Springtime wakes us up — spiritually, physically and mentally

Happy Springtime, everyone!

I know I am a few days late in sending you this salutation, but I am so caught up in the rejuvenating power of Easter that I just had to wish you all some of the happiness I feel at this season. Being jubilant doesn’t mean that I have no problems; listen, I have plenty. It’s just that I’m happy to be alive with a reasonable portion of health, even with the problems.

Having problems remind me of a line from an Andraé Crouch gospel song:

“... If I never had a problem, I wouldn’t know that God could solve them… “

As I write this, Mr. Sam, my yard man, and his crew are in my yard, trying to work a miracle around the brown weeds that have sprung up.

But I am feeling optimistic.

A few weeks ago, my neighbors’ yards looked just as bad. Now, their front lawns sparkle with new grass and shrubbery that seems to announce to the neighborhood that it is, indeed spring. I am envious — in a good way — of their beautiful lawns, and I want my yard to look just as nice. It’s this kind of envy that spruces up the neighborhood.

While these feelings of jubilation and new beginnings are still with me, I am eager to start my springtime projects.

I have purchased two new flower pots to do some re-potting and I have bought spray paint to give new life to the furniture on the front porch. I am so eager to get things done. Then I remember that I am not as young as I used to be and the pace at which I used to work has slowed down tremendously.

I won’t let a little thing (or a big thing) like age stop me. Still, I understand that I must take one step and one day at a time.

What is it about springtime that wakes us up, spiritually, physically and mentally? I am not only ready to make the outside of my home beautiful, I want to take care of the inside, and the outside of me, too. I want God to do for me, spiritually, what I am about to do for my yard. I want Him to weed out the old thoughts and doubts and fill me with more new thoughts of praise and thankfulness. I want to take better care of this temple he gave me — my body — and fill it with good, healthy foods. Having a healthy body will help grow a healthy mental attitude. I also believe that cleaning in one’s own temple (the body) can spill out onto those around us. It’s like my neighbors’ cleaning up their yards has caused me to want my own yard to be just as beautiful.

It’s a funny thing about weeding the yard and spring cleaning: When you start digging, you find weeds that you never knew existed. It’s the same with one’s mind.

Doing a mental clean sweep, you will come across old thoughts that you thought you had swept out a long time ago. Thoughts that you kept hidden in the back of your mind, to perhaps one day tell somebody off for something they did to you many years ago. I have learned that whenever I am giving my mind a good cleanse, these unsavory thoughts will just pop up. And I have learned that it is to my advantage to send them packing — off to the Unsavory Thoughts Dump — never to be heard of again. This kind of cleansing is also called “Forgiveness”. And when the mind-cleansing is done, you will feel so much better.

But the best part about mind-cleansing is that you now have a more open pathway to the Lord. You have swept out all the litter and debris that had put a wedge between you and the Lord. Now you can see the path clearer.

Another thing about mind-cleansing is that you can do it anywhere, even while painting porch furniture or re-potting a plant. Mind-cleansing makes the world seem brighter. Problems seem lighter. And although your hand may be covered with dirt from all the weeding and re-potting, you will know that you are cleaner — spiritually.

So, my friends, these are the plans for my springtime cleansing/weeding and sprucing up project — both naturally and spiritually. I would love to hear about yours.

Birthday greetings to 100-year-old Women’s Army Corps veteran

A happy 100th birthday to my friend Lydia Walker, who celebrated on April 7. Lydia is a veteran of World War II and of the Korean Conflict. She served in the Women’s Army Corps.

I met Lydia back in the 1970’s, and was so impressed with her story. She was in the armed service when times were tough for Blacks women as well as men. When there was no provision made for a beauty salon for Black women in the service, Lydia started one.

“I was stationed at Camp Atterbury in Indiana. There was a beauty salon for the white women, but we Blacks had to take a 30-mile ride on the bus to Pennsylvania on our day off to get our hair done. I was already a hairdresser, so I went to the company commander and asked to use the dayroom on the base as a beauty salon for the Black women. Back then, we used hot straightening combs and curling irons to do our hair. Our beauty salon was a first for the U.S. Army,” she said.

There were other “firsts” for Lydia. After she was discharged, she entered nursing school at Florida A&M University (then “College”). After graduating from nursing school, her husband Leroy, who was still in the army, was transferred to Germany. She went with him and worked as a nurse at Landstuhl Army Hospital for three and a half years before returning to the states.

Back in Miami, Lydia worked at Mount Sinai Hospital, and later at Jackson Memorial, where she became the first black nursing supervisor.

From Jackson, she went to Miami Dade Community College, where she was the first black nursing instructor in the practical nursing program. She was also the college’s first instructor for nurses aides to become practical nurses.

Later, she studied mortuary science and started her own funeral home.

Now long retired, Lydia said she is happy doing nothing. She and her husband Leroy, 99, live near Liberty City.