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Woke up with the song “Alabaster Box” by CeCe Winans on my mind. My favorite part is, “You weren’t there the night Jesus found me. You did not feel what I felt when He wrapped His loving arms around me. You don’t know the cost of the oil in my alabaster box.” Whew!! God is so awesome! I’m so happy He loves me. Here are the lyrics.

Alabaster Box
CeCe Winans
Written by Janice Sjostran

The room grew still
As she made her way to Jesus
She stumbled through the tears
That make her blind
She felt such pain
Some spoke in anger
Heard folks whisper
There’s no place here for her kind

Still on she came
Through the shame that flushed her face
Until at last she knelt before his feet
And though she spoke no words
Everything she said was heard
As she poured her love for the master
From her box of Alabaster

And I’ve come to pour
My praise on Him like oil
From Mary’s Alabaster Box
Don’t be angry if I wash His feet with my tears
And I dry them with my hair
You weren’t there the night He found me
You did not feel what I felt
When He wrapped His loving arms around me
And you don’t know the cost
Of the oil in my Alabaster box

I can’t forget the way life used to be
I was a prisoner to the sin that had me bound
And I spent my days
Poured my life without measure
Into a little treasure box
I thought I found
Until the day when Jesus came to me
And healed my soul with the wonder of His touch

So now I’m giving back to Him
All the praise He’s worthy of
I’ve been forgiven and that’s why
I love Him so much

And I’ve come to pour
My praise on Him like oil
From Mary’s Alabaster Box
Don’t be angry if I wash His feet with my tears
And I dry them with my hair
You weren’t there the night He found me
You did not feel what I felt
When He wrapped His loving arms around me
And you don’t know the cost
Of the oil in my Alabaster box

Shaun
#ForeverGrateful
#BeBlessed🙏🏽❤️

Guess this will be another random. Lol

I’m laying here thinking about life in general— kids, work, school, my future, my purpose, etc. In between thoughts, I find myself thanking God. God is in everything I do. He’s in every decision I make. I’m so grateful for the things He’s doing in my life; for the things He’s doing in the lives of my family and friends. He’s so amazing. #Grateful!

I guess that’s all I needed to say. Good night/morning! Oh, my next term starts tomorrow. Keep me in your prayers. I love y’all!

Shaun
#BeBlessed

Final paper submitted. First term of my doctoral program completed. Feeling accomplished. Praising God.

In June, I decided to make my 45th year, special. I needed to celebrate me. I can’t explain it. There’s something about turning 40 that’s life changing. However, 45 is like the year of awesomeness– EMPOWERMENT! Like I said, I can’t explain it. You have to experience it for yourself.

After spending an amazing birthday weekend with friends, I decided to take the leap. Should’ve been a year into a program anyway. The goal was to enroll after Ki (my daughter) graduated from college. Well, here I am a year later, pursuing my doctorate in Public Health. It’s already been rough. I’ve had to make a lot of adjustments. I have very little free time, and in a few weeks I won’t have any. However, I’m taking it all in stride. My wise, little sister said, “Every day is a day closer to graduation.” Something like that- Lol. And she’s right.

One term down. Many more to go. I can do this!!

Shaun
#FulfillingMyPurpose

As Christian Keyes says, “I ain’t want nothing.” Just thought I’d check in. I hope you’re having a fabulous week!

Life is short. Smile, you’re FABULOUS!

Shaun
#LovingLife

This is going to be brief… I think… We shall see. Lol!

I’m not going to lie, I love social media. Social media is where I find inspiration and motivation. I love seeing others succeed. I love celebrating their successes and sharing them with others. And if I’m really hyped about something, I’ll promote it like crazy! Now tweeting… that’s a-whole-different subject for another blog. Lawd knows I’m hooked!

I know my description of social media sounds fabulous and all, but there’s a downside. For me, social media is time consuming. It’s a rabbit hole. I click on a social media site with the intention of quickly skimming through posts, only to look up half an hour later and I’m still on the same site. Then I remember I have three more sites to check and they all have multiple accounts (business/professional and personal). It’s pretty overwhelming, but I’m hooked!

About a month ago, I decided to schedule my social media time (see my last blog- Late Night/Early Morning Ramblings). Scheduling the time has actually worked. During the weekdays, I’m pretty good at sticking to my schedule. However, on the weekends, I’m terrible; and this morning I finally realized that I reward myself with social media time (SMT)– not food, but Social Media Time!

So over the past month, after accomplishing major goals (homework assignments- lol- it’s serious!), I have been rewarding myself with unlimited social media time. I feel like a kid on Christmas day! Y’all, I have fallen asleep with the phone in my hand. It’s crazy! So now I’m trying to figure out how to handle this problem. I have never rewarded myself with food. So food is not an option. Since rewarding myself with SMT has gotten so out of hand, what shall I do? If you’re reading this, I really need suggestions. Help!

Shaun

So, I decided to take a nap yesterday evening and slept much longer than anticipated. Last week was pretty hectic. I’m laying here thinking about some of the decisions I made and how to, or not to, make them again.

The good decisions were made when I remained focused on achieving my goals and stayed on task. I stayed on task by limiting my social media time and following a set schedule; which is something I rarely do. Let me tell you how well I did. Y’all, I was so proud of myself! For those who don’t know me, you’ll probably think this isn’t a big deal. But for those who do, you know it’s big! So, I have “Tyler Tuesdays” scheduled from 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM on Tuesday nights so I can tweet during the Haves and Have Nots/If Loving You Is Wrong and reply to tweets afterwards. Last week I actually stuck with my schedule! Usually I’m tweeting ALL night and waking up during the night replying to tweets. Yes…it’s that serious. The point is, I was disciplined enough stay within the schedule 1.5 hour time frame. I shut it down at 9:30 PM. Not 9:31 but 9:30. I felt great! The next day I was on a roll. I was completing tasks like a robot. I was doing so well until…

The things that followed “until”… messed me up, threw me off track. Like- it wasn’t until I became frustrated with a task that I began to scroll through social media; it wasn’t until I received that phone call that got me flustered and I threw a pity party (just being real); it wasn’t until I had to run unscheduled errands that got me off track and I couldn’t recover; it wasn’t until I took a nap and slept longer than intended… There’s so much more I could add, more excuses. Yeah, that’s what they are– excuses. Everything I mentioned above I could have easily recovered from and gotten back on track; however, I chose not to. It was a choice.

Going forward, I have to become more disciplined and stay focused. It’s the only way I’ll make it through the next few years. I have to keep my eyes on the prize. What’s waiting on the other side is worth the sacrifice.

With that said, one issue I need to get under control is social media. I love scrolling through social media. It’s probably one of my favorite pass-times; however, it’s an issue. I would be lying if I said I’m giving it up because I’m not. Social media isn’t the problem. It’s the amount of time I waste on social media that’s an issue. So… I’m adding “Social Media Time” to my schedule. (Okay, this is random, but whenever I say “Social Media Time” all I can hear is Mama Tina (Beyoncé’s mom) saying “It’s Corny Joke Time!”). I had to add that tiny piece of info because I wanted y’all to hear it, too. Anyway…now social media has a time slot.

I must remember, in order to be successful, I have to stay focused. My purpose does not have room for distractions or excuses!

Goodnight/morning,

Shaun

#NoMoreDistractions
#NoMoreExcuses
#StayFocused
#UNGeneva