Burn the Damn Handbook

All our lives we are told what to do, what to wear, how to act, what to expect all to grow up and find out that most of that stuff doesn't work all the time, or at least not in these uncertain times, and may not be healthy for us to adhere to in the first place. I have reached my quarter century where I have been raised by the book, if you will, and am learning to do what I want to do. I am learning that life is life and there is no script for any of it. We are all doing the best we can for the moment and whatever that best is will be matched by a equal harvest of our work.

I am searching for freedom of the mind, freedom of the soul, peace in my heart, and peace in the world. The quest of the human soul is to find rest. The human heart has been wired to desire and seek after peace and I'm tired of being in bondage to...whatever but usually myself. Burning the handbook, letting love and learning overflow is a personal journey that no one can do for us. It requires patience and constant pruning of the heart. We prune guilt, shame, unwarranted traditions, negative people, historical lies, generational curses, and oh so much more so we can be free. So that we can grow the fruits of he Spirit unimpeded by the sin-inspired rules of man. Freedom and thus peace, for me, requires me getting out of my own way. It requires really, truly learning God's Word.

I do not know the religious bent of the people who will read this post but I know no other standard for which to go through life. I may not know all the interworkings of how the Bible has been put together. I may not know the best reasononing for why God allows various things to happen. But I know that I know that the Bible, rightly interpreted (which is key), is the Truth.

This is where learning for me begins. I want to know about God's heart for women. I want to know why Black people are so far from where they need to be and better yet how to get them (my people) back to where they once were, an enviable race. I want to know why I do the things I do. I want to know my mother's imprint on me as well as my father's. I want to know how I can build my community. I want to be able to recognize spiritual wickedness in high places. I want to ask God the hard question, 'why'. All of this requires burning the handbook because life is not sweet and God is not simple. Building relationships with the opposite sex seems to get harder with every passing generation but the desire to be successful at it never burns out. I want to continue to love and nourish myself, the black part, the female part, and the just me part.

Lord, I want to be free. Let Love and Learning Overflow.