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‘Essence’ became a sense as in common sense.

Then sense  became cents… as in dollars & cents.

Then cent became scent as in a distinctive smell.

I began to wonder what common sense would God speak to us when it came to our idea of the price or cost of love?

What scent are we giving off?

What love aroma is lingering behind us when we walk?

Ephesians 5:2 says walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

After reading this verse I imagined God saying,

“Y’all out here becoming successful entrepreneurs in the selfish love business.

Selling and marketing love genuinely but reaping the benefits and profiting from it selfishly.

Selling and marketing love genuinely but reaping the benefits and profiting from it selfishly.

Y’all out here taking selfies with each other, calling her your sister, hashtagging I love her then turn around and subliminally dissing her mother.”

I imagined God saying,

“What about beautifully coming together in unity? Real love is about the response when your personal limelight is being threatened.”

I imagined God saying,

“Some of y’all may be uncomfortable with the Soul Survivor Writer’s message today but her life’s purpose consists of delivering to congregations in the realest of the real way for the sake of re-writing and re-righting LOVE history and claiming victory over the true essence of love through unity.”

So after all this came to me I knew I needed to deliver a poem I had written, One Vision. Not only speak it but teach it. I needed to make sure each line was beyond just heard. 

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One Vision

The world. Full of US but can we share one vision?

Can we keep faith at the center, communicate better, and stop ego trippin’?

Diverse eyes watching diverse lives pass away because we’re afraid to come together on one mission.

We’d rather hold a grudge, be jealous, gossip and judge.

Meanwhile Friends, strangers, and loved ones hungry for an ear to take heed and listen.

God confirmed my intuition through a young boy on YouTube, pleading to his mother, “Listen, Linda, Listen!”

We out here trying to put pieces together in search of the main ones missing.

Walking by beggars with no eye contact, hatin’ and dissin’.

It’s not rocket science, or some complicated arithmetic.

First ask oneself the reason for the trials and tribulations.

Next hold close to the details of all conversations;

Then study the moves of the “holy” and “sanctified” population.

Do their moves consists of participation and dedication to those coping with personal starvation hateration, low self-esteem frustration – or like me, child molestation?

We must pay attention to details. Body language, messages, and voice tones whether it be over the phone or sitting in front of someone at home.

We must learn to be observant and ten steps ahead conversant.

Our people are hurting. They are scared. The pressure is heavy!

This life ain’t easy!

So with no hesitation we must choose to make a reservation, and encourage each other to discover that self-innovation.

For we never know the condition of one’s link to self-ammunition;

For we never know the condition of one’s link to self-ammunition;

Or over-stand the intrusion of the delusions that lead to so much confusion.

People are hurting. They are scared. The pressure is heavy! This life ain’t easy!

We are ALL searching for perfection through constant correction, in hopes we’re headed in the right direction.

The world. Full of US but can we share one vision?

Can we keep faith at the center, communicate better, and stop ego trippin’?

I imagine God saying, “The TRUE aroma of a scent of love is knowing the sense in my agape love.”

The post Essence of Love , A Sense of Love through One Vision appeared first on Linda Orji Creative Universe.

At this time, make sure your posture and heads are in full upright position, and that your seat belt is correctly fastened. Please set your portable electronic devices to ‘airplane’ mode until a purpose-filled announcement is made. Now, I would like to direct your attention to the reading below and introduce you to how I became a part of the Empowerment Palace’s 2018 Women’s Summit.

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As I mentioned in  Apostrophe, A post trophy, I’m in this phase of overcoming my fears and allowing only my creative purpose to lead me. After speaking at Apostrophe Lounge, I was on an incredible spiritual high that drove me to want to share my art with more people, more women. So I searched Google for ‘women spoken word Charlotte area.’ As I was scrolling down the list of events on Eventbrite.com, five words on a flyer pulled me in like bait, THE UNCOMMON WOMEN’S TAKING FLIGHT.

The fact that those words described my current state of being was not just a coincidence, so once again before fear took over the moment, I reached out and inquired about the event. I know right—me and my hellos (shout out to Adele).  The message read:

Hello, I am reaching out to inquire about sharing my art at this empowering event. I am a spoken word artist, blogger and inspiring author simply desiring to share my message. Feel free to visit my blog www.lindaorji.com Thank You

A few days later, completely forgetting I had sent the message—because like I told you guys, when I do these things I’m in a trance; after it’s done, I really do not remember it—I received a reply.

Good evening, Linda Orji. Thank you for being interested, and I will look at your website that is very pretty on my day off tomorrow.  I love spoken word and I would like to chat with you more. Looking forward to speaking with you before this week is out. Thank you, Linda.

It was signed Pastor Erica Malachi. I looked at the flyer again, this time more closely. I found it interesting that the flyer states, Founder Erica Malachi, not Pastor. That hinted to me that the title pastor did not define that woman. Now, if y’all know me y’all know my thoughts began to march around in my head like an HBCU crankfest marching band, and all the things I didn’t initially pay attention to started smacking me in the face.

Is Cara Jakes Coleman related to T.D Jakes? Let me Google her… Yes, she is! OMG, what did I get myself into? And I can’t believe I reached out to a Pastor! I hope she doesn’t judge my website. I have some curse words in some of my poems and posts. Am I “Christian” enough to speak with her? My art doesn’t have the word God written all in it, but it does have God written all over it. Will she be able to see that? I hope she doesn’t ask me if I have a home church because right now I enjoy my alone time with God and my art and am not looking to be a member of anyone’s church but my own. 

Talking about how society impacts our thought process, right? For a while I had stopped attending church on Sundays just because I needed to spend more alone time simply meditating. Church distracted me sometimes. When I tried to explain it to devout Sunday morning church goers, they didn’t really comprehend, with which I was completely okay. I can’t be sure if there’s anyone out there who feels the same way, but if there is—you aren’t alone. I strongly believe that if God is in you, church is where you are.

A few days later, I was laying down, thinking about my own things, and—ring, ring!—an unrecognized number flashed on my phone. I let the person leave a voicemail, and lo and behold—it was her! Oh no! I wasn’t ready (in my Kevin Hart voice). I said to myself, “I need to sit up, and get my pen and paper ready, and put my “professional” voice on for this call. I’ll have to call her back.”

When she picked up she greeted me with, “Girl, what is up!” I was so confused—that’s not the way I was expecting a pastor to talk to me! The conversation was quite natural, and my “professional” voice faded about two minutes into it. We talked about my background, and I even broke it down to her about why church was at times a distraction for me—and she completely understood!

Erica even said that sometimes she would do the exact same thing as me: spend time alone, outside of the church. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. To hear her confirm this for me was a total weight off my shoulder. She went on to explain her vision and mission for Empowerment Palace. As we continued to converse I became more and more relaxed.

The topic of spoken word eventually came back around, and she informed me she has already gotten everyone she needed for the event in January, but she will be happy to make space for me to speak. How did someone who’s never met me or heard me speak have so much faith and trust in me?

She also said she wanted to offer me an all expenses paid opportunity to attend a four day three night annual Ladies retreat to Myrtle Beach. It was an amazing trip. To be around such a strong group of women was beyond inspiring. The bond and sisterhood we created spiritually is truly unbreakable.

Initially when my Uncommon Woman Taking Flight journey began, my inner voice said, “What!? God? Hello… (Adele melody playing in the background) Can you hear me? Is this something I am supposed to be doing right now? Already?”

A response came right away, “Hello, can you hear me? You were created to be all that you can be, my light will shine through you. You have endured so much pain in your past because I was equipping you for elevation and high altitude.”

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Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your purpose-filled announcement. Captain God-In-You has turned off the Fasten Seat Belt sign, and you may now move around the cabin. However, we always recommend to keep your seat belt fastened until you reach YOUR DESTINY.

The post The Uncommon Woman Taking Flight: Departure appeared first on Linda Orji Creative Universe.

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A friend said to me, “Now your world is free from Bitchassness”.

This made me wonder, what the world would be like without Bitchassness. I’ve heard the term before on the MTV show Making the Band, however before diving  into it on a deeper level, I had to make sure my knowledge of the origins of the term ‘Bitchassness’ was accurate.  According to Urban Dictionary. The term was originated by recording artist Diddy aka Sean John Combs aka Puff Daddy aka P.Diddy.

Symptoms include: thinking you’re better than those around you, not speaking your true feelings, throwing large amounts of shade.

Check out Diddy’s Bitchassness Alert Level Orange Video. It’s hysterical but so REAL at the same time! Looks blurry but it’s really not. Goes to show how long ago this video was made, that’s for sure.

So bottom line, what it all boils down to is fear. Fear is the main virus out here killing us. It’s a virus that kills dreams and stops us from becoming GREAT.

The government is run on bitchassness

Proper laws are not enforced  because of bitchassness

Homeless people are on the street because of bitchassness

Babies are parentless because of bitchassness

Black men in America are dying because of bitchassness

Terrorists are attacking because of bitchassness

Roads in my dad’s Nigerian Arondizuogu village are not maintained because of bitchassness

AIDS in Africa is thriving because of bitchassness

Children are committing suicide because of bitchassness

Then my mind took me off on a tangent. I wondered if there was no bitchassness what would replace it. Faith?

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, faith is defined as:

• :strong belief or trust in someone or something

• : belief in the existence of God : strong religious feelings or beliefs

• : a system of religious belief

To me the words that pop out are trust, belief, strong, and God

Imagine a world completely full of faith through our own Godliness and no fear. What then would motivate one to be great?

To want to change something or have an impact

To want to push harder  because society’s bitchassness said you couldn’t

To want to unite people as one and protest

To create art that makes people think outside the box

To experience a bitchassness moment,

write a piece inspired by that moment,

and inspire someone else.

To have faith in self and want to be great through that piece.

Like my works of art, everything comes full circle. Without fear there would be no faith. Without bitchassness there would be no greatness. The reality is faith (trust, belief, strength, God) removes the fear and allows us to be great. If you haven’t gained anything from this post at least take the title with you. Oh! And that damn rabbit too.

FEAR is to BITCHASSNESS as FAITH is to GREATNESS

The post Fear:Bitchassness::Faith:Greatness appeared first on Linda Orji Creative Universe.