Be Smart...Not Convenient

I haven’t blogged since May? Woooooooow! What have I been doing? Singing, playing, traveling, recording, working…a lot. I miss putting words down on the page for you all to share in. It’s not that I haven’t been writing, it’s that I haven’t been posting. Okay, enough of that—here we go.

A quote that I used in a previous blog, as well as in countless talks I’ve had with friends still resonates in my soul almost every day…“What is right is often forgotten by what is convenient.” –Bodie Thoene

The post I used that quote in before also referenced convenience, but in a different context. You can check it out here if you want---à http://marcusinspires.blogspot.com/2011/12/is-convenience-better-for-you.html

I guess the question would be, how long is the rope between what’s convenient and what’s right? That’s up to you to decide, but the convenient way will usually seem best when you’re not at your best. That can be mentally, emotionally, WHATEVER. Convenience based action thrives off of vulnerability. Example-Knowing that you DESERVE better, but going back to a former significant other just because you know you will get attention. In my opinion, that’s not “right” on any level for you or the other person involved. The same goes with bad habits. They literally THRIVE off of vulnerability.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. –Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

By no means am I saying convenience is bad ALL of the time, because it’s not. All I’m saying is CONVENIENCE DOES NOT EQUATE TO BETTER; it just equates to convenience.  LOL. DO NOT run back to something or someone just because it’s convenient. Keep your head and keep your standard. Have no standard? Establish one and keep it. Trust me…I’m talking to myself.

† ☮

Marcus

Monogamy….Matrimony…Monogamy…Matrimony

Not too much of a gap between posts this time around. Before you continue to read, REALIZE that I REALLY appreciate you reading what I write. It’s not a given—so I’m VERY grateful. THANK-------------------YOU! Thumbs up/Virtual high 5

I’m getting married! Eventually. LOL. Hopefully one day I will share my life with ONE woman and glide through the rest of my life with her. The idea of monogamy has enough depth to make grown men sweat. ßI didn’t mean to rhyme.

“Success in marriage does not come merely through finding the right mate, but through being the right mate. “ ~Barnett R. Brickner

On May 22^nd 2012, my parents will be celebrating 30 years of marriage. I NEVER want to discount or diminish the positive example that their longevity has had on my life. Of course the 30 years got me thinking (as most things do) about the general idea of commitment. Marriage is at the TOP of the totem poll as far as commitment implications. How do some people MAKE it look easy and other people MAKE it look so hard? Mind you, in both instances I emphasized “MAKE”. One of the CRUCIAL things I’ve learned through my parents’ union is that even when people make it “look” easy, it is NOT easy. Is commitment ever easy? I don’t know if I have the answer to that question, but I know that with God all things are possible. 30 years doesn’t happen without God—just my personal opinion. 10 years doesn’t happen without God.

Monogamy-the practice or state of being married to one person at a time. That definition makes some people weak at the knees. My definition would probably make their knees’ knees get weak. How about “having eyes and affection for only one person”? Did that make you scared? Society almost makes it seem like it can’t be done. If God is the glue, I GUARANTEE it can.

I’m looking forward to marriage. For like a trillion reasons. If you’re reading this passage and you’re not married yet, let’s bring that divorce rate DOWN. We can do it.

“You can never be happily married to another until you get a divorce from yourself.  Successful marriage demands a certain death to self.”  ~Jerry McCant

Marcus Anthony Akins

            ~M.A.²~

Learn to doubt NOT!

“It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not. “ ~Unknown Author

Doubt |dout|

Noun

-A feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction

Doubt is something that can be conscious or subconscious, but either way carry a lot of power in the way you live your life. Over the past 11 days, I’ve been on a tour with my good friends Awaken Wells (www.facebook.com/awakenwells) through D.C., Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. It was an amazing experience that I’ll never forget. What does doubt have to do with this? I’ll let you know.

On this particular tour, I was playing keys. Anybody who knows me knows that I don’t REALLY consider myself to be a piano/keyboard “player” at all. Really just in a sense of composition/production is the only time I consider myself to be a player, even when I’ve played for other people. Going into this tour, I was just flabbergasted as to how I even got this opportunity because of the way I felt about my own playing. People constantly assure me that I’m better than I think I am, but I still differ. It wasn’t till about halfway through the tour that I had to remind myself that God can use ANYONE in ANYWAY He wants. My character is what opened the door for the relationship with Awaken Wells and God did a work through me to allow Him to move through my playing the way He saw fit. Even though skill is important, Character > Skill. By no means am I saying I should/will not continue to work on my skill—because I have. I’m just more cognizant of what will last—Relationship, integrity and character. Building those things consistently has done SO much for me and I’ve seen the fruits of it.

“God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called”. That statement means more to me now than ever. Even if you feel that you can’t defy the “odds”, if you serve God, you serve someone that can. Have more confidence—not in yourself per say, but the God inside of you. He can do WHATEVER He wants.

#NOMOREDOUBT

†††Full-Time Follower†††

~~~M.A.²~~~