Have I Told You I Love You?

 

 

             Have I told you I love you?

         Maybe I did and you did not know what I meant.

If that is the case than I am partly to blame.
Communication requires a commitment to repetition and   

     clarity.
So.
Let me say it in another way.
Your happiness is important to me.

Nothing can change that. 

When the world judges you, a friend I will be. 

Your future is more important to me.

Forgive yourself for being imperfect, inconsistent, 

     hypocritical, or foolish at times. 

For these are human tendencies. 

Loving you beyond what I may not want to hear or see, 

     you can always - despite man-made restrictions - talk to 

     me. 

If you need someone to listen, tell me not to talk back. You'll hear, "I'm here," concluded with, "I got your back." 

Keeping count of who did what for who has never been 

     important to me. 

And, honestly, staying in touch isn't even necessary. 

Ask for help without feeling guilty. 

Love was…is…radically revolutionary. 

Its message: you don't have to be“deserving” for you to 

     matter to me. 

I get busy. 

I may need reminding.
But never forget: you’re a priority. 

If I haven’t told you lately, I’m telling you now. 

And if you know not what I mean, I will tell you… again… 

     the best way I know how.

                                                                                                                                         

                                                                                             --Kaloma




This was written to honor a former teammate who took his own life on Good Friday. We had not talked in years but that didn't matter. His decision and absence touched me deeply. 

We often don't know when "I love you" isn't enough until it's too late. Part of the problem is that the words "I love you" many times isn't enough. It means different things, to different people, in different circumstances. We need to say more. We need to accept the challenge of loving more and I don't mean loving more people. I mean loving the people we are supposed to love, the people we claim to love, and the people who need love the most, more. If we do so, lives will be saved. If we do not, suicide - whether it's in a moment or over an extended period of self-destructive behavior -- will continue. I'm not sure if my friend heard "I love you" recently or not. I do know he needed to hear more than those words and I'm sure there is someone very close to you who does also. 

So, forget the question, "Have I told you I love you lately?" Ask yourself, "How did I say it the last time that I did?" And, "How will I say it the next time that I choose to?"

Be blessed.

--Kaloma

WHEN YOU...

Jesus kept me. I know if he did it…I know if he did it… I know if he did it… for me, for me, for me, for me, for me, for me, for me, for me…He will delight… in doing it for you.


                                                                                – Yolanda Adams






When you’ve been kept through some hard trials and temptations and you recognize and remember those experiences… it becomes that much easier to wrap your arms around the next person who is in the midst of their trials and temptations.


When you know what it is like to stand on sinking sand – even if it’s momentarily – and you’ve been snatched up and saved by a hand that didn’t wait for you to learn your lesson… it becomes that much easier to look for and to spot those who are regressing.


When you’ve been the recipient of and appreciated a blessing that you didn’t deserve…it becomes that much easier to extend yourself to the next person who may not deserve your sacrifice or assistance.


When you allow the quiet to fill the room, and you realize that even in your worst moments, He never left you…it becomes easier to accept the challenge of choosing people you will never turn your back on, despite those painful moments of miscommunication or inconsistency that almost always pops up in any close relationship.


When you deflate your ego, the compliments, and the misleading affirmations of “you did it”, not only do you see that you weren't always faithful, obedient or trustful…it becomes easier to answer the question, “How did you do it?” with a response that doesn’t start and stop at “I worked hard.”


When you know the world was trying to make you think you were going to lose your mind, and it failed because a peace that passes understanding covered you…it becomes easier to remind another that, faith alone can be the source of a smile, a laugh, or a “thank you in advance.”
 
When you’ve stretched your hands to people whom you know love you or want to love you, and the limitations of their humanity silently responded with, “I still can’t save you”…it becomes easier to close your eyes and to repeat Yolanda’s closing words:


Father I stretch,
my hands to thee,
no other help,
can’t go nowhere else.
If you don’t bless me,
I can’t be blessed.
If you don’t touch me,
I can’t be held.
Yeahhhh. 
Yeah.




Be blessed,
Kaloma

Adjust Your Perspective: The Stars Look Up To You

Adjust your perspective: the stars look up to you. They wish to be you. Breathing. Thinking. Feeling. Living. It is your presence that brings them awe. They are not large for naught. They seek a glimpse. They seek commonality. They seek a moment, to trade places. You laugh. They don’t. You lust. They can’t. You learn. They don’t know what learning is. Getting over the hump, breaking that cycle, moving in the right direction sometimes…sometimes…requires a shift. A change. An adjustment. The stars look up to you. Their lights shine bright for you. Your debut was your birth. They expect a show. They are watching. They are not confused. They know your worth. Adjust your perspective. Celebrate. Star-doom is not your fate. It is theirs. The endless cycle of darkness? Theirs. Infinite isolation? Theirs. Motherless? Fatherless? Friendless? Theirs. Theirs. Theirs. You hear me but do you understand? The things you’d give your right hand for, they’d give up their billion year existence for the chance to be you. They would trade an eternity of compliments for the 10, 30, 80 years that you are alive. They cannot escape. They wish and watch and wait. Adjust your perspective: the stars look up to you.

-Kaloma

What If...

will re-post "soon."

HEY...