The Circus Has Come to Town

The big top has been assembled the arena is filled with spectators all awaiting for the show to begin

The Circus band begins to play the famous and familiar circus theme song and the excitement now sets in

All the children squeal with sheer delight as the spot lights begin to twirl around

This is an extra special day, for the circus has come to town

Yet nothing will begin until the Master of ceremonies arrives in the center ring

The ring master dressed in tall top hat, bright red tails with gold trim and riding crop  that he swings

He alone will guide the audience through this amazing experience of this most spectacular event

With the words "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages to you I now present”

First the ballerina lady walks in balance high above on the high wire trusting with no net escape below

This act of sheer bravery and skill is a daring feat of the impossible that adds intrigue to this show 
 
Each animal that enters the rings are the “biggest", "most dangerous"  and “smartest ones” around

Just as every performer is quite uniquely talented and skilled in their area of expertise

For the circus has come to town

Next on the trapeze bar is the team of acrobats jumping from the platform and flying high in the air

Catching each other requires great deal of strength, grace, flexibility and prayer

In between each act comes a joyful sight that will tickle you and turn any frown upside down

The silly people dressed in funny costumes, makeup with a big red nose, It’s the clowns!!

Jugglers throwing many objects simultaneously, balls, hoops, clubs and knives

Tossing and performing tricks that entertain our everyday rather  boring lives

This act is very dangerous and amazing to behold with your sight

Fire breathers blowing out  flames that brighten the darkness with fiery light  

So If you close your eyes and imagine it well, filled with the most amazing sights and sounds

You will have the most phenomenal experience today

As the circus has come to town

Charmaine Hinds

Words are Powerful

Words are powerful and shape you and your destiny.

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

This chain of events begins with a thought but our thoughts are more than likely shaped by the words that we have heard over the course of our lives. 

We are all inter-connected in this world and are apart of the past present and future. Your today is shaped by yesterday and what happens today will shape your  tomorrow. We must remember that we are linked to people, places, events, time and words.

Words have life and creative power.  One word can change your life. It can propel you forward or hold you back, it can distract you or motivate you. Rarely do we take the time to see how words have affected us and our journey.

“Words are things. You must be careful, careful about calling people out of their names. Some day we’ll be able to measure the power of words. I think they are things. They get on the walls. They get in your wallpaper. They get in your rugs, in your upholstery, and your clothes, and finally in to you.” Maya Angelou

In my childhood there were many words that I heard loudly and for some reason the negative words seemed to be more pronounced than the positive ones. Words like skinny , tall, stubborn, dreamer, are all great words but add the thoughts and intent behind those words from the sender and it would be years before I would be able to unstick myself from the affects that they had created. I would have to put the truth of those words in a new context and say them to myself again with confidence that being tall  and thin or having perseverance and creative thought patterns was a good part of who God had made me to be and that if I changed my thoughts around those words then they would create something different in my life.

In the book of Proverbs in the Bible it is full of wisdom and knowledge about words and their power.

Proverbs 16:24   Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.

Emma was a beautiful girl but that wasn’t the word that people would use to describe her. Due to being born 3 months prematurely Emma had a very tiny frame and everyone chose to call her by what was most pronounced about her, they called her small, short, tiny, little or even petite. If Emma could have only recorded how many times people would look at her in the course of her 11 years and say in such a surprised and negative tone “ my how tiny she is” or “you haven’t  grown much” or even hurtful whispers and snickers behind her back like “ she looks like a munchkin”.  Despite this inside Emma was another force that needed to be reckoned with,  the words of her father every day telling Emma how much of a fighter she was and he would even call her “ my big girl” as a term of endearment. He was focused on her growth not just in the physical but like all good parents do, he acknowledged her growth in every area and Emma was a giant in so many ways. Due to the difficulties she faced so early on and all the love poured on her to grow , Emma was an affectionate, caring, smart individual who fought for every lost cause and championed every under dog.  One day her 5^th grade teacher asked Emma what was her secret , what kept her so positive everyday when everyone around her thought she couldn’t do much. Emma so wise beyond her years replied with this metaphor  “ I have two bags of words that I carry with me everyday . One is very heavy and weighs me down and the other is light and almost floats away if I don’t hold it carefully. Meditating on this and feeling sorry for this little girl the teacher said to Emma “ Sweetie you don’t need to carry around all those heavy negative words in that bag everyday, you can put it down”  Emma looked with the largest grin on her face and said to the older woman with such tender sensitivity “ The heavy bag isn’t the negative words, it’s the happy positive words that keep me grounded everyday” The light bag of words  is the one that I release every night when I pray to God asking Him to take them away”.

This story reminds us that we have the power over the words that come at us. We get to decide and choose what affect they will have on us.

Words can be spoken or written, words can teach you, reach you communicate feeling and emotion, words can build or break down , cause life or death, words can bring you closer or farther from your desired goal,  words can be conversational,  words can be directional, they can be inspiring or cause confusion, words are powerful.

So please let your words be few and intentional- choose your words that you say wisely. Think about what you are about to say and don’t let your words escape from your mouth. Not every thought that we have should be given life by breathing them into the atmosphere for all to hear and for the creative force of the universe to direct.

excerpt from Live Move and Be  by Charmaine Hinds

My Tongue Is the Pen Of A Ready Writer Psalm 45:1

My tongue is the pen of a ready writer

Vibrating with energy to create words that are powerful and have meaning

Deeper than thoughts, now able to bounce off walls and floors and ceilings

The voice that has heard these thoughts so revealing

Now loosed in the atmosphere forever to never return … but for all to learn and to discern

My tongue is the pen of a ready writer

To speak with intention at the mere mention of wrong becoming right, my soul in the middle of a night

Yearning for dark to become bright and the hidden to release the light

Words and energy fields rippling outward to undo and become undone

My tongue is the pen of a ready writer

Able to connect and attract and direct and attack 

To decree and agree and build and set free

My tongue is the pen of a ready writer

Never running dry of ink or lead or hand to hold or paper weight that flies away

My sounds of heaven released to stay envisioning the dawning of a brand new day

This is the pen that has been given to me, my destiny

For my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

There is nothing heavier or any lighter than a guard on my mouth that keeps me silent

Bound in chains because they refuse to hear   

The truth for fear

Liberation is here

For you were set free long ago, don’t you know?  

On a tree blowing in the breeze unlocked by the key

So hold your pain a little tighter, shine your light a little brighter  

Get ready for my future

For my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

 

Charmaine Hinds

She Loves Her High Heels

As a young girl a strange phenomena called puberty caused me to be tall at a young age and relatively beautiful as well. With these two features I stood out among the crowd, in school, at home, in photos and especially around the boys. So imagine when I decided it was time for me to begin to wear high heels.  This caused me to stand out even more as people cranked their necks to look up at me and many times I had to slouch down to make people feel more comfortable.

Soon I no longer felt comfortable wearing heels and made a conscious decision and choice to wear flats instead. But I never forgot the feeling I got when I would dress up and slip my feet into a pair of fancy high heels. I felt tall, beautiful, regal, sexy and female.

Just recently after going through a midlife change I reclaimed my identity again and one of the changes that came forth was that I decided I was no longer going to let my height in heels and how it may or may not make others feel stop me from dawning my favourite pair of stilettos, platforms, wedges or pumps. So I went shopping!

I was created tall and my shrinking to be small does not serve the world well. I plan to stand up straight in my high heels and throw my head back and walk proud. Cause I love my high heels!

She Loves Her High Heels

They lift her up to a place of height that match her inner depth

Heels that go clickety- clack as they walk on the hard floors of life, yet keeping time and step

Many think of strength like Superman, the man of strength and steel

But nothing is as powerful as a woman walking tall… in a shiny, red bottom pump with silver heel

In her identity finding beauty, comfort and value no matter what her size, is the measure of her life

Always in motion moving from a daughter to a woman, from a sister to a mother, from a friend to a wife

Her heels speak of the long journey she has walked always proud of her feminine side

Never wanting to lose her true self in the struggle to maintain her confident womanly pride

The platforms they create lift her up to a status that is far above the ground

Her heels agree with her that no matter what the situation, she will not be brought down

She has mastered the difficulty of walking in balance, head held high as her feet are turning

Walking into homes, places of business, entertainment, social engagements and educational buildings of learning

Its not the cost of the shoe, the designer we knew, the color or material we choose

Its about the way that she feels, so strong, confident and real, so beautiful as she glides in her high heels

But at the end of the day there is an awesome picture in view, so special and so grand

A woman laughing as she takes off her heels, running barefoot through a flower field, holding her high heels in her hands

Charmaine Hinds