Gavin Hello , Its been a while . But thanks for coming back. Ill make this visit special.

As usual,- a lot of thing have been happening. It looks busy on the surface,but its the "behind the scenes"activity that fuels whats going . I find that to be the best indicator of an individual. I have always said In order to be a truly authentic individual you have to go the extra step beyond the ordinary .Thats what makes a person an individual . That is what makes what they experience extraordinary . Ill share with you a lesson I learned about forgiveness compassion and understanding. ..in other words its a short about loving our enemy.

A Personal Experience

I'm going back to December when my neighbor who lived downstairs had died. Let me give you a little back story. A few years ago my neighbor became irate. Racial slurs were thrown at me .Threats were made against me. I had to file charges .He was very upset with the state of government . Obama didn't fare well with him ...or Black people in general. Though I tried to maintain peace, it was the hardest thing to do. Here's where it gets interesting. Id learned a long time ago that even though we try to do whats right it will never feel like it. Especially when it comes to turning the other cheek , or loving your enemy. But ...I do remember a passage from scripture that read , "the meek shall inherit the earth.It doesn't mean WEAK . Meekness is a controlled power. And it will sound ridiculous to the average person. Because the average person believes that meek means weak( And that's why average people get average results) But I'm not average. I'm not better than anybody else... I'm just better than I used to be. I come away from experiences having learned about how The Infinite Hand (God) works though me,with me and as me (he does the same thing for you too, you know).The Infinite Hand uses those with that controlled power to do the very things that most people ask Him to do. And He

uses people just like me..... perfectly imperfect people put Gods perfection in imperfect places. Im jus sayin

I had to learn to see the better part of him. The God part of him. I actually had to salute the divinity in him. He held a lot of resentment, anger ,bigotry, and hatred inside. Over the course of a few months, I began to notice a change in his appearance. He'd lost most of his hair, his cheeks were sallow and had become considerably thin. The better part of me reached out in compassion instead of 'Good for ya . That's what you get for treating me bad".That's an average response. Im jus sayin.

I never once allowed that thought to enter my mind. I also remember a passage Id read in scripture about gloating. Im jus sayin

Instead I asked how he was and tried to be cordial. It went well for the most part.I remember him telling me that he was suffering from some sort of condition that had him back and forth to the hospital. I asked him to let me know if there is anything I could do , please let me know. Bout a month later I was leaving Jason's Deli with lunch when I saw him. He really looked sick. I asked how he was and if there was anything I could do he said not well and that his mom was coming. He appeared terribly thin. I was on my way home with lunch when I offered it to him as a gesture of good will. He graciously declined and thanked me . That would be the last time Id see him in public.

The next time Id see him , it was his mom that came upstairs to ask me to help her get her son to the car to help him get to the hospital . He said he didn't want to go back to the hospital because he didn't want to die there. This time he was using a walker ,and having a hard time breathing and maintaining his balance. He was very weak. His mom ,being an elderly woman, was in tears. He was so ill he lost control of his bowels and soiled his adult diaper. We never made it to the car. I helped him back into the house . I watched his mother fight back the tears, but it was a losing battle. I helped her take Gavin to his room in just enough time before she broke down. She had no idea how sick he was ,until she d arrived. Gavin managed to ask me to get what his mom needed from the store. That was kinda the last time I saw him. Im glad I honored that request .

I spent a few moments with his mom. I could see the hurt in her eyes and the confusion that was going on inside her. I opened my heart and arms and hugged her. To my surprise she hugged me tightly as though she were hugging her own son. I felt her heart close to mine and I felt an overwhelming sense of emotion.Here was a woman who has raised a son with biased and bigoted views accepting within herself that those views were wrong. No words were needed at that time . Just a moment to rest in guidance of the Infinite Hand.I think that at that moment not only were we hugging each other, but God was hugging us. I know, right. Thats the perfection God seeks in us. Its also the comfort he promised we would have at the time we needed it most.

to be continued