This world is crazy. A tilt-a-whirl in a county fair, spinning so fast it feels like you're about to fly off. We live on a planet full of horror stories, ladybugs, storm clouds, tears, and flowers. A planet where children die, tornadoes devastate, and people we love break our trust. But a planet where sunlight makes rainbows with clouds, people are wiling to try again, and oak trees grow from air and water and sunlight. This is a planet of miracles. It's a planet of living, moving, breathing art painted by a Master Artist. Of ladybugs and sunshine and rain showers and love.
One kid sits on the tilt-a-whirl, clinging to his seat, his eyes are wide and his knuckles are white. And all he can hear is a voice yelling, "What if you spin off?"
Another kid sits across from him, her eyes are closed and she's laughing. She feels the wind in her face and the way her stomach is doing flips and she's loving it.
One kid can't stop looking at the storm clouds, the tornadoes, the earthquakes. He can't even begin to think about the sunshine and the wind tickling his face, because he can't let go of his fear.
We sit here, on this tilt-a-whirl of a planet and we imagine everything that could go wrong. We step outside our door and read hate in everyone's eyes and catastrophe around every bend.
Wake up. Open your eyes before you die. See the ladybugs, feel the breeze on your face, recognize the incredible miracles that are happening all around you. Read the love in people's eyes. Have faith in humanity. Sing. Ride this tilt-a-whirl like you're an eight year-old. And laugh. Laugh until you see the sun behind the cloud. Laugh until life is something to smile about. Laugh until you can't help but love people. Until riding this tilt-a-whirl is your favorite thing to do.
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Saturday, October 11, 2014
People
It hit me like a tsunami at one hundred miles per hour. A thought that gripped me, raking my heart with fear.
Fear and dread and guilt. Fear of the future. Dread of what I might not be able to do. Guilt of all I haven't done.
One of my really good friends was in the hospital recovering from a brain tumor. Another of my friends, a man I respected and looked up to, suddenly died at a young age.
And that's when it hit me.
It made me cry, because I knew I was guilty of taking Life and people for granted, for mindlessly breezing through the days, without even taking time to stop, enjoy the little things and realize how much I needed the people around me.
The thought that hit me so hard, grinding a hole in my heart was a thought that was familiar. It was a thought which all of us have heard a thousand times, one that we have been taught to keep in mind. But as it hit me that day, I knew I had never quite understood it.
That thought was this: Life is short.
A simple sentence. A sentence that makes you say, duh, Melissa, I know that.
I thought I did too. But when a sixteen-year-old's life suddenly comes to a screeching halt and he lies in a hospital bed with a brain tumor; when a father leaves so many behind, longing to be with him one more time; when a twenty-nine year old decides to end her life instead of living the last stretch of it because she has stage four glioblastoma multiforme; it hits you so hard it takes your breath away.
And suddenly, in one moment, you understand. Suddenly that three-word phrase makes an incredible amount of sense.
When it hit me like that, all I wanted to do was tell everyone how much I love and appreciate them. I was struck with fear and guilt, because I suddenly saw in myself the tendency to take people for granted. I knew I loved them, but did they know I loved them.
It took the feeling of people I loved slipping away to make me see how much I took them for granted.
I want to change. I don't want to wake up and find someone gone, leaving me to wish I had told them I loved them. I know it won't be easy and a change like this doesn't happen overnight. But every day I can choose to not take people for granted.
We don't know the hour or the day. Death can be a sudden occurrence, leaving us shell-shocked and dizzy. Every moment of Life is a gift that can be taken away. So in the moment it slips through our hands, I don't know about you, but I want to be ready.
That's why I choose to see Life as a gift from the greatest Artist of all. That's why I choose to slow down and live. That's why I choose People.
Fear and dread and guilt. Fear of the future. Dread of what I might not be able to do. Guilt of all I haven't done.
One of my really good friends was in the hospital recovering from a brain tumor. Another of my friends, a man I respected and looked up to, suddenly died at a young age.
And that's when it hit me.
It made me cry, because I knew I was guilty of taking Life and people for granted, for mindlessly breezing through the days, without even taking time to stop, enjoy the little things and realize how much I needed the people around me.
The thought that hit me so hard, grinding a hole in my heart was a thought that was familiar. It was a thought which all of us have heard a thousand times, one that we have been taught to keep in mind. But as it hit me that day, I knew I had never quite understood it.
That thought was this: Life is short.
A simple sentence. A sentence that makes you say, duh, Melissa, I know that.
I thought I did too. But when a sixteen-year-old's life suddenly comes to a screeching halt and he lies in a hospital bed with a brain tumor; when a father leaves so many behind, longing to be with him one more time; when a twenty-nine year old decides to end her life instead of living the last stretch of it because she has stage four glioblastoma multiforme; it hits you so hard it takes your breath away.
And suddenly, in one moment, you understand. Suddenly that three-word phrase makes an incredible amount of sense.
When it hit me like that, all I wanted to do was tell everyone how much I love and appreciate them. I was struck with fear and guilt, because I suddenly saw in myself the tendency to take people for granted. I knew I loved them, but did they know I loved them.
It took the feeling of people I loved slipping away to make me see how much I took them for granted.
I want to change. I don't want to wake up and find someone gone, leaving me to wish I had told them I loved them. I know it won't be easy and a change like this doesn't happen overnight. But every day I can choose to not take people for granted.
We don't know the hour or the day. Death can be a sudden occurrence, leaving us shell-shocked and dizzy. Every moment of Life is a gift that can be taken away. So in the moment it slips through our hands, I don't know about you, but I want to be ready.
That's why I choose to see Life as a gift from the greatest Artist of all. That's why I choose to slow down and live. That's why I choose People.
Friday, September 19, 2014
Somedays
We all dream about Somedays.
Someday we will go to college. Someday we will get married and have a family. Someday we will become famous. Someday we will change a life. Someday we will make a difference. Someday.
Stop.
Big red octagon standing in front of you, daring you to move.
These dreams, these Somedays; they can be now. Obviously now may not be the time to get married and have a family. But today can be the day that you make a difference. The day that you change a life. The day that you change the world.
We are constantly looking for opportunities to raise us to a higher level and boost us to greater fame; looking for that good deed that will help us change the world. We look for something big. Writing on the wall, a booming voice in the sky telling us how we can save the planet.
Stop.
Another red octagon.
Look around you. Look at all the people you know. Look at all the people you come in contact with every day. These people make up your world. You help make up their world. These worlds. These are the worlds that you are to change. Not the whole green planet. Not the universe. This world that consists of a few hundred people.
Every time you dream about those Somedays, you are forgetting about your potential right where you are.
You are choosing to bypass your moment of truth looking for something....something...you don't even know what, but you think it will be recognizable when it comes along. But it is. And you are missing it.
Look around you again. Look at all the people you know. How many times do you ask yourself what you can add to their life instead of what they can give into yours? Each of these people has a journey and you, yes you have the chance to speak into their life.
And you say it's not big enough.
How many times did something someone say make your day. It's happened to all of us.
So be that person. That one friend who encourages, who tells people why they appreciate them.
And you will change your world. You will change their worlds. And they will be inspired to change others' worlds.
And then. Then you have changed the world.
Someday we will go to college. Someday we will get married and have a family. Someday we will become famous. Someday we will change a life. Someday we will make a difference. Someday.
Stop.
Big red octagon standing in front of you, daring you to move.
These dreams, these Somedays; they can be now. Obviously now may not be the time to get married and have a family. But today can be the day that you make a difference. The day that you change a life. The day that you change the world.
We are constantly looking for opportunities to raise us to a higher level and boost us to greater fame; looking for that good deed that will help us change the world. We look for something big. Writing on the wall, a booming voice in the sky telling us how we can save the planet.
Stop.
Another red octagon.
Look around you. Look at all the people you know. Look at all the people you come in contact with every day. These people make up your world. You help make up their world. These worlds. These are the worlds that you are to change. Not the whole green planet. Not the universe. This world that consists of a few hundred people.
Every time you dream about those Somedays, you are forgetting about your potential right where you are.
You are choosing to bypass your moment of truth looking for something....something...you don't even know what, but you think it will be recognizable when it comes along. But it is. And you are missing it.
Look around you again. Look at all the people you know. How many times do you ask yourself what you can add to their life instead of what they can give into yours? Each of these people has a journey and you, yes you have the chance to speak into their life.
And you say it's not big enough.
How many times did something someone say make your day. It's happened to all of us.
So be that person. That one friend who encourages, who tells people why they appreciate them.
And you will change your world. You will change their worlds. And they will be inspired to change others' worlds.
And then. Then you have changed the world.
Friday, September 12, 2014
What is Life About?
Life is not about the incredible things we do, how many celebrities we meet or how many people know us.
Life is about living for the small things. It's about playing hard and loving deep. It's about making friendships that will last and holding every golden moment locked in memory's vaults.
Life isn't about how many people we have met, how many places we've been or what we know.
Life is about seeing beauty.
It's about seeing the Artist behind the creation. It's about taking time to see the details and realizing the effort He put into them.
Life isn't about possessions, how many followers we have or how many causes we support.
Life is about telling people we love them and reminding them how much they mean to us. It's about loving each individual and treasuring friendship. It's about giving grace. It's about loving without boundaries. It's about never taking the gift of life for granted.
Life is about living every moment until it slips through our fingers to be scattered in the wind.
Because once it's gone, life was a dance, seemingly infinite until the curtain falls. We feel immortal until we remember that life isn't forever.
Life is a blink. A slip of sunshine between the leaves. An ever changing cloud dancing before the wind.
And the only way to be totally grateful for life is to live deep and love without boundaries.
Because if we can't do that, what is Life about?
Life is about living for the small things. It's about playing hard and loving deep. It's about making friendships that will last and holding every golden moment locked in memory's vaults.
Life isn't about how many people we have met, how many places we've been or what we know.
Life is about seeing beauty.
It's about seeing the Artist behind the creation. It's about taking time to see the details and realizing the effort He put into them.
Life isn't about possessions, how many followers we have or how many causes we support.
Life is about telling people we love them and reminding them how much they mean to us. It's about loving each individual and treasuring friendship. It's about giving grace. It's about loving without boundaries. It's about never taking the gift of life for granted.
Life is about living every moment until it slips through our fingers to be scattered in the wind.
Because once it's gone, life was a dance, seemingly infinite until the curtain falls. We feel immortal until we remember that life isn't forever.
Life is a blink. A slip of sunshine between the leaves. An ever changing cloud dancing before the wind.
And the only way to be totally grateful for life is to live deep and love without boundaries.
Because if we can't do that, what is Life about?
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Life Glitch
People say that you never know how much you have until you lose it. Others say you take people for granted until they start slipping away.
All of those people are right. It's so easy to laugh at the future and just expect to see your friends again the next day. No one expects the unexpected. That's where it got its name.
It only takes one moment to change the future. One moment to wreck your perfect idea of what will be tomorrow.
Then you find out one of your best friends has a brain tumor. And all you can think about is the possibility that he might die. One day he is fine and the next he is bored sick in a hospital bed, wondering how he got there.
For those of us who have lost loved ones, we know that no one is ever the same after they see death. And all you can think about after they go is that you wish you had more time.
But it's not about the time we didn't have, it's about the memories we built and the people we loved.
I want to think that every day. Not just be thankful for all of the people I have been blessed with, but realizing that what makes life valuable is that it doesn't last forever, and what makes it precious is that it ends.1
I'm not asking you to live every moment in the fear that you might lose someone. I'm asking that you savor each moment, making it last as long as possible because time is short in the light of eternity.
One moment. That's all it takes to collapse your castle in the air. All it takes for life to punch you in the gut, reminding you that we aren't immortal. So before life tries to take you by surprise, recognize each moment as a gift from the Creator. So when you get a life glitch and all you can see is the cliff before your feet, you can yell to the world with confidence, "I lived. I loved. I experienced. And I'm ready for this."
Notes
1. Gwen Stacy, "The Amazing Spider Man 2." Marc Webb.
All of those people are right. It's so easy to laugh at the future and just expect to see your friends again the next day. No one expects the unexpected. That's where it got its name.
It only takes one moment to change the future. One moment to wreck your perfect idea of what will be tomorrow.
Then you find out one of your best friends has a brain tumor. And all you can think about is the possibility that he might die. One day he is fine and the next he is bored sick in a hospital bed, wondering how he got there.
For those of us who have lost loved ones, we know that no one is ever the same after they see death. And all you can think about after they go is that you wish you had more time.
But it's not about the time we didn't have, it's about the memories we built and the people we loved.
I want to think that every day. Not just be thankful for all of the people I have been blessed with, but realizing that what makes life valuable is that it doesn't last forever, and what makes it precious is that it ends.1
I'm not asking you to live every moment in the fear that you might lose someone. I'm asking that you savor each moment, making it last as long as possible because time is short in the light of eternity.
One moment. That's all it takes to collapse your castle in the air. All it takes for life to punch you in the gut, reminding you that we aren't immortal. So before life tries to take you by surprise, recognize each moment as a gift from the Creator. So when you get a life glitch and all you can see is the cliff before your feet, you can yell to the world with confidence, "I lived. I loved. I experienced. And I'm ready for this."
Notes
1. Gwen Stacy, "The Amazing Spider Man 2." Marc Webb.
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