Just when Hardliner figures that she’s swimming
In some good clear water
Here comes God to muddy the situation again
Her rational mind tells her that God does not
Purposefully do things to derail her
But dang – the Alpha and Omega
The Great I Am – her Daddy
Likes to keep her on her toes all the time
When she figures that she finally gats all
The players in the game pegged
She knows the situation
She is rolling with the situation
God brings in a new situation to jack up
The good and sure flow she is rolling with
As if to say – can you handle that now?
Which leads Hardliner to believe
That she aint figured out shit!

Get to the point chile – why are you whining about
A change in the flow around you
Instead of whining – look on this as a learning curve
Almah as fiery as ever brushes Hardliner up

Oh Lawd – Hardliner shakes her head in resignation
She was so caught up in her woe is me
That she forgot about her little situation with
The newest guides – the earth mothers
Who have been far from gentle on a sista
With their fierce scrub down and arctic rinse
There are no words that Hardliner can come up with
To do that experience justice
But she aint gon complain
After all she has been told that she is a whiner
Coming to think of it – this has been a constant critique
From all her guides – ahhhhhhhhh her Irates – bless them
Hardliner can’t wait to catch up with them
To speak her mind – which gon be a challenge
On the account that she has given up
Her wonderfully off-coloured vocabulary

Baby girl don’t you ever stop?
Ms. Renah asks – her eyes holding that gentle mirth
Hardliner has come to know her by
But at the same time – Ms. Rennah can also drop a
Vicious left hook of a one-liner on a girl
Scrawny little thing coming to mind

Hardliner is nonplussed
Maybe she needs to get her hands on a copy of
Old school Wisdom 101…

Shame the devil
You need to rebuke that tongue of yours
Ms. Rennah snaps – her eyes losing their gentle mirth
Have you ever stopped to enjoy the beauty of life
Given to you by God?
Have you ever stepped out of your situation to consider
That the world does not revolve around you?
That the word does not revolve around your circumstance?
Baby girl there is more to life than the upheaval in your life
Caused by Oya’s transforming winds

There is so much in her life to keep a check on
So no – she has not thought anything
But trying to get her shit together
She closes her eyes for a moment
Coming to terms with the fact that not even shit
Sounds sacred anymore – yeh she made a vow
To drop the profanity – but dang –
Can’t she even hold on to shit?

Another one bites the dust – Almah retorts
Chile you know what your problem is?
You think in absolutes

Hardliner catches her breath
Ohhhhhh – heyul to da no!

Oh yes – yes and yes!
You move like a Sith –
Darth Vader is closer to you than your Jedi shadow

Oh Ms. Almah – you are a beast
How could you do sista gurl like that?

Well – I need to break it down to a level
That you can understand baby
It aint about the choice of parable
But the crux of the message

Hardliner would like to resist against Ms. Almah’s flow
Just for resistance sake
But she has come too far to succumb
To that Misdemeanour diva behaviour
Dang – could Almah be right?
The space of time between her inner probing and the answer
Is only but a mili-ass second

Hardliner pauses her flow to affirm that
She aint giving up ass – no way in heyul!

O.K.– back to the flow
She will be grown and admit that she can move like a Sith
Because with her – it is either one way or another
There aint no kaleidoscope of colour in between the two
Change in the patterns and colour in her flow spook her
It compels her to acknowledge that there is always an alternative
It demands of her to consider compromise
It dictates a shifting in her perception of situations
Change demands too dayum much
But for all her whining – Hardliner knows that without change
There is no growth
Sure nuff – it has thrown so many curve balls at her
Sista can’t count the number of monkey wrenches
That have jacked up well laid plans and dreams

Which leaves you to your only course of action
Being – to pout and whine about the unfairness of life

Hardliner has come to an absolute in this here lesson
She aint fond of Ms. Almah
With her no prisoners attitude and blunt real talk

Little girl I am not here for you to like me
Ms. Almah stares her down and Hardliner figures
That this here earth mother would even intimidate Madea
I am here to help your young Queen mature
Her green throne to gold
Now we are going to come to an agreement
You are going to take this experience like the Queen you are
For starters – shut up!
You are too focused on reacting – this is the doing experience
Not doing things your way – in the way you envisioned
But doing it the way God tells you to
How deep are your roots Hardliner?
You talk and talk and talk
You dream and dream and dream
You crow and crow and crow about how bad you are
But how deep do your roots go?
When Oya’s winds come for you –
How do your roots serve you?
Are you too focused on the upheaval in your life
Or do you ride that crazy wind?
If your queen is to thrive – not merely survive
She has to be rooted in good earth
Dug in so deep – that no wind can uproot her

Hardliner realises that all her self-enlightenment victories
Mean nothing if she is not rooted
Her vision means nothing is she is not rooted
Her goals mean nothing is she is not rooted

And child – what keeps you from laying down good root?
Ms. Nanna finally steps forward
The quiet one – the watchful one
The Earth mother who moves with grace
And Hardliner wonders if she could ever be this graceful under fire

Hardliner takes a moment to get centred
Well for one – she has a discipline problem
And her commitment – well she never considered
What is it that she is committed to
Yeh she is committed to becoming a better individual
To evolve into that budda seer type person
To embrace who she really is – this is the overall goal
But as to the how of the goal and work she has
To put it to get to that place of beauty
Sista gurl aint figured things out that far
Which is really dayum frustrating – on the account that
She is only just realising this
And then there is her love affair with absolutes
Like for instance – envisioning coming into a blessing in a certain way
And not even considering the scale of inner preparation
That she must undertake to get it
Or that God normally has a different route to her blessing from
The one she has envisioned
And when HE stairs sista on the path ordained by him
To achieve her blessing – it incites the Sith in her to rebel

The sudden change in the flow of a situation
Is really a divine challenge
You are being called higher accept the challenge
Nanna’s voice is soft but her words resonate within her
This is how you get rooted baby
By facing dem wild change winds – believing that you gon come out
Of the experience stronger and wiser

Why does it seem that every victory necessitates
A baptism by fire
She always gats to go through something to get
To a place of celebration

Cause pain baby is the greatest teacher
Nanna answers

Hardliner falls to her knees in surrender
Forgive me Lord
Teach me to shut off my whinging when you test me
Cause I know that the changes in patters and colours
In my flow only serve to root me

So then little girl
When Oya starts raising tornadoes with her feet
When things look like they are not going work out for you
What are you going to do?
Almah takes charge now – there is a sparkle in her eyes

Shut up – surrender the experience to God
Hold on to the belief that he knows what he is doing
And stand firm in the face of adversity
Oya is a trip – but her change winds cannot uproot me

We are going to hold you to that
Ms. Almah states

I’ll hold myself to that

Dang!
Could it be approval she sees in Almah’s eyes?
Mischief bubbles inside and Hardliner feels like stirring the pot

I would not push it baby
Ms. Renah cautions – reading her mind
There aint no amount of deep roots
That can survive that kind of fire
Throw away the pot

Ms Almah sizes Hardliner up
Wisdom swirling in her eyes
Hardliner feels the strong pull of her third eye
Under the steely stare of the fiery Earth Mother
Either you are a fool or you are made of something
Almah finally states after a lengthy stare down

Time will tell – Hardliner answers with spunk

A knowing flickers in the depths Almah’s eyes
Then she shakes her head and laughs – a belly roar
And a rare thing for this Grande Dame who has seen much
This chile has promise
She is hella crazy
But she has promise