Words play a huge role in my life.  More than a way of communicating, they are the means by which I move.  It’s true.  I could not get out of the bed if I did not have something to write about.  I guess you could say I don’t leave home without them.

Journaling since the age of twelve, reflection is not just a theological necessity but a personal need.  I love to write but I also need to write and almost more than writing, I like to discover new words, phrases and quotes.

To be sure, I love my words but I don’t want to just hear myself as I travel. No, I would rather have company.  I call them traveling words and I carry a stack of them scribbled on 3×5 notecards where ever I go.  I could not endeavor to overcome the social construct of race, its troublesome identity and burdensome history without their guidance and support.  Allow me to share a few of them with you.

This collection of words is neither exhaustive nor listed in order of importance or impact.  I simply have to start somewhere and I couldn’t take a single step without them.

1.  “History is made by those who break the rules.” ~ an author unknown

2. “We need the courage to create ourselves daily.” ~ Maya Angelou

3.  “Keep us at tasks too hard for us that we may be driven to Thee for strength.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

4.  “The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself, in spite of being unacceptable.” ~ Paul Tillich

5.  “The eyes are useless if the mind is blind.” ~ an author unknown

6.  “There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” ~ Ernest Hemingway

7.  “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for you are one in Christ Jesus.” ~ Galatians 3.28

8.  “The question is not what we intended ourselves to be, but what He intended us to be when He made us.” ~ C.S. Lewis

9.  “The most important thing to remember is this: to be ready at any moment to give up what you are for what you might become.” ~ W. E. B. Du Bois

10.  “The eyes can only see what the mind is prepared to comprehend.” ~ Henri- Louis Bergson

11. “We acquire the strength we have overcome.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

12.  “Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.” ~ Albert Einstein

13.  “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” ~ Anne Frank

14.  “Make the most of yourself… for that is all there is of you.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

15.  “Loyalty to a petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.” ~ Mark Twain

16.  “One has to grow up with good talk in order to form a habit of it.” ~ Helen Hayes

17.  “To be a saint means to be myself.” ~ Thomas Merton

18.  “Do one brave thing a day, however tiny.” ~ Kyndall Rae Rothaus

19. “A man’s belief is what he does, what he practices.” ~ Howard Thurman

20.  “Move at the pace of guidance.” ~ Christina Baldwin

May they encourage, guide and inspire you as they have me.