have been revisiting our concepts of heroes. Statues have been desecrated, destroyed and removed in the wake of last year’s civil unrest.  Many have been taking a second look at those people who have been placed on very high pedestals. We are being reminded of the fact that our heroes were human beings with extraordinary qualities, but still sprinkled with faults.  Shakespeare spoke to this in all his tragedies like no other. 

Some will go to unusual lengths to defend their heroes and silence the critics. They will painstakingly fight for a fathomed person that they never met, and ofttimes, they did not even walk the earth at the same time. They will scream to the top of their lungs if an opposing view is voiced.  They are like Charlie Brown who covers his ears and says, “Blah, blah, blah,” refusing to let any new idea enter that closed mind. 

That hero was still a mortal, and all mortals are flawed.  Perhaps, those shouters should learn the art of sitting loose and not hold on to anything too close. Then, they won’t become unraveled like a ball of yarn when others have varying viewpoints about their sainted ones. It is not personal.   

So as the statues tumble or the history books are altered, those with blinders on should try not to also tumble and self-destruct. They should instead focus on scraping away their own rust so they can leave a good track record behind. Then they can let the chips fall where they may and unveil their own inner heroes!  

Lynn M. 
October 30, 2021 

Still Learning!

It is interesting how a visitor can come to your hometown and bring such new information!  It may not be unusual because the tourist has hit the books and knows exactly what he or she is  looking for; whereas, the locals trudge right pass unknown treasures everyday.

To that point, a friend and I stopped to ask several locals for the MLK Memorial in Atlanta and we were shocked when several hunched their shoulders as if to say, “I dunno.”  After a while, it became both comical and mostly tragic and we found the humor in it rather than burst into tears.  That was in the late 70’s.

But, I digress.  This is about Brian Doyle’s book Chicago which I recently finished and relished. A lot of places were familiar but I had to admit that he gave me several lessons though this has been a home base for many moons.  Doyle came here for five seasons right after graduating from Notre Dame.  He wrote for a magazine and it was his task to find stories about everyday people.

Yes, I will ashamedly admit that Mr. Doyle had to tell me that Lincoln Park, which I have visited trillions of times was named for Abraham Lincoln. Maybe I knew it some point. I knew that the streets in the Loop are named for the US Presidents, but I guess the fact that the parks were named for them escaped me.

And that mighty Grant Park is named for Ulysses S. Grant and our beloved Jackson Park for Andrew Jackson.  I think I recently recall that Washington Park was named for George Washington because of the recent statue controversy.

In some aspects, I am just as guilty as those people were in Atlanta on that sunny day. In our busy, rapid lives, we rush right by these monuments as we hurry to catch a bus or wave down a taxi. We miss so much!

This book, Chicago, took me up and down so many traveled roads He added the love and cohesion of community, the importance of the generosity of spirit and the role of writers who help keep it real when people get lost in the shuffle. Doyle reminded us of the beauty of storytelling and how those stories keep us going as we remember past events.

And lastly, Brian Doyle talked about the name of Chicago which came from the Potawatomi  Native Americans.  Chicagouate or chicagoua was a form of garlic/onion which grew in abundance to where they say the river poured into the lake.  Further research revealed the Native Americans only traded with their kin.  Thus, Jean Point Baptist Dusable married a Potawatomi woman and was then able to participant in trading.  It has been written that she was ‘crucial to his success.’

Chicago recently renamed Lake Shore Drive to Jean Baptiste Point Dusable Lake Shore Drive. Yes, it is a mouth full, but it seeks to get the historical facts somewhat straight. What we do know is the trade industry gained traction from the point where the Chicago River empties into Lake Michigan. And the rest, as they say, is history.  Many thanks to Mr. Doyle who left us too soon, but whose words and good works shall remain.

Lynn M.
October 23, 2021