Practice What You Preach

I love listening to Barry White sing his songs. He’s on the ancesteral plane now, but he’s left some memories that will last always. For those of you who were of age in the 1970’s, you already know that if you were with a loved one, and wanted to set a romantic mood, all you had to do was turn down the light and put on some Barry White. Now whether he purposed it or not however, Barry also featured some spiritual analogies in his love songs, and the one I want to focus on iright now is ‘Practice What You Preach’.  Y’all bear with me as I give you a sample of the lyrics. 

‘You keep telling me this and telling me that. You say once I’m with you I’ll never go back. You say there’s a lesson that you want to teach, well here I am baby, practice what you preach’.

Now preaching is usually viewed as a verbal rendition of the subject being discussed. Ministers, orators, and anybody who has something to say, that takes more than two or three minutes to say it, is considered by some to be preaching. As for me, how you carry yourself is also a form of preaching. If you look like you’re doing okay, then that’s what you’re preaching about. On the other hand, If you’re not doing okay, and you’re acting like you are, then you’re not practicing what you preach.

How do we better enable ourselves to practice what we preach? Well, the one thing we can do first is to establish and maintain a spritual connection. There’s an adage taken from the Big Book Of Alcoholics Anonymous, that I employ, which may be of benefit to you as well. It goes like this. ’What we really have is a daily reprieve, contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition’. 

Upon arising in the morning, or anytime we’re experiencing a  degree of discomfort, be it physical, mental, or emotional, we can first acknowledge that it’s time for us to adjust our attitude and/or our subsequent behavior. We can then make a concerted effort, be it through prayer, meditation, music or whatever, to connect to that spiritual foundation which brings us to the place we’d like to be.

If somebody or some thing affects us in a negative way, at anytime during the day, we can take our mind off that person or thing, and remind ourselves that we can do nothing about them or it until we feel better about ourselves. We can then ask ourselves what we need to think and/or do differently that will take us out of the funk we’re in. We might not find immediate comfort, but by making a conscious effort to change our behavioral thoughts, and by acting like we already are where we want to be, we can rest assured that we’re on the path to being of one accord with another. We can then acknowledge that we’re okay, and fully capable of practicing what we preach.

The Maestro, Barry White, inadvertently perhaps, has implored us all to practice what we preach. Amicably co- existing with others, is our reason for being here, and whatever positiveness we can share, is our means for doing so. By altering our own behavior as need be, we no longer have to act like things are alright because they really are. Preaching is no longer our only objective, because practice is also an integral part of who we are and what we do.  

Thanks Maestro for giving us a part of you, and for showing us, what we can do.

I’ll holla…

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