2ND CORNER: WOMEN

"God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at the break of day" Psalm 46:5


I have a heart for women because I am a woman. My mother lost my father to a tragic accident on an army base when she was only 31 years old. My brother and I were 5 and 3, respectively. And mom did all she could to raise us alone and we never lacked anything! She is a wonderful mom, full of wisdom and living by the Bible. A school teacher by profession, my mother is truly the wisest woman I know. I am honored to continue to learn from her to this day. My grandmother , daddy's mom, passed away from breast cancer when she was only 51 years old. I was only 3 years old when she transitioned but I  remember her as being beautiful, loving, and the sweetest person on earth. My uncles told me I look just like her and I pride myself in making it my business to be as sweet to others. But as we know, women are not only wise survivors of hardship, beautiful, loving, and sweet...women are also strong and endure many things in silence. Like my mother's mother. Grandma married Grandaddy when she was only 15 years old. She said he was simply the first person to ask and it got her away from a mean-spirited step mother. Her own mother had died when she was very young. She grew to love him but told me this one story of openly defying his wishes that she not work and stay home with their 7 children. Grandma wanted to be a cosmetologist and when Grandaddy worked at night, she snuck away to go to school. She got that beauticians license and opened her own hair salon! She raised her children, taught them what they needed to succeed, and pursued her dreams, not quietly following the norm. You see, it was important to her to live life to the fullest.


We women are the glue that holds the world together. Our strength is unmatched. Our intuition, love, comforting and nurturing ways...our eyes tell a story our mouths hold secret. We are the exception to the rule. We are second created but the second time around is always better. Don't believe me, bake a cake from scratch twice and tell me which turns out best. 


When I was in my 30s, I met a phenomenal woman by the name of Mya Angelou. The poet, civil rights activist, essayist, and memoirist was as drawn to me as I was to her. I manifested her with my heart's desire. I spoke the words, I am going to meet Dr. Maya Angelou. And so it was. She took my right arm in both her hands and pulled me close. "You are a writer dear, so write!" she told me. The she availed herself to me so that she could mentor me further, giving me resources and guidance as I went. How many insanely famous people do that for a complete stranger? These are just a few of the amazing women who inspire me to love myself, and take care of my sister. Below I share my favorite poem of Maya Angelou's and I believe it gives life to the concept of being a woman, no matter your story. Just being a woman is a BEAUTIFUL gift from GOD!  I celebrate her.


See descriptions below...

   MORE THAN BOOKS & MUSIC, IT'S LIFE THAT SINGS your song

Unto God...

Madiona Caesar, aka author, Ruth C. Durant, takes you on a spiritual journey whether it is through her music, books,  spiritual formation workshops, or the Four Corners of the Field. "And whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord, and not unto men" Colossians 3:23 

2ND CORNER: WOMEN

"God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at the break of day" Psalm 46:5

1ST CORNER:                THE ELDERLY

"Remembering to help the weak among us as in Acts 20:35. Inspired by Psalm 71:9

EXPERIENCE LOVE EXPRESSED THROUGH INSPIRATION, DEMONSTRATION, & MANIFESTATION 

1ST CORNER: THE ELDERLY

"Remembering to help the weak among us as in Acts 20:35. Inspired by Psalm 71:9


I was very close to my grandfather growing up, and even as an adult. He was so funny and interesting to me. Some of my fondest memories of him include driving over 8 hours down south to his city, pulling into the driveway and driving around to the back of the house, eager to go inside and greet my grandmother and aunt, and seeing him putting on his coat as he rushed (slowly) out the back door to get into my SUV so I could drive him to the Nursing Facility he frequently visited before the state took his driver’s license away. He didn’t even give me a chance to get out the car! I used to say, “Grandaddy, let me just run in and greet grandma and use the bathroom and then we can go.” Begrudged, he would comply. We would proceed to drive to the facility, me following the speed limit and being careful because he was in the car, and him asking me why I was driving like Morgan Freeman in that movie, “Driving Miss Daisy!” I used to chuckle under my breath because I knew he was just eager to go visit who I assumed were his friends. We would get there, and he would hop out the car before I could turn the engine off and take the key out of the ignition. I’d rush to catch up to him…mind you he was in his 80s and I was in my twenties at this point…and proceed to follow him around the facility, from room to room. I have to say, I thought my granddad had the weirdest relationship with his friends because in most of the rooms, he didn’t say anything to the person sitting in their chair or laying in the bed. He would just say hello, lay his hand on theirs, and when they looked at him, (some would speak and others wouldn’t), he would just smile at them. They would stay that way two or three minutes and then he would walk out of the room with me in tow. We went from room to room like that. I recall walking into one woman’s room and grandaddy laid his hand on hers and said hello. She looked up at him, startled, she sat up in bed and angrily said, “I don’t know you! Do I know you?!” Grandaddy smiled at her and didn’t flinch. I thought to myself, “Oh God he doesn’t even know these people! We’re gonna be arrested!” The woman must have seen the love in grandaddy’s eyes because she laid back down and a strange calm came over her. Grandaddy was just smiling at her for about three minutes and then we walked out of her room. I was thinking, what in the world just happened? I had no idea until about ten years after grandaddy passed away and mommy and I were discussing it that I realized he was praying for everyone. We were literally going room to room to pray for each person there. I never discovered if he knew those people or not, but I imagine to him it didn’t matter, they needed prayer and that was what he rushed there, obedient to God’s spirit living in him, to give them. And I was in training.

Grandaddy didn’t have a lot of money. He had a second-grade education and had grown up a sharecropper. He learned to read by reading the Bible. He learned construction and built several houses, including his own, and became the landlord. He was that landlord who, if a tenant told him they didn’t have the rent money, grandaddy—to the dismay of many family members—would say, “don’t worry about it. Just give it to me when you can.” When he was 81 years old, he went back to school and got his GED. I have never been prouder or more inspired by a senior citizen in my life. Grandaddy had a pacemaker since he was about 50 and passed away at age 91, peacefully in his sleep due to heart failure. It is because of him that I have such great love in my heart for the elderly among us and make it my business to pick up where grandaddy left off; making sure they’re good and lifting them up before God. 

4TH CORNER: COMMUNITY

BUD & HIS LADY PROGRAM: 

Committed in excellence to be a resource in the community to people of all ages, through workshops, by donations,  or other community support initiatives; working in conjunction with other non profit organizations to help as many people as we can by advocacy, counseling, and referral services.


First, I'd like to say stay tuned for the book that is soon coming with the same title, Bud and His Lady. Bud was my granddaddy's nickname, and Lady was grandma's. You ever go through your entire life thinking you know somebody, only to discover, perhaps at their memorial service when others stand up to speak about them that you never really knew them at all? Or, at least, you didn't know all the things you thought you knew.  Then you discover from the tales that these were extraordinary people who fought off the Ku Klux Klan, who took in relatives and neighbors when they had nowhere else to go, who didn't just loan a cup of sugar but gave away vegetables from their own garden and cooked full meals for families who were without. You learn that these were people who stood up for themselves and others in spite of threats, who had one another's backs, who paid the price for others, paid the rent for others, prayed for others, and truly understood the word community in the Galatians 6:2 and  Leviticus 19 sense of the word. You listen intently with attentive ears as story after story about these amazing people who were not famous, not renown, not illustrious or notorious but normal, everyday people who just wanted to live life, love and be loved, are told and you cannot help but feel a sense of dignity, strength, and nobility rise in your chest. You think, these are my ancestors. This is who I come from. I want to be just like them. And now you know the reason for the 4th corner: Bud & His Lady.


Veterans are of special importance to our Founder, Madiona Caesar-Durant. Very important men in her life served in various military branches and positions. Her father was a skilled weapon's specialist in the Army who was killed in an accident on base. Therefore, she understands what life is like for the family left behind. Her mother's longtime companion years later, was a decorated Sergeant who was wounded in battle in the Vietnam war and went on to act on behalf of veterans in the DAV (Disabled American Veterans). Therefore, she came to realize the importance of advocacy and compassion for those who literally fight for our rights as a country.  Of her two favorite uncles, one, who her father's brother also served in the Army; and the other was a decorated Captain in the Air Force suffered PTSD following retirement. Therefore, she understands the battles the soldiers often carry with them when they leave the field. Lastly in college, she had a classmate whose only way to attend college was to enroll in the reserves. He was ordered to go fight in Desert Storm in the middle of the school year. He returned from the war a year later suffering from severe PTSD. She and fellow classmates intervened on his behalf to their professors and held study groups late at night to help him as much as they could with schoolwork. Sadly, he ended his life a few months later. Therefore, she understands the amount of effort and the necessity of teamwork it takes to help someone who really needs the assist. These men taught her discipline, honor, respect, assertiveness, kindness, and most of all, integrity. She hopes to pay it forward and help others like them retain their dignity and celebrates the lives of these men while doing so.  


We are already in partnership with a number of amazing organizations, Christian counselors, churches, and professionals and hope to increase our reach in the community as we grow. 



“The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.” -Abraham Lincoln on soldiers


“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” -Martin Luther King, Jr. on building the community



3RD CORNER: EDUCATION 

THE A. RUTH CAESAR EDUCATION AWARD:  Educational Scholarships of various amounts to students who exhibit potential through diversity and hardship, and meet specific qualifications. 

"Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser: teach the righteous, and they will learn even more." Proverbs 9:9   


I remember when boys first started calling our house and asking for me over the telephone. This was way before cell phone or mobile devices of any kind were invented so yeah, people actually had and used house phones. My mother, being a teacher, always made us speak proper English and was determined to make sure my friends did as well.  I remember this one boy I really liked finally called me and mommy snatched up the telephone before I could. "Hello?" she said sweetly, while staring at me as if to say I'm screening this call. There was silence. Then she made a face and said with pure teacher annoyance in her voice, "I don't know...can you? Are you physically able?" Oh my God, I thought. Then she said to the caller, "The proper phrase is may  I. You meant to say may I speak with Madiona, please?" I nearly died. I guess he said it because it wasn't until a look of satisfaction came over her face was I handed the telephone.  Mommy made many corrections to us and our friends about multiple, innumerable things. In 9th grade, I was making straight A's in English class so mommy approved, without my permission, that I transfer into AP English my Sophomore year. My straight A's became straight C's and most of my papers were returned to me "bloody," as I like to call it, because there were so many red marks on them they looked like the teacher had cut them until they bled. Suffice it to say I was livid with mommy and the teacher and begged to be transferred back to my regular English class where I felt comfortable. "Step out of your comfort zone so you can learn something new and grow," Mommy told me as she refused my request. The teacher, Mr. Cundiff, with whom I am honored to be friends with today, agreed with her. Yet he never stopped making my papers bleed. I did eventually get a few B's in his class, though. Mommy retired as a teacher after thirty plus years of teaching. She took about two years off and went right back into substitute teaching. I remember her stories about children asking for hugs. I'd say, "No mommy, don't hug those children. One, they have germs and two, in this day and age you'll end up on the news for some weirdness." She would say, "Madiona, I figure if the child had to ask for a hug they aren't getting any at home and making sure they feel loved is just as important to their education as reading. Reading is important so you won't end up being ignorant...so you can separate the good from the bad stuff without someone pulling the wool over your eyes." That's my mom, the holistic teacher. If a child was too hyper, she didn't let them have sugar. She didn't recommend medication, she recommended a proper diet and discipline. If a child was bashful, she encouraged them and taught everyone in the class to encourage them too. She didn't tolerate picking on students for making mistakes. And boy oh boy did she encourage reading! (I even read to her class a few times). If a child needed a little extra help, she spent a little extra time. She understood how important holistic education was before it was a thing. The most interesting element to all of this is that mommy's first degree was in biology. She wanted to be a lab technician, not an educator. But circumstance found her teaching and she fell in love with it. These are just a few reasons this award is named after her.


The A. Ruth Caesar Education Award is designed to be a an education scholarship for single mothers, single fathers, and/or children from a single parent home. Due to the unfortunate and untimely death of my father , my mom was left at the tender age of 31 to raise two children, ages 3 and 5, by herself. She knows all too well the hardship and the heart desire to see your children be successful. The sacrifices you must make to get them what they need and the obstacles you face in trying to provide for them alone. It is our hope to have an unlimited supply of financial aid to help parents and children with the cost of education, but until we are there, we will do what we can to assist you on your journey, to help pay for education expenses without expectation of repayment. When this fund is up and running, you will check your qualifications here on our website and then complete an application. Be sure to submit before any deadlines!


“We must reject not only the stereotypes that others hold of us, but also the stereotypes that we hold of ourselves.”
― Shirley Chisholm

THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE FIELD

BOOKS   COMMUNITY       MINISTRY       EXPRESSION 

4TH CORNER: COMMUNITY

BUD & HIS LADY PROGRAM: 

Committed in excellence to be a resource in the community, whether at shelters, through workshops, by donations,  or other community support initiatives affecting families, individuals, immigrants, and veterans.

3RD CORNER: EDUCATION 

THE ANNIE RUTH CAESAR AWARD:  Educational Scholarships of various amounts to students who exhibit potential through diversity and hardship, and meet specific qualifications.

"There can be no greater gift than that of giving one’s time and energy to help others without expecting anything in return." ― Nelson Mandela

Sometimes all it takes is a word, a hug, a donation of time, money, or supplies for others to know that God sees them. Some days, all we have is the love we can share with someone else.