Author: rkcdlitt

God asks me to spend my life opening the mind of others

however inept was I at those subjects learned in school

not knowing I was learning what I already knew

not knowing that I would be teaching what others already knew

but that is life; the truth better is learned not taught

for it is what we receive from God that matters

we receive His gifts which are our natural abilities

for which we must use to be charitable to those who are in need

for those who do not realize the gifts they receive

we are charitable with our gifts and hold God in our reverence

and share God’s Grace of Love and generosity

© Russell Kendall Carter, B.A., M.A.T., D.Lit.

I’ ve been thinking quite a bit about today. Do we have any idea how important today is? Today is the most important day of our lives. Yesterday is gone; it will never happen again. Good or  bad, yesterday will never happen so let’s forget about it and turn the page on a new experience.

God gives us each new day! And man, in his absolute craziness and egotism, decided to split the day into hours and then into minutes. Even so, each minute is special. No two minutes are the same. No two minutes occur at the same time; they are unique in themselves. God makes sure of this, so we are not confused. God makes sure that time continues regardless of how we think we can control it. We cannot; only God can. Time is His creation, as are we.

Today is His creation; yesterday was His, but He does not want us to worry about yesterday, because yesterday is gone, never to be repeated, only to be learned from. Yesterday is darkness and God does not want us to live in darkness. Which is why we have today; today is a new world, a brighter world free of all the cares and worries of yesterday because yesterday is never to be repeated. Remember, God will never give us two minutes that are the same, much less two days that are the same.

© Russell Kendall Carter, B.A., M.A.T., D.Lit.

we take each other’s hands as truly God doth ask, and we link our spirits with our hands, the good in each other seeks the friendship that is holy although many times an uneasy task, but God’s promise comes to us in our souls to repair open holes in our heart. let God take our hands in friendship anew, to share our journeys, to ask of our questions of each other and serve humanity with God’s gratitude, grace, and love that’s true for as brothers and sisters, we share our concerns. with friendship we are strangers no longer
withdrawn and we lose our self-importance, and accept our oneness with God; we see each other as beautiful swans floating effortlessly on the lake of life knowing that each day that we live ‘tis truly that God doth Bless us equally.

© Russell Kendall Carter, B.A., M.A.T., D.Lit.

because of my age, people call me an adult the meaning of which doth mystify

for it is children who so often not only show us but teach us God’s truth

we doubt the words of a child for one so young cannot justify

yet doubt is the aged sword for a double edge of barren youth

* * *

one deadly side leads us to joy where we might find understanding

then the other side leads us back in peace to fields of faith and calm

it is this youth that leads us from aged skepticism to rational reasoning

it is youth that leads us from being lost to finding the love of God’s Realm

©Russell Kendall Carter; BA, MAT, DLitt.

I awake with a nervous tic above my heart

never a good way for my day to start

for fear I do not my wife impart

*

I rise with my mind set on definite reason

to fulfill all my duties and successfully squeeze in

time to help my wife plan for the upcoming Christmas season

*

the days too long the nights barely sufficient

the bed persuaded but sleep enrapt with miscontent

tis no wonder mornings never felt as heaven sent

*  *  *

toiling aimlessly my desk, at pause is my pen

dolefully awaiting a shuttered mind to open

how my heart longs for friends long forgotten

© Russell Kendall Carter, B.A., M.A.T., D.Lit.

We have not been randomly chosen to be who we are. Although we have shared values and shared qualities of life, there are distinctions that God has given us that are unique to our personalities. It is the distinctive eternal light that shines on us and that we surrender to each day and each night; it is God’s Love. It is this love that we learn to share and to nurture all through our lives; it is our eternal guiding light of Love and Peace and Joy. It is what God is doing in this world . . . through us, with us, around us.

There are those who say that we are empty souls that will be filled by life’s experiences that will teach us and nurture us for the time we are on this planet. This is wrong! From the time we are conceived God has already a part of our souls filling us with Love and Grace and the Goodness that will carry us through our life and through eternity. We are filled with this Love at our physical birth, and we immediately share this with our mothers first.

This Love that God gives us grows within us, nurtures us through our lives, nurtures others as our Love is shown on the outside through our expressions of true friendship towards those we meet for we are destined to live together, for God has chosen us to live together, love together, cry together, and grow together. For as Paul writes to the Philippians: “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do and the God of peace shall be with you. (4:9).”

© Russell Kendall Carter, B.A., M.A.T., D.Lit.

When we look in the mirror in the morning, what do we see? I’ll bet that most of us see acedia. Now let’s rush to our online dictionaries to find out what acedia means; oh, no time? Well, it means apathy, in simpler terms. . . boredom. We are bored people.  We go to jobs that may or may not give us a reason to look forward. We force excitement into our lives.

We do not look inward where our true happiness is, where love and hope is, wrapped tightly in the faith we are all born with, but neglect as we are educated by others who think they know better than us. Think they know better than God. It is in our heart, where God dwells, that our demons are defeated, our healing takes place, and our love is born.

Not superficial love, but the Love that is eternal, the Love that is shared with your eternal partner, your children, your family, the Love that comes from God, that dwells in your heart, the Love that should also be reflected on the outside. As the prophets, say, “What we wear on our hearts should be just as obvious to the world as what we wear on our bodies.” If we truly love, let it show. Our lives and the lives of all we meet will be better for it.

We can stop being the pre-pandemic dehydrated people of the ever-growing competitive world of higher finance and immerse ourselves in the presence of current truthful reality, the reality of human suffering all around, created by that ever-growing world of dehydration.

I do not criticize those in the competitive world;  some work hard in their jobs and take time to both donate and help rebuild lives for those no longer able to do for themselves. I love them for their efforts to help those no longer able to help themselves. These people are perfect examples of those whose hearts are shown on the outside as well as the inside, such as the Tunnels to Towers Foundation.

Let us all be as true to humanity and we are to God.

©Russell Kendall Carter; BA, MAT, DLitt.

philosophers are always aware

of good for our lives

their voices forever desirous to share

with views so worthy of loudest fanfare

often come and often scare

and we become active, productive beehives

*

we begin our lives with a sudden cry

then hastily join that lifelong queue

toiling, toiling, wondering why

finally pausing for a well-earned sigh

to soar above the mountains high

and find what we were born to do

*

it’s not that we must begin our lives anew

we merely must our lives unfurled

to finally accept for a grand debut

and find what we were born to do

and begin to do what we love to do

to help improve the rest of the world

*

© Russell Kendall Carter, B.A., M.A.T., D.Lit.

There are times that I strongly believe that storytelling, particularly when we are relating the episodes of our lives, are really testimonies to God avowing our faith in a way that is so much stronger than any prayer we repeat in the sanctuary. All of the recited prayers in the sanctuary, including the beloved prayer Jesus taught us, are all words taught to us when we were young, and we were instructed to repeat at certain times when our minister or priest was leading us in our religious services. And there is very little in this world that is more thrilling to us spiritually than our community in prayer.

However, and you know with me there is always an however, the sanctity and spirituality of sharing a life story, regardless of how forgetful we may be in telling it, is such a spiritual experience that those sharing and those listening get to experience a slice of a life forgotten and a life remembered regardless of how many holes there are in it, or how many exaggerated boasts accompany the telling. The person sharing the story is reliving an experience that only he or she can tell; she (he) is telling it in her words, with her exaggerations and omissions, but, and this is most important, with her sincerity and emotions.

The tears in the eyes and voice mean that the story being told is part of the history of the family. It may be written down; it should be because it is family. It is the person’s God-given testimony of life. It is a part of life that perhaps a hundred years from now a great niece or nephew will read, shed a tear, and say to himself, “I want to do exactly what my great aunt did in her life.” This is what God wants me to do with my life. My great aunt tells me this.

And so, family life grows from generation through generation. And the storytelling of one generation becomes the testimony for the next. Funny how the word of God spreads.

© Russell Kendall Carter, B.A., M.A.T., D.Lit.

My short book of meditations and prayers is available Xlibris.com and Amazon.com.