Earth Mothers Chronicles: Crosses for Crowns

Another year bites the dust
Another year to get her shi – eh – stuff together
And Hardliner is past the trying stage
It is transformation or bust!
Aint nothing as urgent as trying to catch up
With time when you realise that it has already
Absconded with decades of your life
Decades of joyful productivity gone –
Not to ever come back – like the hairline of a weave queen
Yeh – she could be soothed by platitudes like
“Everything has its season” and “all in due time”
Oh wait – “better late than never”

Yet that overwhelming desire for a change in her situation
Is so dayum strong
Well – the year that is July 29, 2014 to July 29, 2015
Gats to see some shi – umph Lawd- stuff happen
Cause Hardliner is rolling with a new set of clichés
Like “time is of the essence”
“Time waits for no diva”
“Time is running out”
And sista gurl has claimed it in the name of Jesus
No joke – she don’t do Jesus jokes
She don’t gats that kinda cray cray in her to mock Jesus
For all that change talk – you are still
Spewing jive like a fool

Good morning Ms.Almah
Hardliner greets the Earth Mother warmly
Despite the mean-ass eyeballing she is
Getting from Almah – for all her Jesus talk
Sista tries to sweeten the fiery woman’s disposition
No big mama slaps today – it’s my birthday

“Go shawty, it’s your birthday
We gonna party like it’s your birthday…”
Whooooooo – heard of 50 Cent Ms. Almah
Go shawty, it’s your birthday

Judging by Ms. Almah’s flinty stare
Hardliner ends her little game
Ms. Almah is clearly too old school to appreciate In da Club
And most likely would whoop Fifty’s ass like a runaway slave

Happy day baby
Rennah announces – her voice carrying that musical lilt
Give thanks for the day the Lord has made

Let us rejoice and be glad in it
This time the three Earth Mothers chorus
And Hardliner’s soul is uplifted

You have graced this Earth with your presence
For yet another year
And was it good chile?
Nanna asks – her blue flowing robes
Remind Hardliner of an azure sky – limitless with possibility
Umph – something is jumping and leaping in sista’s soul

Hardliner muses – was year 41 good?
Let‘s see – between pisstosscity and falling
Face down in foul tasting humility
One could say that she came to herself in a myriad of ways
In essence – year 41 bitch slapped sista gurl into crazy growth
It was emotionally brutal
And she was beyond financially challenged
But Hardliner is thankful for it
Cause sista is still standing
And her Queen now fierce is rooted in good earth

Amen!
Renah salutes her victory

So now she is here – starting a new year
Claiming a new vision for her life
Armed with a with a new plan and self-image
Hardliner can tell you a thing or two about strife
For one – it pushes you in the direction of your purpose
It forces you to use your God given talents and skills
To become the person you were meant to be
Second – resistance against the will and flow of God is futile
Cause when there is nowhere left to go or to hide
God leaves just one door open – and you better go through it
If you want to live your best life
Well sista is putting herself out there
Knowing that the only way to change her flow
Is to be open to strategy that paves the way for a successful life
Part of that strategy includes being fully present in all activities
This is no small feat – something she has discovered
In doing a thing as small as being present for a photo shoot
In which she had to smile – not the stiff one
She normally offers in these situations
But one mirroring the sun coming up on a morning
The type of smile birthed in the heart
But the very same type that screams vulnerability
Hardliner is astounded by how deep her issues flow

The most simple of tasks can usher life changing lessons
Renah states – the cadence in her voice is dreamy
It has Hardliner thinking of harps and violins
And for a moment there her thought process flew
Out the window

So it is transformation or bust is it?
Your enthusiasm is wonderful
But remember that you cannot control
The spirit of change and transition
You are on time baby – right on schedule
The work you have to do requires a maturity
It requires wisdom
Helping folks to find healing requires
A gravity that youth does not carry
You are not late – you are on time
Yall young folks are always in a hurry
Like yall are afraid to breathe in case you miss your destiny
Take measured breaths baby
The only time you lose decades of your life
Is when you breath too quickly
Clarity only comes with a quiet mind and centred spirit
Life passes you by when you are unfocused and ungrounded

Hardliner finds herself loosening up
Renah’s voice has lifted the weight of crazy expectation
In a crazier time frame off her shoulders

What is it that you are so pressed to achieve?
There is an appointed time for everything baby
Acknowledging the vision and goals for your life
In itself was a victory – a choice to step away
From the ill-suited path you have traveled these past decades
You have begun your journey to fulfillment
Why are you so preoccupied with time running out?
You have already set deadlines and mapped out time frames
You have a plan
The time you think you lost – was not your appointed
Time in the first place

Hardliner listens to Renah
Conceding that she let her inner control freak
Run buck wild with the situation
It is just that she was so enthused to finally claim
What she was meant to be in life
Cause she is gifted and shit
Coming to think of it – hope gats her so highly strung
This birthday is about hope in a future
That is suddenly brimming with possibility

But know that to whom much is given – much is required
Nanna steps forward
There is responsibility in the acceptance of your gifts
And only time can prepare you for this
There is a reason why God does not
Give you everything at once Baby
The crown is yours – but you must be worthy of it

In other words claiming her talents
Is not only about verbal proclamation
But adapting to a new mindset
It is about understanding that being generously
Gifted by God brings great challenge
Answering to challenge proves her worthiness
And it is only through the passage of time that
Her purpose will bear fruit

Celebrate life Baby
You are not in the wilderness anymore
You follow a new path now
Because you have acquiesced to God’s vision for your life
A creative life that you were born to live
Celebrate this victory baby

Renah’s joyful enthusiasm is infectious
Hardliner feels good about this day
This blessed day the Lord has made
This is the first birthday in a long time
Heyul the first grown-ass woman birthday
That she aint too concerned about age
Carrying her off no man’s land
This is the first birthday that she has been able
To experience meaning of her spiritual affirmations
For the new birth year in her soul

This is because you have grown
After tilling your Earth
And now you have begun to lay down root
Almah answers

Hardliner realises that she is feeling her Queen now
It is one thing to know that she is there
But another to feel the presence of this dynamic woman
Who walks life with bold conviction and determined purpose
Dang that sounds good!

It has to resonate in your being too
Almah quips

Yeh she gets Almah
Think it – speak it – believe it
So is the order of life
Hardliner takes a page from their book

Selah
They chorus