Kimestry

This morning when I awoke, I prayed for God to speak through me. I prayed that I would be a beneficial presence today and I set my intention to be love wherever I went. I was scheduled to speak at a community center in West Los Angeles at ten. When I arrived at about fifteen minutes before I was scheduled to speak, I met the activities director. She was a warm woman from Vienna and as we waited in the conference room for the attendees, we started talking. She was studying hypnotherapy, pursuing a master's degree online, and working full time. She spoke of how although she has lived here for eight years, living in Los Angeles was difficult to get used to. While seniors enjoyed breakfast in the next room, we talked about the importance of community and the difficulty some seniors face in creating one for themselves. We discovered that our birthdays are one day apart (mine January 17th and hers the 18th). By ten a.m., I was certain that I would not have an audience to speak to--...

For the past year I've been putting off buying a laptop. Sounds crazy, right? After all, I'm a writer! Writers need laptops! I just couldn't justify circulating money in that direction when other financial responsibilities had my attention. However, I finally got to the point where I realized that not circulating money toward something that could potentially inspire me to write more and bring me more abundant opportunities was almost like me getting in my own way. Once I had this realization, I promised my mastermind group that I would buy a laptop by our January 12 meeting. Since I knew Mercury was going into retrograde on January 11, I figured I'd better do it soon. So on my deceased grandmother's birthday, January 7, I went to Best Buy. I "bit the bullet" and purchased a MacBook with eighteen months deferred billing, no interest, I was surprised that it felt good to circulate money that I didn't feel that I had, toward something that I intuitively a...

Last night I went to a good old-fashioned house party. You know, the kind where the front windows get all steamed up from the heat of the bodies pressed close together in the living room. I went to junior high with the dj, so as a contemporary of mine he played much old-school music. I danced the perm out of my hair! At one point during the night, the dj said "some of you are going to be sore tomorrow." I laughed in acknowledgement of the fact that there may have been some people at the party who felt like they are getting older and can't move their bodies like they used to without paying for it the next day. I however, am proudly "youthing". When I dance, I am out of time and space. My spirit is free and I feel sexy and happy. I don't think about what bills need to be paid or who hasn't behaved the way I would've liked them to. I dance the dance of life. With 2009 rapidly approaching, I invite you to shed your notions of limitation. We are not too o...

This week I was asked to contribute to the creation of an altar representing release. I struggled with what to bring. Then I remembered a God jar I'd created. Two years ago, I was taking a spiritual course and learned about a ritual of using a jar to release any problems that I was facing to God. So I created a God jar, wrote all my problems on Post It notes and sealed them in the plastic jar. On top of the lid, I attached another Post It note which read something like, "These problems are being handled by God. My highest good is done now." I did not stop thinking about those problems right away; however, two years later I can honestly say that I do not remember the problems that seemed so overwhelming that I chose to give them to God by placing them in that jar. That is grace. Have I been tempted to open the jar and take a peek? Yes! Of course! I even imagined that someday I'd add more worries to the jar at some point. Yet, somehow I've come to think of that j...

I now understand tears of joy. Barack Obama is the forty fourth president of the United States of America. I am dancing with my ancestors.

Ojai, California has many treasures: sunset and the pink moment over the Topa Topa Mountains, Meditation Mount, the Arcade, Bart's Books, and more. There is no treasure so great, however, as Finnish artist Otto Heino. When Pablo Picasso went looking for the greatest ceramic artists in the world, he found Otto. At ninety four, Otto still works fifteen hour days and sleeps only four hours per night. This summer when I met Otto at his home and studio, he shared that he wakes every day at four. I couldn't help thinking of George Washington Carver, who awoke every day at four, went out into nature, and had a talk with God. I wondered if all creative souls got their inspiration at four in the morning. Otto's bright eyes twinkled as he described clients who have flown in from Texas to purchase plates he created valued at twenty thousand dollars each. He smiled and his voice showed that even he is astounded that people pay so much money for a plate. Otto's work is so valuable b...

As I looked up at the large video screens in Bovard Auditorium, I saw Archbishop Desmond TuTu dancing to the song that we were singing, "We Let It Be". I was on stage singing with the Agape International Choir and Archbishop Tutu was dancing in the aisle. The last time I'd seen him I was in college when he came to speak at Stanford University. I remember being inspired by him then and nearly twenty years later, I was still inspired by his simple presence of love and wisdom. Before the performance, a few members of the choir had ventured onto the USC campus in search of sustenance. As we exited Bovard Auditorium, Archbishop Tutu was exiting his motorcade. He stopped and bowed to us and we bowed to him. That spiritual sustenance was given to us by him and when we sang, we sent it back to all within the sound of our voices and beyond. The occasion of our performance was the Freedom Awards sponsored by Free the Slaves. This notable organization was created with the goal of fr...