Believe it or not, hallelujah is NOT the highest praise.

Hallelujah in Hebrew

While songs by Richard Smallwood ("The Highest Praise") and CeCe Winans ("Hallelujah Praise") claim hallelujah is the highest praise, Judith McAllister ("High Praise") and Vicki Yohe ("Highest Praise") have songs that allude to it. While all four songs were written to glorify GOD and HIS presence, they have caused a bit of a stir proclaiming (and in some instances alluding) to the word "hallelujah". 

• The first part, hallelu, is the second-person imperative masculine plural form of the Hebrew verb hallal. However, "hallelujah" means more than simply "praise Jah" or "praise Yah" (shortened version of God’s name - Yhwh), as the word hallel in Hebrew means a joyous praise in song, to boast in God.
• The term is used 24 times in the Hebrew Bible (mainly in the book of Psalms as "praise ye the Lord", e.g. 111–117, 145–150, where it starts and ends a number of Psalms) and 4 times in Greek transliteration as "alleluia" in the Book of Revelation (e.g. 19:1,3,4 and 6). In the Hebrew Bible hallelujah is actually a two-word phrase, not one word and it is a command, not a greeting (as it is often used in the church of today).

Hallelujah can't possibly be the highest praise. Why? Because the seraphim surrounding the throne of GOD cry out to one another, "Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory." (Isaiah 6:3) Would not the throne of GOD require the highest of praises to be declared? 

So, if hallelujah is not the highest praise, what is? I say it is simply this; to love GOD and one another. Jesus commanded us to love seven times.

1. "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the first commandment." (Mark 12:30) 
2. "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." (Matthew 22:37) 
3. "And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbors thyself." (Luke 10:27)
4. "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another." (John 13:34)
5. "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you." (John 15:12)
6. "This I command you, that you love one another." (John 15:17).
7. "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God." (1 John 4:7)

The word hallelujah is a beautiful Hebraic command that morphed into a modern day church greeting. If you want to greet each other say, "hello", "hi", hug or you can go REAL biblical and "greet each other with a holy kiss" (Romans 16:16, 2 Corinthians 13:12). It's really not that deep, but if you want to give GOD the highest praise, obey HIS commandments...to love.

Why Are Black Women Angry?

Today I watched a Buzzfeed video and it hit an already raw nerve. The video brought reality to the struggles Black women face attempting to exist in a world not purposefully conducive to her flourishing. From the womb, she is stereotyped, classified and marginalized. Why? Because of melanin.
The initial cry of a newborn is triggered out of shock. The abrupt shock of cold, light, sound, touch and the burst of oxygen that fills her new lungs for the first time. Little does she know the abrupt shock of cold, light, sound, and touch will invade and at times dictate her life as she grows.

She will experience the sudden:

cold…stares of individuals who berate her because of everything she is naturally and in turn, those same individuals attempt to emulate (artificially) her natural finery.

light…burning with the contempt of your very existence.

sound…piercing your ears, filled with abject adjectives and passive-aggressive “compliments”.

touch…of someone encroaching on your personal space (e.g. body, family, job or friends) without your permission.

The angry Black women is not always angry. They see anger when her awareness is heightened. They see anger when she’s defending her rights. They see anger when she’s protecting her own. They see anger when she speaks with confidence. They see anger when she displays a creativity that is not “mainstream”. She is strong. She endures. She survives. She thrives. She is legendary. She...is me.

Makeup Vs. No Makeup...Really?

Alicia Keys, a current music celebrity has created a social media whirlwind by declaring that she has begun to embrace her natural beauty.  Her intent was not to start a movement. She simply used #nomakeup on selfies and the "movement" began to take a shape of its own. The backlash was instantaneous and so was the applause. Social media pitted sides (as it usually does) and the comments, opinions, diatribes and soliloquies ensued. I decided to write a different comparative from a biological point of view. Please indulge me.

My closest friends and family know that I like animals. From the age of 8 years old, I knew I wanted to be a veterinarian because of my Father's National Geographic magazine subscription that I anxiously waited for every single month. What most people don't get is, sometimes it's not that I'm admiring the beauty of the animal, I'm admiring the beauty of how they live and survive. In the animal world sometimes the female is the largest. Why? Because this is what her body requires (by way of needing more nutrients or because of the physiology of sex organs) to procreate her species.

Dendrobates leucomelas 'British Guiana ' | Photo credit: DendroBase.hu

Sometimes the female is more dimly colored and less ornate. Why? Because, in order to rear her offspring safely, she doesn't need to attract the attention of predators or curious humans.

Mandarin Ducks | Photo credit: en.wikipedia.org

In the animal kingdom, this biological phenomenon is called sexual dimorphism. It is a condition where the two sexes of the same species exhibit different characteristics beyond the differences in their sexual organs.  I would assert that humans probably have some of the same attributes, however, we fight against the natural biological order of what GOD created.

It has gotten so extreme that we can no longer tell male from female. (These photos serve as an example and are not meant to imply or define sexual orientation.)

Photo credit: girlswithmuscle.com and crunchyroll.com

The examples above can not be called sexual dimorphism because the transformations you see are not organic...not biological. Humans have degraded the natural, biological order of physiology through plastic surgery, hormone injections, steroid injections, and cosmetics. If you haven't been indoctrinated by all of this, you must live on a compound in Utah or something.

I must have a pretty unique perspective because I'll never understand why women are pressured into being (what our society calls) beautiful. Beauty standards are warped as it is and I wish someone would destroy that "beautiful cookie cutter" by which all are judged. For me there is nothing more beautiful than confidence; confidence in how you look naturally, feel and who you genuinely are. That kind of beauty requires no makeup.

Parents and Teachers - The Powerless Ones

Early this morning I found a disheartening story in my Facebook feed. The title was "Mom Bonds Out of Jail". A single Mother of six was called by a neighbor when the neighbor saw her sons and friends going into her home with bags of undetermined items. The Mother drove quickly to her home to find her sons and their friends trying to run away from her by diving out of windows and running out the door. She knew what they had done and instinctively she grabbed a belt to discipline her children. This act of discipline landed her in jail?

This is a bunch of "cow pies"! If this is breaking the law, 99% of the relatives I have should have had a record by now and ALL of us would have had stints in CPS (Child Protective Services). The government determined that the physical discipline of a child is now felony child abuse. And you wonder why we have a massive amount of miscreants in the community? THIS is why! You've taken away disciplinary power from the parents AND the teachers. The two groups of adults that a child spends most of their time with until the age of 18 and what do you get? Child-size master manipulators and miscreants destined for incarceration.

Why is it that the U.S. government can not (or will not) see the error of its ways? How is it that we can "swear to tell the truth, so help me God" in court, but we pay no attention to God's Word of Proverbs 13:24, "Those who spare the rod of discipline hate their children. Those who love their children care enough to discipline them." In the current vernacular, we equate this passage as "spare the rod, spoil the child".

Discipline seen as abuse seemed to have emerged from the writings of Dr. Benjamin Spock. How one could be seen as an expert in parenting without having any children is beyond me and why people would instantly take his some of his writings as "law" in the parenting world is beyond me. Am I the only one that has seen a constant decline and degradation of parental discipline since the 1970's? Does anyone see the negative impact and progression this has had on our society? Does anyone care? Hello??? Am I by myself on this?

Shame On You, America! Your Greed Is Destroying You.

There are some days when I think of the country I live in and I want to cry...or escape. Then there are times (which are becoming few and far between) that I'm proud of the country I live in. I'm most ashamed of the extensive and far-reaching greed of our government. It's so deeply rooted, there seems to be no way of defeating it.

1. The Mayflower landing on Plymouth rock and horrifically confiscating land inhabited by others. Greed!
2. Turning indentured servants into bondage slaves for the sake of improving your own quality of life. Greed!
3. The REAL reason behind you agreeing with suffrage was because the families in power (who heavily influenced the government) deduced that allowing women to work meant more taxes collected for the government. Greed!
4. Being underpaid just because you are a minority or female. Greed!
5. Monopolizing the hair industry by not distributing goods to the minority hair care businesses of the very people you're selling to. Greed!
6. Church leaders in million dollar mansions and learjets while their congregation is struggling from paycheck to paycheck.
7. Selling athletic shoes at a 300% markup and your largest demographic happens to be minorities. Greed!
8. Destroying the manufacturing industry in the United States to move outside of the United States for cheaper labor. Greed!
9. The government creating wars for financial gain. Greed!

The list could go on forever and it's sad that greed has permeated every single part of our lives. Just the other day I heard of a middle-income person taking advantage of a low-income assistance program to pay one of their utility bills, just because they overspent on Christmas.

What we all seem to be lacking is the opposite of greed...honesty and integrity. May God have mercy on our souls.

Simply the Best

People have called me a perfectionist. I don't think that's true, however, if I show those tendencies it's because I require it of myself, not in others. When people around me think I'm attempting to apply that same tendency to them? Well...it used to hurt my feelings because I knew it was unfair of me to do that. When I asked GOD (two decades ago), "What am I doing that makes people feel that way?" That is when GOD began to reveal to me what a "spirit of excellence" really was.

I was reared to excel. "Try your best." is what I can recall my Mother saying often. So, if I attempted something I gave my all. When I completed a task (it could be a chore, a picture, a painting) and asked my Mother, "Do you like it?", she would reply, "Do YOU like it?" This helped me realize that I had to be satisfied with whatever I did before soliciting the opinion of anyone else. So, I always tried my best. In our household growing up, C's were bad grades. It wasn't until I entered junior high school that I realized the grade of C was average for everyone else. My Mother was also one of those,"If at first you don't succeed, try and try again." type of people. The caveat was, only try again if you really want it. I love that caveat. That caveat helped me to quickly deduce the things I wanted to pursue and the things I didn't...or shouldn't pursue. Case and point: In my neighborhood, I was considered a pretty good runner. In 4th grade, I went to a brand new school and was filled with confidence about almost anything. Our first gym class was relay racing. I raced against 2 or 3 people and won. Our gym teacher, Ms. Griffin began to race all of the winners of their relay. Finally, I was up against a really fast girl. Her name was "Shantel". I sized her up. She was long and lean. No matter. I will do my best! Ms. Griffin raised her hand. "On your mark. Get set." and the whistle blew. I flew from the starting line like usual only to see Shantel darn near the finish line. "Wait! What happened?" was my first thought but I quickly realized my best was not good enough...to beat Shantel. I had a priceless epiphany in the 4th grade. Everyone has a "best" and my best will be different than the best of another.

Never stop giving your best because YOUR best will and should always be good enough for you. That doesn't mean that someone else's best is necessarily better, it is simply THEIR best and not yours. So, I'm okay with MY best and I hope you're okay with YOUR best too.

Plus Size Shopping with my Non-Plus Size Friend

People say that women and shopping are synonymous, right? Wrong! Not when you are

plus size and your friend is not. I absolutely hate shopping with non-plus size friends (NPSF). Why? Well, let me tell you. This is what shopping with my NPSFs is like:

1. While they're shopping in Aeropostale, Forever 21 and TopShop, I'm in the Mall sitting down, eating caramel popcorn, waiting for them to come out of the store.
2. On the occasion that we go into a store with plus size clothing (but not a plus size section), they're casually looking at everything, while I'm on a treasure hunt to find one of the 4 plus sized items the store ordered...and usually, there are none.
3. Eureka! We actually enter a department store with a plus size section and...I end up shopping by myself because my NPSF is in another part of the store. So much for shopping together.
4. I decide to follow my NPSF around as SHE shops and I become the designated bag carrier. What am I? A human shopping cart?
5. There was one occasion that sticks out in my mind. I was shopping with my NPSF in a store that had plus sizes (but not a plus size section). We were browsing casually on a rack of skirts when my NPSF looks at a size 14 skirt and exclaims, "That is HUGE!". A size 14? Really? Needless to say, I never shared my 20+ clothing size with my NPSF.
6. This is just how bad it got. My NPSF and I were at an outlet mall and I wanted to go to a plus size store to get some bras. My mind was preparing itself for my NPSF to exclaim again, "This is HUGE!" or something like, "I can't find anything to fit me in here." (Mind you, my NPSF isn't an intentionally rude or insensitive person. I think she just doesn't think of me as plus size because when WE are shopping, I shy away from going into plus size sections WITH her.) Anyway...back to the story. We pull up at a plus size retailer. My NPSF is on the phone and in a deep conversation with someone. Since it appears that she's going to sit in the car and continue talking on her phone, I take this opportunity to get out ahead of her, run into the store and as quickly as I can, I grab everything I came for. By the time my NPSF walked into the store, I was already at the register checking out. Whew! Awkwardness averted.

All in all, my friend isn't my friend because of our sizes. In fact, if I would only have the courage to tell her about my take on our shopping experiences, it would probably heighten her sensitivity to plus size women. Maybe I will. Maybe I'll just forward this blog entry to her. I'm sure she loves me enough to understand and appreciate my plight...and humor.