So, I wanted to mix up the selections a bit, and I heard this song for the first time ever last night. When I heard it, I was instantly intrigued, and as I got more of a feel for the lyrics, I decided that I should blog about it. While the whole song has some worthwhile nuggets, I'm gonna focus on 2 portions for the purposes of this blog.
"So if Hip-Hop is about the people and the Hip-Hop won't get better until the people get better, then how do people get better? Well, from my understanding people get better when they start to understand that, they are valuable. And they not valuable because they got a whole lot of money or cause somebody think they sexy, but they valuable cause they been created by God, and God, makes you valuable. And whether or not you recognize that value is one thing." This speaks volumes to me. In our very materialistic, performance-based society, there are many people who lack value based on the things that society deems important. But the beautiful thing about God (and I would be bold enough to say that this applies no matter what name you call God) is that God finds you valuable, because God took time to shape and create you. I'm certain that God does nothing without reason, so if God took the time to think you up, create you, and shape a plan for your life, then you have to have some value to God. When you recognize your value and appreciate yourself, you will begin to see things differently, which will change your behavior and your drive. It will encourage you to move forward and do greater things, not accepting mediocre or stopping when obstacles block your path. And when you can do greater things, even if that's just taking better care of yourself, then you can influence others to do better. Life as we know it can change when we recognize the beauty in our creation, esp if we say we're created in the Image of God.
"Fear not of men because men must die." You already know where I stand on fear. One of my friends said recently that fear is a powerful drug, and I believe it. Fear will rule your life if you let it, but the beauty of what Mos Def is saying is that people and their opinions are temporary. People can be more fickle than the wind, changing for this reason or that (and some of those reasons have nothing to do with you). I had a friend who I considered one of my best friends. We had prayed together, laughed together, told each other our secrets, etc. Everything is cool, and then suddenly, she basically just stopped speaking to me. No explanation, no words, nothing. I wondered for the longest time what I'd done, what had happened, if it would ever change... but then I realized that if she no longer desired to be my friend, life needed to go on. I couldn't let that situation make me fearful of future relationships and possible rejection. And I couldn't stay stuck in the opinions and decisions of someone else.
So value yourself because you are valued, and don't fear the opinions of other people. Life's too short to let other people rule and define you, no matter who they are.
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