DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
Oscars® Reveiw: Short & Sweet
LENT DAY 11 of 40, © NaimaLett.com/blog



© 85th Academy Awards®; Start in silver, black & white!

If you missed the Oscars®…
here’s the short & sweet!

– It was the night of The Musical! Les Mis! Dreamgirls! Chicago!
The producers of this year’s telecast produced Chicago 10 years ago.

– There was a lot of black, silver and white.
Bond, the longest-running film franchise in history, turned 50. Maybe those were his colors?

– And the awards were spread out over the top films. No real surprises…
Except First Lady Michelle announced the final “Best Picture’ Award… in black and silver.

There you have it!
3.5 hours wrapped up in 30 seconds. Ta-Da!

More?

Of course, there were other high notes: Jennifer Hudson, Adele, and Dame Shirley Bassey sang, sang, sang! Daniel Day Lewis made history as the 1st actor to win 3 Academy Awards® for Best Actor in a Leading role. And Jane Fonda proves that her workout really works as she’s in the best shape ever at 75.

Low notes: We could’ve done without host Seth MacFarlane’s race and sex jokes (boring!). Jennifer Lawrence (in white) tripped (but recovered) on the way up the steps to accept Best Actress Award, and Quvenzhané Wallis didn’t win, but she was adorable in black & blue.

Argo took Best Film. But we knew it would. If you’re still wondering why, check out my previous blog, “Why Does Argo Keep Winning?”

That’s It?

Yep! In my best Looney Tunes voice, “That’s all folks!”

So, what’s the big deal? Why all this fuss over one night? Why are our biggest celebrities being dressed by our biggest designers to look their absolute best to award and be awarded a little gold statue?

What started as an Academy banquet for 270 folks at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in May 1929 honoring winners that had already been announced months earlier, has become the most-anticipated, secret-envelope, theatre event televised to millions around the world.

Will Perform For Food

Just like the Grammys® and Tonys® (and any of our televised award shows, for that matter), the Academy Awards® is our deluxe 3.5 hour commercial to convince the world to keep supporting our industry. That’s THE BIG DEAL.

We could hang a sign on the stage that says, “If you don’t go see our films, we don’t eat” or “Will Perform for Food”, but we don’t. We roll out the red carpet, put on the most fabulous princess gowns and ballroom tuxedos and create an experience to remember. It’s Hollywood. It’s what we do best.

God’s Perspective

As a child of God, it’s always wonderful to keep His perspective. The awards are fun, and it’s great to be recognized by our peers, but we find our identity and worth in God, not statues.

David sang Psalm 139 about how God created us wonderfully. Vs 13-4: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

On this Day 11 of our 40 Day Lent, it’s a fantastic time to remember that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, whether we collect trophies or not. I love gowns and shoes and makeup and hair, but my husband tells me often how much he loves me no makeup, no gown, no fuss. It’s all about perspective.

And the truth is that we are loved with an everlasting love that will outlive any film that we make.. But do support our films. The good ones, anyway. If you don’t see them, we don’t eat!

LOL,
Naima

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DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
Once in a Lifetime
LENT DAY 9 of 40, © NaimaLett.com/blog



© 85th Academy Awards®

Once in a Lifetime!

It’s Oscar® weekend in the LaLa, and that’s the sentiment most actors feel who’ve made it to the Academy.

As a matter of fact, when Julia Roberts won for Erin Brockovich in 2001, she said just that:
“And sir (music conductor Bill Conti), you’re doing a great job, but you’re so quick with that stick. So why don’t you sit, ’cause I may never be here again!”

It’s A Journey...

… no better yet, a miracle for the 20 actors who make the nominations (5 each in 4 categories) every year. Each performer represents a team of people who meticulously work and plan and labor for years to get them there, following the Hollywood formula and politics to a tee.

Surprise!

But every now and then, there’s a 9-year old Quvenzhané Wallis who wonderfully upsets the system and makes history as the youngest ever Academy Award® Best Actress nominee in her first film role ever in a tiny-budget, non-union film by a first-time director with first-time actors and a first-time crew from Louisiana.

That’s what happened this year, and nobody really knows what will go down on Sunday with the Best Actress in a Leading Role category because the ladies are all relatively newcomers to the ball, literally only in the last couple of years, with the exception of Naomi Watts, whose been in the game for almost 30 years and was nominated for Best Actress 10 years ago. Whatever the outcome, it will be a surprise!

More Than Once?

Once you get into the system though, it seems easier to get repeat nominations, but securing repeat wins – that’s hard.

In the 85 year history of the Academy Awards®:
only 1 actor won the trophy 4 times (Katharine Hepburn),
only 4 others won 3 times (Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, Ingrid Bergman, Walter Brennan), and only 33 others have gone to the podium twice including Denzel Washington, Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro, Elizabeth Taylor, Bette Davis, Sally Field, and Jodie Foster…
And that’s out of 840 nominations! See how most feel like it’s once in a lifetime?

Once in a Lifetime

On this Fun Friday, Lent Day 9 of 40, I’d like to encourage you to enjoy Grammy Award-winning artist and pastor Smokie Norful’s song, Once in a Lifetime, released as his testimony last year.

SMOKIE NORFUL, VIDEO © 2012 TreMyles Music EMI Gospel All rights reserved

In some of his lyrics, Smokie says:

(Verse 1) As a little boy I used to dream of the big stage
Couldn’t wait to see my name in lights
I had a dream so big, it made a mountain look small
Couldn’t wait till I had it all…

(Last chorus) Once in a lifetime I’ve found the best thing I know
Once in lifetime there’s no sign of letting go
Once in a lifetime I wouldn’t change a single thing
Once in a lifetime you made my whole world sing
I’ll never look beyond your love again
Because I know what I’ve found is truth

Though I’ve searched in every place to find a thing that makes life complete,
Now I know Lord that’s You…

Powerful, right?

The psalmist David prayed it like this in 2 Samuel 7:18-29, “How great you are, Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you,”

As we embark upon Oscar weekend, let’s remember that though trophies are nice, all of them pale in comparison to the God we serve. He’s our once-in-a-lifetime!

Onward and Upward, Fam,
Naima

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DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
What’s Your Academy Award® Speech?
LENT DAY 8 of 40, © NaimaLett.com/blog



© AP, Julia Roberts, Halle Berry, Sandra Bullock accept Academy Awards®.

Joy! Tears! Gratitude!
Julia, Halle and Sandra (pictured above) captured those.

What would your Academy Award® moment look like?
What impression would you leave on the millions watching around the world?

The 85th Academy Awards®
… are this Sunday, February 24th. It’s arguably Hollywood’s biggest night of the year.

Millions have been spent on advertising campaigns lobbying the 5,765 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (who are, according to the LA Times, mostly male, Caucasian, average age 62). Tons of designers and stylists are working around the clock to finish assembling their clients’ looks. Red carpets are being situated at the Kodak Center off Hollywood and Highland.

We all want to see who will win.
And more importantly, what they’ll say when they win!

Some, who understand how valuable the moment is (in terms of establishing their legacy in an ever-changing industry that could soon forget them), will inevitably work with a professional speechwriter and their management team to come up with the best representation of their thoughts. But some kind of just fly off the cuff. You never know until they approach the mic.

Remember Halle?

I looked through several “Oscar’s Most Memorable” lists, and Halle’s speech always makes the cut. I can’t, in good conscience, recommend Monster’s Ball, but I do understand how the “Halle like you’ve never seen her before” campaign to the Academy voters worked. That’s neither here nor there when it comes to her speech, I suppose. Remember how it began?

“Oh my God. Oh my God. I’m sorry. This moment is so much bigger than me. This moment is for Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll. It’s for the women that stand beside me, Jada Pinkett, Angela Bassett, Vivica Fox. And it’s for every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened. Thank you. I’m so honored. I’m so honored. And I thank the Academy for choosing me to be the vessel for which His blessing might flow…”

That’s one for the ages, right?

Remember Jesus?

Jesus is so much bigger than our Academy Awards®, but I think one of His most memorable moments was with His disciples before His betrayal, recorded in John 17:

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began…”

Beyond the ages, right?

What’s your Academy Award® speech?

Your turn. What’s your speech?
What would you say? Who would you thank?

Go ahead, have fun! Take a couple of minutes and write it out.
If you’re an artist, and you’ve already written and placed it in your dream journal, go get it. Dust it off. Update it. Give yourself permission to play!

And if you’re feeling really fancy, pull out your ‘nines’ on Sunday with your fam or friends, and give ’em your speech. You don’t have to wait until millions are watching. Go ahead and thank them. Roll out a red carpet (or blue or green or purple!), pose, take pictures. If you have kids, they’ll love it. Or you can be a big kid and love it.

We have a lot of fun here in Hollywood.
Won’t you have some too!

Let’s make this one for the ages,
Naima

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DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
Do You Believe What You See?
LENT DAY 6 of 40, © NaimaLett.com/blog



© Glamour/Joy Covers featuring Beyonce, June 2009

Do you believe what you see?

And all the Hollywood fam says in unison, “NO!”

Why? Because we know that magazine covers are photo-shopped to reflect the audience editors are selling to (see above), reality shows are staged and many celebrity relationships are set up by high-powered agents or managers to generate publicity for their clients, many of which have altered their appearances through enhancements and modifications. :=)

Jaded?

Are we jaded? Not really.

We just understand that our entire film and music worlds were initially built on finding talent and transforming them into international superstars that people would love and happily follow and consume products from for many, many years.

Think Barry Gordy and Motown’s artist development of taking 3 young singers from the Frederick Douglas projects in Detroit and creating The Supremes which produced Academy Award nominee Diana Ross. Or 20th Century Fox taking Norma Jeane Mortenson and creating screen siren Marilyn Monroe. Clive Davis’ presentation of Whitney Houston as the world’s greatest diva only fully unraveled when we painfully witnessed Bobby Brown’s reality show. What we originally see presented from the stage or screen is not always the truth.

Faith Not Based on Sight

Thank goodness our faith is not based on what we see. On this Lent Day 6 of 40, it’s a great time to reflect on Jesus’ encouragement that those who believe and have faith, not based on sight, are blessed. John 20:24-29 records Jesus interaction with Thomas after His resurrection:

Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Jesus says that we are blessed, Fam, when our faith and what we believe about Jesus being the Messiah is not based on what we see (though there is PLENTY of evidence). We don’t have to see his nail marks or put our hand in His side. We know that He is Lord and God, period, not blindly, but with conviction.

Jesus Doesn’t Need Artist Development

That being said, the great thing about Jesus is that what we see is actually what we get. He speaks of Himself as the Truth. He doesn’t need photo-shopping or reality shows or artist development. His fame spread because He was preaching, teaching, performing miracles, casting out demons and healing folks. There was no switcharoo. There is still no pretense.

I love that. The Hebrews writer says “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” In Jesus’ case, we can believe what we see. But we are blessed if we believe, even when we haven’t seen.

What do we believe today?

That He’s God only when He shows up and does exactly as we ask, as if we boss Him?
Or is He God when He delays answering our prayers because that’s what’s best for us?
Is He God only when all of our bills are paid and everything’s copacetic?
Or is He God when we lose a job and lose our home?
Is He God only when He heals?
Or is He still God when He says “My grace is sufficient…”

Today, I’m choosing (and it is a CHOICE) to walk by faith, not by sight.
Will you join me?
Naima

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DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
Beverly Hills, TMZ… Please Pray With Us
Day 5 of 40, LENT, © NaimaLett.com/blog



© FilmLA.com, Center of TMZ, the Thirty Mile Zone

Hi Fam,

I don’t do this often, as I know you too have a full plate, but I’d really like to ask you to pray for us and with us during this Lenten season: specifically for our city, our industry and the ministry God has called us to plant here at the epicenter of it all.

But first,
How are you? It’s Day 5 of Lent. How’s it going? Are you adjusting? Digging deeper?

I’m off sweets, pressing into prayer, and feeling a lot better than I did last week. Whew! By Tuesday, I sounded like a man, but folks were too polite to comment on it.:=) I like to say that I don’t get sick, but I got something that tried to masquerade as a cold for a few days. Thank God I’m mended, non-contagious, and able to enjoy our 70 degrees & a breeze!

Oh, the LaLa!

That’s one of the things we love about the LaLa. Saturday was February 16th and here in the Hills, it was 80 degrees. Palm trees were praising. Birds were singing. It was beautiful. As we pass folks walking their dogs (or pushing them in strollers), it’s hard to believe that so many people are struggling financially; but that’s the truth.

LA is a pressure cooker. Dreams, expectations and expenses are high. Actual jobs and opportunities are low. And from last week’s manhunt events, you can see that times are tight, and some folks are ready to pop.

There are 2 distinct Hollywoods: 1) The 99% of professional artists who make less than $10,000 in their craft per year and have lost union health benefits, and 2) The 1% who make more than $10,000, like our celebrities, some of which are reported by TMZ and other tabloids to have also hit slow times during this season when studios are cutting back, film stars are running to TV, and TV stars are making web series. Runaway production has caused panic.

Speaking of TMZ

Most people think of celebrity gossip site TMZ when you hear those 3 little letters, but did you know that TMZ actually came from the Thirty Mile Zone, which is Hollywood’s Studio Zone? Studios created the TMZ to regulate filming in Hollywood within a 30-mile radius from the old offices of the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers at Beverly and La Cienega.

Christopher Grove in Variety Magazine describes that intersection as our center of the universe: “In the film and TV locations business, contrary to the tenets of astrophysics, there actually is a center of the universe. And it’s at the corner of La Cienega and Beverly boulevards. Where the Beverly Center meets the Beverly Connection is the dead center of Hollywood’s so-called Studio Zone… The Studio Zone is the 2,826-square-mile area (30 mile radius) in which producers don’t have to pay for overnight stays or per diems, no matter how late the working day goes.”

Beverly Hills

TMZ’s center is the Beverly Center, which is 5 minutes from us. This is the city in which we’re called to share God’s Word and love God’s creative people as much as He does. Hollywood’s decisions are made right here in Beverly Hills, and we care for the souls of the professionals behind those decisions and the artists actualizing them.

Our little gem of a city, which turns 100 next year, only has 34,100+ residents, but there are over 200,000 commuters who shape our media, culture and world from offices here everyday. And when we include the TMZ, which stretches over 3 counties (Los Angeles, the O.C./Orange County and Ventura), we’re talking millions. Los Angeles County alone has almost 10 million people. We form the Arts and Entertainment hub that pumps out to the rest of the world.

Hope in the Hills

Kevin and I ended up in the Hills after an Only-God adventure almost 3 years ago (not enough space here to tell you the story, but ask us sometime!). Over the last 11 years of our marriage and 15 years of ministry, God uniquely prepared and equipped us for service here. He has given us a heart for this city and His people who live and work here. We’re entertainers and professionals who understand and love artists and professionals and know what’s it’s like to struggle, endure and triumph and everything in between.

Over a year ago, Kevin and I were led to start a diverse bible study with young dream chasers and dream makers in our living room. That has blossomed into the church plant, Hope in the Hills. We have been renting a Center, worshiping and fellowshipping together weekly, building leadership, and moving towards our city public launch in October.

Will you pray for us and with us?

This 40-day Lenten season is crucial for us.
Will you consider praying for us and with us over the next 40 days as the Lord leads you?

As we fast and pray leading up to Easter, we have several exciting milestones.
– We’re preparing for our 1st baptism, establishing communion and creating community groups.
– We’re praying to meet specific needs of specific people the Lord laid on our hearts in January.
– We’re excited about the historic and public confirmation of my ordination in March.
– We’re excited about the invitations coming in to speak and preach around the country.

Also, really important, we’re praying for the Lord of the harvest to send more harvesters. Matthew 9:35-38 recounts, “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

We’re praying specifically for more leaders who have a heart for the harvest in LaLa Land. It’s a different world, Fam. We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto. It’s a distinctive Hollywood culture, and we gotta love it to minister here effectively.

We dream of a church (a fam) that: looks like heaven, sounds like heaven, loves like God loves and lives like Christ lives. Will you pray with us for God’s will to be done?

Thank you, in advance,
Lots of love,
Naima

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DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
You’re Invited! Historical Celebration
© NaimaLett.com/blog



© All rights reserved

YOU’RE INVITED, FAM!

We are THRILLED to invite you to join us in the coming month for the festivities below. Please mark your calendar, and let us know ASAP if you can make it.

SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013, 10:45 AM
Historical Brother/Sister Ordination & Confirmation
Kamau’s Ordination, Pastor of Students & Family, Lake Oconee Community Church
Naima’s Confirmation of Ordination, Pastor, Hope in the Hills, Beverly Hills
Service at: Beulah Grove Baptist Church, 1434 Poplar St. Augusta, GA 30901
Rev. Dr. Sam Davis, Pastor, Officiating Ordination

** March 17th is not only St. Patrick’s Day, but Kevin’s birthday and Pastor Sam Davis’ birthday.

PARTNER WITH US

If you are unable to make it out to the festivities, no worries. Please continue to lift us up in prayer as we walk out God’s plan. And for those who have asked about ways to give, feel free to support through tax-deductible gifts at Hope in the Hills, Beverly Hills. Know that you continue to help us make a difference. Thank you.

It is our privilege to serve and journey with you.
Let’s Celebrate!

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DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
For the Fellas… 3 Secrets About the Ladies You Love,
LENT DAY 2/40, © NaimaLett.com/blog



source

Happy Valentine’s Day!
This one’s for the Fellas…
3 Secrets About the Ladies You Love.

It’s Day 2 of Lent, and yesterday, I promised to be your tour guide over the next 40 days leading to Easter’s Celebration. So today, as we navigate Love’s Day, I embrace my role in this great big faith family as “Everybody’s Sister” and feel excited to let you in on a little insider information concerning the women that you cherish.

Secret #1:
Understanding is optional.

“You get me,” I complimented my husband the other day.
“Not really,” he chuckled, “But, I try.”

Those 3 words (“But, I try”) go a long way with us, my brothers. We know, and many times enjoy, that we are complicated and complex beings with lots of ideas and feelings that we’re eager to express and have the freedom to change at will. That’s a part of what makes us unique as women and probably intrigued you and attracted you to us in the first place.

But what my husband figured out, (and I guess has worked over the last 11 years that we’ve been married), is that you don’t have to fully understand us. Just try. It means the same to us. When you listen and actually try to comprehend the intricacies of our world, it’s like what David sang about God’s law, it’s “more precious than gold, than much pure gold; sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.” Ps 19:10 Your trying is most precious to us.

Secret #2:
Sex is communication.

We are in a constant dialogue with you. That goes for all things physical as well. And we have the best time with you when that dialogue is free of offenses. Everything’s kinda connected in our world. If things get disconnected, it usually means we’ve been hurt.

I remember working at a ministry once where 2 male colleagues had a huge disagreement over protocol. I could hear them yelling at each other in the next office. Yelling! Like I thought they’d come to blows. Then, they saw that it was lunch time, put the argument on hold and bopped out to go get pizza. Yal have some sort of compartmentalization thing that is deep.

Growing up in a house full of men and having mostly guy friends, some of that has rubbed off on me. But be clear, if you yell and holler at us, and then turn around and think we’re bout to get busy, you’ve been listening to too many Tyrese records. That’s some movie fantasy or reality show anecdote. Mature women need reconciliation first. See Mt 5:23-24. If you want great sex., (we do too), let’s make sure all the other parts of the conversation are fluid.

Secret #3:
Love is essential.

There’s a reason that Ephesians 5:25 asks husbands to love their wives as sacrificially as Christ loves His church. We deeply need and resonate with that kind of love. We will follow you to the moon and back again when you love us like that… even when we know a shorter cut that could save everybody a lot of frustration and headaches. LOL!

We see your full potential from the very beginning and sign up for the long haul – to pray for you, champion you, encourage you, push you, and never ever let you give up. We will be in your corner and whisper (or holler) hope in your ears when you need it the most.

We will put on our jerseys that don your name and take up a hockey stick and fight lions and bears on ice if we have to in order to see God’s will for your life come to pass. When we know that we are loved, we love back with a fierce and determined love. We are with you when you have and when you have not, because we don’t do part-time commitment.

Not enough time…

There’s just not enough space here to unpack all of this, but if you want to know, on this Valentine’s Day, how to win and keep our hearts and have a wonderful, romantic time, try to understand us, clear up any communication breakdowns and let us know that you love us.

Now, we all have different love languages… but that’s a post for another day!

Happy V-Day,
Your Big (or Lil) Sis,
Naima

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DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
Social Networks Top Lent List
© NaimaLett.com/blog

source © OpenBible.info, Lent’s Wordle

Times have changed.

Lent begins today. And according to OpenBible.info, social media giants Twitter and Facebook have topped the list of “100 Things Given Up for Lent” by Twitterers for the past 4 years.

This year’s list is still being compiled and will be available Feb 16th; but currently trending with giving up social networking are “swearing” and “being pope”. Somebody has a sense of humor. :=)

Remember when?
Remember when folks gave up meat and dairy for Lent?

As I blogged yesterday in Mardi Gras: A Christian Holiday?, Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday, which got its name because Christians would consume all the remaining meat and dairy in their homes on that Tuesday before Ash Wednesday kicked off the Lenten season.

By those standards, yesterday could’ve been a massive TwitterFest or Facebook Mania for networkers posting their last comments before taking a 6-week break through Easter.

Why?
Why are folks fasting social networking? To answer that, let’s review why folks fast at all during Lent. Actually, let’s back it all the way up to the meaning of Lent. Review:

What is Lent?
Lent is the 40-day season (46 days minus Sundays) that believers prepare for Easter through fasting, prayer, repentance, giving up luxuries, and giving alms. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (today) and ends the day before Easter.

The 40 day time frame symbolizes the 40 days in the wilderness, testing and temptation that Jesus endured before launching into his public ministry (Matthew 4:1-11). Our friend, Pastor Andy McQuitty at Irving Bible called Lent a time of “spring cleaning of the soul”.

Why do we STILL practice Lent in 2013?
Because our global family of faith looks forward to THE Celebration of all Celebrations culminating at the end of Lent: Easter/Resurrection Sunday! Easter is arguably the most important holiday on our calendar. Our entire faith is based on that resurrection that resulted in that Empty Tomb!

Why Not?
That’s the question I like to ask.
Why not break outside the norm and walk on the wild side of faith for 40 days?
I have learned over the years that there is no greater adventure than attempting to sacrifice an “essential” in order to grow closer to the One who is Essential. 40 days of giving up anything ain’t easy. Thank God we don’t have to rely on our own strength and fortitude. We can ask for His help. And the rewarding transformation that occurs is so worth it.

So, what do we do?
Some of our Catholic brothers and sisters don ash crosses on the forehead to symbolize Ash Wednesday and the tradition of repentance in ashes and sackcloth. Symbols are wonderful; though not required.

So here are some simple steps to prepare:

1) Decide
Decide whether or not to participate. Pray and ask, ‘Do I want to make this commitment?” This might seem elementary, but every journey starts with a solid decision to take the first step.

2) Release
If the answer is “Yes”, then decide one thing to release over the next 40 days.

Some are giving up social networking. Others go the traditional route and give up meat and dairy. If you’re a vegetarian, like I am, or vegan, like some of my friends, giving up meat or dairy isn’t really a sacrifice. So, maybe it’s a favorite food or sweets or a particular TV show or hobby. Whatever it is, it works best if it’s something that affects our life daily. Why? Because when we yearn for it daily, we’re reminded why we are fasting and reminded to pray.

3) Replace
Replace what you’re releasing with avenues that lead closer to God. In the scriptures, people fasted and prayed for many different reasons i.e. entreating the Lord’s help and intervention, breaking yokes, seeking the Lord’s face and presence, repentance and contrition, etc. Fasting is a spiritual discipline that’s been practiced by people of faith for thousands of years, even prior to Jesus. Lent, especially, is a season of reflection and repentance and growing closer to the Lord. If one only gives up Twitter or Facebook, but doesn’t replace social networking with times of pray, reflection, Scripture, praise & worship, meeting others’ needs, etc., then Lent is meaningless. Prayerfully define what you’re asking of God for 40 days.

Reprising My Role as Tour Guide
Just as I promised last year, (can you believe we’ve been blogging daily for a year now?!), I wouldn’t dare invite you to walk this journey with me without offering help along the way. I assure you that I intimately know my way around 40-day fasts, and I count it an honor to reprise my role as tour guide by way of LaLa Land. I’ll be praying for you and walking with you and growing closer to the Lord, just like you, over the next 40 days.

In the words of Peter, when God used him to heal the lame by the gate called Beautiful, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Acts 3:1-10.

I can’t promise you silver or gold over the next 40 days. (I actually don’t believe that God shares many of His children’s obsessions with becoming millionaires. I digress…) But what I do have, I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whatever your deepest actual need is, I pray that God will meet you in that space over the next 6 weeks leading up to Easter. I pray that our lives will be eternally transformed as we are drawn into deeper fellowship with our heavenly Father.

What are you giving up?

Feel free to share what you’re sacrificing (here or with someone else), not out of pride and braggadociousness, as the Pharisees of old; but for accountability. 40 days is a bit of a stretch and we can keep each other lifted along the way.

I’m not giving up social media, as that’s not a true sacrifice for me. I’m releasing sugar. Pray for your girl. The first couple of days off sweets can be a little bumpy. LOL!

Lett’s do this,
Naima

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DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
Mardi Gras: A Christian Holiday?
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Mardi Gras, New Orleans, © LA Times, Gerald Herbert/Associated Press, source

Today is Mardi Gras.
Did you know that’s French for Fat Tuesday? Sounds better in French, doesn’t it?

And the History Channel actually records it as a “Christian” holiday.
I don’t know about you, but when I think of Mardi Gras, a whole lot of things come to mind, and Christian ain’t one of them.

But I read on:
“A Christian holiday and popular cultural phenomenon, Mardi Gras dates back thousands of years to pagan spring and fertility rites. Also known as Carnival, it is celebrated in many countries around the world… on the day before the religious season of Lent begins. Brazil, Venice and New Orleans play host to some of the holiday’s most famous public festivities, drawing thousands of tourists and revelers every year.”

Smörgåsbord

Christian, pagan, Carnival, revelers! That’s a whole smörgåsbord of stuff, right?!
Smörgåsbord is Swedish for ‘buffet’, which is French for the fancy sideboard all the different food dishes were served upon back in the day. Anybody else getting hungry?

Long story short…

Similar to other prominent Christian holidays, Mardi Gras appears to have been grafted into the Christian calendar from previously established festivals. If it makes you feel better, you can say it was ‘redeemed’ into the calendar; but none of our revelers seem to have noticed. LOL!

For the full 3:29 minute video, feel free to visit the History Channel Video.

Big Party Before Lent

Basically, Mardi Gras became the party to end all parties before the Lenten season of repentance, fasting, sacrificing luxuries, and giving alms began.

Fat Tuesday preceded Ash Wednesday and was the day that families ate the remainder of all meat and dairy products that would be fasted during Lent.

Well… who fasts during Lent?
Christians.

So, who is Mardi Gras for?
Christians?

We’d have to come to that conclusion, wouldn’t we? Since we assume that it’s Christians who are fasting for the 40 days of Lent (46 days minus Sundays) in preparation for the celebration of Christ’s Resurrection and Easter Sunday.

And while the 40 days of Lent are said to commemorate Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness after His baptism and before His public ministry began (Matthew 4), I can find no biblical incident where Jesus partied all night before heading into the wilderness.

I’m being facetious. We know that Jesus knew how to have a good time. He was accused sometimes of having too much of a good time dining with sinners and tax collectors.

Would Jesus have gone to Mardi Gras?

Which makes me wonder, would Jesus have gone to Mardi Gras? And if so, what would He have thought of His followers’ party? Would He have turned water into wine? Or asked young ladies to put their shirts back on? What do you think?

Party of All Parties

You know what I want to see?

A Mardi Gras-type shindig on Easter Sunday! I’m talking folks going all out because they are so ecstatic that Jesus conquered death forever when He rose from the dead! Crank up the music! Pull out the gear! Throw some beads or rice or flowers or something! Break out the bubbly! That’s the BEST reason I can think of to celebrate! That’s the kind of party I believe is happening all the time in heaven.

Do we have to wait for Easter?

Why do we have to wait until Easter? Everyday, even on Mardi Gras, even during Lent, and for the rest of the year, why can’t we have our own mini-celebration that we have been granted life after death in an eternal paradise because our Lord loved us so much that He gave His life for us?!

Watch out! I’m bout to go find some beads and throw them!
But we can keep our clothes on. Just saying…

Onward and Upward, Fam,
Naima

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DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
God at the Grammy’s
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© Grammy winners Carrie Underwood & Mumford & Sons

Was God at the Grammy’s last night?

Sounds like a strange question, doesn’t it?

But that’s how I think many of us watch our award shows… looking for some mention of God to prove that He’s in the building.

Represent!

When Carrie Underwood accepts her Grammy for Best Country Solo Performance and exclaims, “To God be the glory!”, then Christ followers all over the world pump their fists like, “Yes, God is at the Staples Center!” Or when she explains in the post-show interview that if she was ever going to sing anything, it would’ve been gospel or country, and she’s mixed the two on her albums, “I sing a lot of faith-based songs”; then believers applaud like, “Represent, Carrie, Represent!”

And when the best-selling, chart-topping, top-prize-Album-of-the-Year-Grammy-Award-winning British folk rock band, Mumford and Sons, sings their multi-platinum hit, “I Will Wait for You” with lyrics of forgiveness, kneeling down and waiting, from their multi-platinum album “Babel”, Christians celebrate like we’ve won! We’re taking back the culture.

It doesn’t matter that band front-man Marcus Mumford explains to The Big Issue that “I don’t even call myself a Christian. Spirituality is the word we engage with more. We’re fans of faith, not religion”. The fact that Mumford’s parents are founders of the Vineyard Church in the UK and Ireland and raised him in a Christian home, and Mumford & Son’s music is peppered with biblical references and themes and an occasional mention of Jesus, that’s enough! “Represent, Mumford, Represent!”

God’s Everywhere

While I most appreciate references of God, blatant like Carrie’s or veiled like Mumford’s, I don’t wait for any other artist to acknowledge who God is to believe He’s present.

One of the greatest songwriters of all time with the most published songs of all time in the greatest selling book of all time, King David, breaks down God’s omnipresence in his song recorded in Psalm 139:7-12:

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you…”

We could continue:
If we go to the Grammys, you are there; if we make our bed at the Oscars, you are there.
If we rise in Hollywood, if we settle down in New York, even there your hand will guide us…
God is everywhere. Period.
The real question is, “What difference does it make?”

Acknowledge

Whether we acknowledge God or not, He’s still in the building. He’s the Creator of the ends of the earth. Nothing slips pass Him. He sees all and knows all.

Folks spend massive amounts of time and energy speculating if artists like Carrie’s wardrobes line up with the new dress code and/or their faith or even if Mumford & Sons has faith, but when it’s all said and done, are we asking the right questions?

I submit the following:
Instead of asking, “Is God at the Grammy’s?”
Let’s ask, “Since God is at the Grammy’s, what difference does it make in our lives?”
Frankly, those are the answers I’d love to hear!

Onward and Upward, Fam,
Naima

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