It begins

Hello friends.

We have launched a new site.

I will not be updating here any longer, thought former posts will remain live for the time being. Heidi will still occasionally update her personal blog.

You can now find us at designedbycreativity.com

This is officially the beginning of a new opportunity for us, and hopefully for you.

Details will be on the new site under the page Beauty in Wordscape, and will soon after be moved to make room for you.

Come journey with us.

Coming Soon

We are in the process, one that seems very huge and unending, of getting everything together to launch into a new web based journey.  I had promised earlier that we would be sending out the details last week, sickness took way that option, was hoping to do ti today, not going to happen.  Hopefully by weeks end I will have everything together and set up so that we can start this journey.  Again if you are interested keep checking back, everything will be released soon.

The Event

The change is coming.  We are excited to get things established.  Details to come soon.  Interested?

Early Mornings

We had an incredible time away over the long weekend with 8 teenagers as we attended our district youth convention.  You can imagine how tired our minds and bodies all are after spending 48 hours with our 8 plus about 1000 others, singing, jumping, dancing and eating the most non-nutritious food you can find.  All the while trying to survive thrive on about 4 hours of sleep each night, maybe less maybe more for others.  My review and lasting memories of the weekend will be rundown on Designed by Creativity later tonight, check back for the full deal.

Anyway the whole realm of lost sleep caught up with us last night, and I found myself asleep by 10 pm.  Obviously this does not make up for the multiple hours I lost over the weekend, but it felt nice to know I could catch up on some.  BUT somehow by design or divine instigation that early sleep turned into an early morning.  At 5:30 our daughter came in complaining of really bad stomach pains, which meant we were scrambling trying to discover the cause of the pains.  She settled enough to fall asleep around 6 as I watched Sports Center and silently grumbled about the fact that my playoff pool is very sub .500 needing a win in game 7 and a win in the finals to make it to .500, yes I am horrible at picking teams.

This grumbling turned to worry as my daughter rolled over clenching her stomach crying in pain again, thinking maybe she just needs to use the wash room I helped her up and moved that way with bucket in tow, got no more then 5 steps and she let loose a torrent of last nights digested food.

That was an hour ago, her pains have subsided and we have a grey outlook on the day, wondering will the sickness pass and the day be clear or will the floodgates reopen at some point?  This we will have to wait for.

In it all I am left to think, was the early sleep brought on by over exhaustion, the realization of my elevating age, or the divine knowledge that I would be awake early in the morning?

What about you, have you ever had a moment like this, where one seemingly benign event unfolds into another that needed the original for you to function properly?  What are you facing today that needs a few extra hours of sleep?

New opportunity.

Do you blog?  My wife and I are mulling over an idea, one that could help beginning bloggers, get the word out of their site a little more, get some conversations going.  So my question is simply that, do you blog?  Would you be interested in centralizing your posts in one spot where others can find you easily?  A site that will carry a blog hop and increase the traffic around your ramblings and wisdom?  Let me know what you think and I'll let you know when the wheels start moving.

Next week I will release the structure for the site and why I want to do this.  So get active, leave a comment with your blog site attached and I'll come visit.  And if you don't yet blog but want to, look for the announcement next week and I'll add you to the list.

Doing the improbable

It's not impossible, just highly unlikely.

Someone once said that to me about a dream I had to be a professional athlete.  Baseball specifically.  Right fielder for the Red Sox.  So I stopped chasing that dream, but baseball remains the one passion I have that I feel I should have not given up on.  Something I should have kept the flame burning for.

I talk a lot about dreams with people I know.  I try to empower them to find a dream, and then chase it.  Not giving up because one person says your dream is a little weird, or too far outside the box.  Not to walk away when you hit a snag or run full stride into a wall.  Dreams are not always easy, especially when you dream big.

My daughter has a dream to become a rock star, and a princess, and a mom of many adopted children, and a teacher and a pastor and a few other things.  Not separately, all at once.  And I have not once attempted to crush her dream.  Not because she's my daughter and I love her enthusiasm, but because she is a dreamer on a large scale just like her father and I believe that her dream can be achieved.

What I also realize is that with my dreams I need to include systems and networks and an entire plan.  I can't just run after them and hope that they mysteriously or supernaturally come together.  And yes sometimes my dreams leave no room for error, others leave miles and miles of errors in their wake.  But the dream, the goal, however improbable it may seem, is always being crafted and pursued.

Here's an example, not the baseball dream, but a new crazy idea.


I have a plan that could possibly end homelessness, poverty and hunger not for the world but for a few countries at least.  Ok maybe the world.  Here's the system that would need to take form.

It begins with selecting a few families in a given area and training them to do specific work (outlined below).  Take a large section of every major forest or jungle in the world.  Clear cut, using those who are stricken with poverty and homelessness to do the work, paying them competitive wages and providing them meals during their shift.  Using the same people, build timber frame housing with the clear cut trees that the workers mill themselves and piece together frames and trusses and so on.  With each house comes a 40 square foot garden that must grow essential vegetables.  Provide equipment so each house can make bread and other food staples.  Each division of housing will have an animal pen for food grade chicken, lamb, beef and pork (as customs allow).

When the gardens begin to produce, governments will pay the land workers a salary to train others to clear cut, mill wood, build frames and houses and run a garden.  With the infusion of money into these new communities the people can build and run small stores to increase financial freedom and food provision.  Each community falls under the leadership of the closest city or village and over all the countries governing body.  Wells will be dug, proper waste disposal introduced and suddenly you have a viable community that has lowered the poverty rate, hunger issues and homelessness for given areas.  The added benefit, it will take the stress away from overcrowding, and disease within local water and food supplies.  And people are training each other how to live and be a part of the work force.

See it's improbable but not impossible and who knows maybe someone might actually do this, the point is I don't think the dream is too large, or really all that crazy.

What's your improbable dream?

Thankful

Waking up in the night to the sound of ice pellets bounding from your windows and dancing around the asphalt shingles on the roof, along side the bone chilling screech of tree branches scrubbing the flesh from each other and sensing the invisible force that moves mountains ripping away at the mortar of the chimney, is not what I picture as inviting, or even amusing.  But that is what I faced over night leading to Wednesday morning.  I shouldn't have been surprised, the weather forecast was calling for snow and freezing rain, but as experience has documented, never trust the weather man.  So I went to bed, half expecting it to be warm and sunny in the morning, only to be jolted by what I imagined was a group of ninjas creeping along the sides of my house tormenting me and my innocent family as we tried to find rest, or that the assembly of mythological creatures I sometimes read about on line, had come to prove their existence to me when I was most vulnerable.

No I didn't eat anything weird before bed, and had is been a thunderstorm I would have slept through it, but for some unknown undesired reason I shot up awake.  Also did I mention I was on the couch?  My family has gone through a long, sorry loooooooong bout of sickness.  With no exaggeration we have been cycling in and out of different illnesses since last May, including basic colds and severe allergies.  On the weekend I was sick with our middle child, he more so then I was, and it was not enjoyable. 1 hour of sleep through the night, waking up to the sound of 'Daddy I need to tell my throat not to puke', good thing I had a popcorn bowl handy.  So we were both shut down for Sunday and Monday.  Which brings us to last night, our daughter has had a cold, but out of knowledge of the belly monster and fear of top bunk puke, I traversed the hall way with daughter in arms to the living room, onto the the oh so comforting and inviting couches.

Maybe it was the fear that she was waking up tossing the last days meals all over her blankets, but every sound sent me into the defensive 'who's there' mode, lunging for the bucket to get it near the girl before she made our everything stained carpet a little worse, with no results.  So I made my way back to the couch, curled under the Thomas the Train blanket, folded up the too thin pillow and closed my eyes.  Sleep is coming.  For 10 minutes. Coughing, what sounded like a gag, a quick sneeze and then it happened.

The dog licked my face.  

With the smelliest, slimiest tongue that has entered the atmosphere, my face was covered in slobber and dog bowl water, at least it wasn't from the toilet.  And at least it wasn't puke.  I pushed him away, he went and curled on his lazy boy, yes my dog has a recliner that he has claimed for his own.  And none of us dare try to claim it back, that chair is disgusting, even if it does have a built in heater and massage function, which are broken but not beyond repair.  It's his and we all know it.

Back to sleep.  Wake up to my alarm clock, to rain, to a happy, healthy, coughing daughter.

And all I can think is, I am thankful for angry trees and roof dancing ninjas, and the loch ness monster, and the nasty smelling dog snot on my face.  Because at least it wasn't a hacking, gaging, puking daughter that woke me up.  That's one thing I can celebrate today, even in a dreary, wet, fall emulating spring day.

What are you thankful for today?  What sounds do you hate waking up to?

The envelope

Ever noticed how after writing a letter, signing it, folding it and preparing it for 'stuffing' you think, I hope this fits, and as though it was destiny, you seem to have miscalculated the fold sizes and one fold is too large.  You know you can't open it up and refold it, you really don't want to rewrite it on new paper, and you certainly can't buy a larger envelope, that would just look awkward, an under filled envelope, who has ever heard of such a thing?

My solution to this is actually the first one, to unfold it and refold it.  The new crease has no bearing on how the letter will be read.  It does not disrupt the envelope in any way, and I can't imagine that the recipient even cares that there is an extra crease.

When I get the letter with the double crease I know the person who sent it cares less about the presentation then the content, just as I do.  They shrug their shoulders as the letter gets crammed into the envelope, and they cringe while licking the adhesive strip.  But all the while their mind is on what they have conveyed in the letter, the words of hope and encouragement, maybe a birthday wish, possibly some financial aid being passed on.  It's the content in the letter, not the paper and how it appears.

But what of the envelope, the vessel that holds all that wonderful or biting content, what does it look like?  White, pink, brown maybe even green or blue.  So many colors, shapes, sizes and patterns.  Some with tears, too much postage, not enough postage, a little dirt, taped up, no return address, a sticker on the back. So many eye catching descriptors on the vessel that carries the message.

But the envelope is overlooked.  And when it comes down to the point of it all, this makes sense, and really, it's not so bad.

After all our lives resemble the envelope.

Often we are overlooked for how the envelope appears.  A size too big, a flaw in the packaging, not the color we like, piercings, contrasting fashions, so many things we find an excuse over, in order to not listen to the inner message.  But it's what is contained within us that makes an eternal difference, not the packaging, that's just the vessel that brings the message.

Life is too short and too hard to focus on the way the message of life, hope, grace and love is brought to us.  It's the story that makes the difference, the vessel is simply the mode of transportation for it.

So next time you feel like jumping to conclusion because someone is covered in body art and they don't appear the person you expect, remember that the envelope can be overlooked when what you really want is the letter inside.

The Loneliest Number

Many of us can recall the lyrics to the Three Dogs Night song, 'One' - one is the loneliest number.....  This can be true, being alone, as one person can be absolutely paralyzing at times.  Imagine the impact it has on your mentality, you show up for this large event you have planned, and you are the only one who actually shows up.  Or you decide to go out and try to make a difference in the community and you organize a time and put up fliers and no one else comes.  There you stand, alone, one.

Broken and destroyed by the lack of others you vow not to attempt anything big ever again, no longer will you be trampled by 'the better things to do' excuse and 'sorry I'm busy' remarks.  Leave it to someone else, they'll do it.  Maybe they'll be better at promoting it, or they are more popular then you, so people will flock to their side and aid them in their quest to change the world.

But what if no one takes up the charge?

As it turns out, one is not the loneliest number, far from it actually.  If we think back into the history of our world, what we come across is an entire list of one's who changed the course of history.  Maybe they each had moments where no one showed but themselves, maybe they were shook by that experience, or maybe they were strengthened by it.

So you are one person, and maybe in your context you are one in about 37 million others around you, maybe it's only one in 9000, but you are still ONE.   

Can you imagine the impact you will have as you walk through your community, in the schools, hospitals, retirement homes, and show love and grace to people.  One person changing the lives of so many others, because one is not a lonely number, zero is.

Zero people can never spread grace, zero can never buy groceries for their hungry neighbor, zero can't even screw in a light bulb.  But one can.

So you are only one person, get out there and go change your world, BEFORE some one else does.

The Vote

Remember that scene in Napoleon Dynamite, when Pedro's campaign starts, and people kind of just stare at him?  Then the election day comes and Napoleon breaks out some stellar moves in front of the school.  Why can't all election campaigns be that simple?

I don't usually wonder into the political realm, but I feel as though I would be leading people astray in some weird sense of the the word, if I didn't encourage fellow Canadians to seriously consider getting out in May to vote.  So I dedicate this post to all those who are 'on the fence' and I hope to sway you towards getting out to the polls this Spring.

We have entered election time, the buses and planes that carry the campaigners around our country are burning up diesel and jet fuel as we speak.  The estimated cost of the election is around, well I'm not totally sure but it can't be found at the dollar store.  The attack commercials against each party have been rolled out and leadership is starting to get asked some fairly tough questions.

There are a lot of contentious items being debated and promised in this campaign.  New fighter jets for our military, which we do actually need, tax cuts for various income levels, freezing tuition costs, legalizing items and events that are currently illegal, and the list continues.  Someone should offer bloggers a tax credit for every vote the generate, good idea?

Regardless of your loyalty to any party, there is one thing that each person of legal age and citizenship has in common, we can vote.  Now I admit this with some shame and some trepidation, I did not vote at the last provincial election.  I have various good excuses, but probably none of them are valid nor will they stand up to the numbers when we look at who did vote in our province, but I admit it none the less.

I want to encourage each person who can vote, to do so.  We have the freedom to vote, just as we have the freedom of speech and practice of religion and the choice to home school or not.  Why would we take it lightly and just say, who cares?  It's your freedom, exercise it.

Here's a short list of why you need to get out and vote.

1. You may be the deciding vote.  In the last election there were a few ridings that came within a couple of votes of a given number to establish a recount, maybe yours was one of the needed votes.  Maybe yours was one of the votes that would have kept a recount from happening.

2.  You have a say in what bills pass and which ones fail.  It's a stretch but it's the truth, when you vote in the leadership of this country, you take up arms with them and champion what they stand for.  We can't hope to accomplish anything by sitting at home and watching the election, we need to participate.

3.  You gain the right to complain.  Yes I know, complaining is childish, but it can also relieve stress, or build it as well.  If you don't vote and then you complain about the way a party is acting, you have no say, or in the very least no platform from which to voice your opinion.  Those who do vote can take up their soap boxes and shout it from the rooftops, I voted and this government is not acting properly.

4.  You become distinctively Canadian, or whatever nationality you are when you vote in an election.  I know someone who has never once voted, not for mayor, not for provincial parliament, not for our Prime Minister, not even for student council when we were in high school, poor Padro.  He has never even been to a ballot office, and I consider him an incomplete Canadian.  When we vote, I believe, it gives us more distinction of our nationality, we can relate to others, claim victory or defeat with our chosen party, and stand up for our countries rights and freedoms.  It is simply my opinion, but I believe voting distinguishes us as Canadian in our election process, if you're a citizen you have the right to vote, if you choose not to, you are not fully living up to your roll as a citizen, so in my basic theory of it, you are incomplete in your citizenship.  Kind of like having a car with no mirrors.  The car is there, just not completely.

5.  You have power.  Ok so this one has basically been said already, but some of us like power, so go out and vote, it'll give you a little more.

There are many other reasons, and maybe you have your own, but I challenge you to get out and vote this year.  Maybe it'll be your first time, maybe you've voted at every possible election in the past.  Just get out and vote.  Let's bring a party into power to lead our country.

Celebrity-itis

Weird title right, but that's what I find our society is suffering from.  We are so focused on the tabloids and television gossip shows and talk shows and so on that we forget these are real people as well.  Yes they have a camera on them almost 24/7, yes they make multi-millions of dollars for a few months work, sure they have a posh life style and I confess I watch a lot of movies and I love sports.  But I know behind it all they have a life that is not much different then the one we all struggle to live everyday.  Yet we ostracize them when they break the law or find them selves in a not so glamorous situation.

We need to ask the question, why are they not worthy of grace in that moment.  Remember the OJ Simpson trial?  Every second of it over publicized and even for weeks after it was over newspapers around the world carried front page stories on the civil trial.  I really don't see the need for this, but again we put these people on a pedestal then rip it out from under them the second they waver in any way.  Yes the trial was based on a tragic event, but if it had been two people who were not linked to a celebrity in any way, the trial would have had a short column in a local paper mid way through and the only thing covered on television would have been the car chase and ensuing arrest.

Let's bring it down a few notches from terrible to laughable, and no I am not comparing events, just illustrating our fascination with celebrity.  At the super bowl, A-Rod was being fed popcorn by his celebrity girlfriend Cameron Diaz.  It's been how long since the game, a month, and still there are people showing this footage, having drawn out conversations about the moment.  If it had been some couple in the 300 section of the stadium it would have been a sweet gesture, maybe shown once on sports center as filler and forgotten.  But it's not, it's A-Rod.  So we drag it out and I'm sure it'll be mentioned at least once on opening day, and multiple times through out the year, maybe even next year.

Here's the reason for my rant on celebrities.  I'm not trying to talk them into a pit, or make you stop reading the Gossip magazines while you wait to pay for your groceries, ok maybe that one.  I'm simply stating one obvious fact, they are people like you and I.  We need to stop measuring ourselves by their success and what they do in life.  Stop trying to compare who we are to them, stop giving them a pedestal and taking it away.  Would you do this to your neighbor?

My uncle lived on the same street for years as many of the Toronto sports franchise athletes.  He had conversation with them, and never did he talk them up or down in any way other then what he would do for his non athletic retired neighbors.  He didn't elevate them to these royal positions in his mind or ours when he discussed them, he talked about them as though they were real people with real lives, emotions and needs.  He actually understood that they just had an ability that made them lots of money and had a camera on their face more then you and I.  But strip it all away and you a person, just like you.

And that is all they are, real people.

Proper Dreams

As promised months ago, a post on dreams.  No not the ones inspired by the 2 day old cold pizza you ate last night, it's the kind of dream that drives your life.  It inspires you to open your eyes in the morning and keeps you from going to sleep at night.  The kind of dream that you want others around you to get involved in because you know it will make a difference, that is proper dreaming, now lets discuss.

Some of the most popular words in our history, come from one of the most quoted speeches, it begins "I have a dream..."  Though not specifically the beginning of the speech it is the most often used passage from the history making, life changing speech.  And much like this speech in our lives many of us will come to a point that we use the words, I have a dream.

My dream? To bring hope out of people, to influence them in a way that they can go out and influence others, to being love forefront, to share grace and mercy and promote healthy relationships.  Why?  Because I believe that everyone was went to live in such a way that they will achieve great things, and too often we lose sight of the great things we can accomplish or in the very least participate in because of either the choices we have made or the consequence of others choices.  I absolutely hate reading status updates and tweets about how some ones life is worthless.  They have lost hope, and I desire to be a beacon of hope for them, shinning through their dark night helping to show the way to what might be if they can grasp the opportunity and make the first step towards hope.

I have other dreams as well, some involve buildings, some involve specific people, others revolve around my gifts and passions.  But the one thing they all have in common is that I cannot possibly achieve the full effect of the dream on my own.  I need others to come along side me, I need divine intervention and appointment, I need favor and blessing.  My dreams, those which I believe are the best way to dream, are not all about me.  Some  do not even involve me in the slightest way, they are all much bigger then me, and they promote others, putting them first, placing them as the benefactor and making sure that in some way, the dream will live on in them as well.

My definition of a proper dream: one that is not selfish, is bigger then who you are or can be, can be passed on to others.  When Martin Luther King Jr. spoke those now infamous words, he knew that he was not capable of seeing this dream come to pass on his own accord, he understood that others had to walk along side him and even in front of him, and that the dream would outlive the person.  It's not that he dreamed so big that it was impossible to achieve, he knew what it meant to dream, and that the start of seeing that dream become reality was to share it with the world, or maybe in our case anyone who will listen and carry the burden with you.

Dreams that have meaning and momentum, the ones that matter to the world, they are bigger then the dreamer, they require a lot of passion and energy, the dream may even cost you your pride, show who you are in the shadows and it could take a tole on your life.  BUT the outcome, when the dream is proper, is always so much greater then the cost.  And often it develops in you a greater sense of character, your integrity level will rise, and your legacy will be one of greatness in a specific manner.

I would love my legacy to be the following.  He was a man of great integrity and character, pressing hope into a world that built barriers and strongholds of desperation and depression.  He brought love to the corners of the world, and grace and mercy to those others had passed by.

Are you a dreamer?  How big is your dream, does it require others be involved in order for it to succeed or even begin?  If not challenge yourself to dream bigger, much much bigger.  So big in fact that your dream may take generations to come to a full realization, that others will need to take ownership of it, that you will be remembered as one of great dreams.

Post-it Notes

Leaders love post it notes.  I love post it notes.  I have them scattered on my bulletin board, through out books, even at times on my laptop.  They help me remember appointments, I am able to quickly jot down short notes, and they stand out, causing me to re-read them over and over.

But here's the one thing about post it notes that they probably were not intended for.  They cause me pain.  No not paper cuts, thought they do hurt, this is on a deeper level, they cause a type of pain that brings about growth and change in who I am and the way I lead.

As I write down these short notes and thoughts, and quotes very often I am just writing something that I thought was a profound statement, and often at that moment, that's all it was a few words that caused me to stop and say WOW.  So I write it down, here's an example.  'Be a people who make interest not a people who pay interest.' Andy Stanley.

But as I reread these notes months or even years later, I am cut deeply by some of the statements that are on them, because they reflect words that at one time made me say wow, and now, well now they are just words on a blue post it on my wall or in a book.  Not doing what the words were intended for, but doing what the post it was intended for, just hanging there waiting to be read.  The words on the post it have the power, but it's the post it that is the messenger and the 'author' of what is hurting me at the moment.

As I read all the notes scattered in my office and house I realize one great thing, I have not lived up to what is written down, that great revelation months ago that I promised to stand on has slipped away and become decor on my walls.  I have come to realize that the reason I wrote them down was to better my leadership value, my goal is to one day lead as a 10, not stay as a 5 or 6 forever.

Post its, in my life, are a way of saying, I need to live at a higher standard.  I hold people around me, those who are in leadership with me, and under my scope of leadership to what may seem at times as an unlivable standard, and yet I hold myself to a higher standard then I have for them.

Throughout the world people look at others and expect huge things from them but in their own life they live at a very low standard, expecting and delivering the bare minimum.  This isn't always the case of leadership or management, but it does occur in these realms just as it does in everyday life.

We have an idea, one that is literally disturbing and disruptive, that others have to live in a standard that is higher then what we hold our selves to.  We cannot expect this of people, but we can expect it of ourselves.  You want to be a great employee or employer, maybe improve the way you serve in a volunteer roll, perhaps you desire to be a better spouse or parent, create a standard that is higher then where you are so you have to strive to improve the way you live  Not so much that you drain all your energy and never improve but enough that you recognize improvements and can determine what you can do to grow a little more.  I would never expect of myself to double the size of my leadership team in one day, but I do in one year, maybe even triple it.

The reason to all this is simple and maybe just as profound as the notes I have made; we need to expect great things of others, have a high standard for them, but we must have a higher standard and greater desire of our own lives, or we will never be happy with the way people around us lead/live/parent/serve.

Now, go buy some post it notes.

The remaining.

I've decided to wrap up the conversation on the generations and the risks and advantages each one has in today's society.  I'm doing this to be free from the burden in my mind that I NEED to finnish it, My intention was to complete it, with 5 separate posts, that is no longer going to happen.  The problem when you set out on a journey like that is that you bind yourself to the idea that it's the thing you need to do.  When really I wanted to post on the two generations I have, and leave it there.  But thinking on it I made the decision that one post for 5 different age categories was better for this blog.  I was wrong.  The goal of this blog from the beginning was for me to share what was going on in my life, to share insight and hopefully wisdom.

Can I accomplish this in what Iw as wanting to do, yes but I a recently read a wise man write the words 'under that fat blog is a skinny one waiting to live the life it was called to.... edit edit edit.'  I say that because if I had continued with the path I was on, you would be reading 3 entries that would progress in length and stats and some information that served only to entertainment myself and those like me.  Seriously I was about 2000 words into a blog entry on my generation, with only one major point left to make.  I want to get across to you the main ideas in articulated form, not rambles and rants.

So here you are, the rest of this post will sum up what every generation needs and the struggles they face.


Have you ever entered a store and walked down the candy isle hoping to make it past with out catching a glimpse of your favorite sweet?  For me it's anything sour.  And I am not supposed to eat sugar in excess, so I walk down to the isle of the store where the dog food and bread is, circle back to grab the last minute bag of milk we forgot from the grocery store, and make my back out, because I am at times, very weak, and just one sour patch kid won't hurt too much.  How about this, you're driving or are a passenger in a car, when you approach a green light and notice a car creeping into the intersection.  The gut reaction is to yell at them and brace for a possible impact.  Then as you pass safely, you comment on how horrible they drive.

Maybe you have been to a major sporting event and looked around at the thousands of people whoa re there with you, pondering on where they are from, what they will return to, who loves them, who cares for their health.  Or you have been bullied or abused in some way, verbally, physically, emotionally, mentally.  And all you want to do is escape from it all, run from the pain and threat of more pain.  Only to find that you can't, not without facing the pain head on.

Why am I sharing these illustrations, because they link to the risks we live with every day and the opportunities we have in other peoples lives.  Every day we are faced with self control dilemma's, should I or shouldn't I?

We have the opening for anger, justified or not, and to protect ourselves from what could possibly happen.  We meet new people and realize that their lives are nothing like ours, or they could be incredibly similar.  And everyday we are faced with pain of some sort, whether a large amount or a sliver of hurt, it's there, for some more then others.

So what does it all mean, why should you care?  You should care because you are a person, you live and breathe amongst other persons, and regardless of how we try to tell ourselves, we are never really that alone.  If we are willing to reach out and if we are willing to return the outreached hand.

What every person of every generation needs, has never changed.  LOVE, we all want, need, crave, desire, long for, wait for, and cry for love.  Because in love we can find acceptance, inclusion, faith, hope, friendship, compassion, opportunity, new dreams, greater passion for life, desire to help others, a hand of care, answers.

In love there are so many good things, but there is also risk, healthy risk, the kind of risk that might turn out poorly at first but will allows you to grow so immensely that you wonder why the risk was taken earlier.

So why take so much space to say that we all need love, to be loved, to show love, to share love?  Because sometimes we hold on to everything else and forget to love others.  The man walking down the street with no where to sleep, no food, no shower.  The lady who has lost everything and just wants a hand to help her through the mess she is faced with.  The young boy who can't see past the word orphan.  The pregnant teenage girl who is ridiculed and hidden.  The family who doesn't look like you.  Or maybe the person next to you on the couch right now, love over shadows all, but you need to let it.  And every generation needs it, more then anything else, we need love.

You will see and hold many things in your life, but love is the greatest.

Horrible Consistency

That's always been who I am when it comes to things like this.  I start with a great intention to blog about things that come to mind, things that I am processing, events that have effected me, issues in our generations and communities.  Then I get stuck on one random thought and I stop all together.

Why?  Where is is that the battle to stop being lazy when it comes to my form of creativity was lost?  When did I make the jump from motivated blogger to unrealistic expectations and unravelled desires?

This whole situation has me thinking that I should walk away from the keyboard for good, to end the cycle of promises to write more and read more, only to forget or make up an excuse or just not care.

The real problem?  I made a compromise.  I started writing a series of blog on the 4-5 generations I see in life right now.  I got through two of them.  Then I said to myself, "maybe I'll wait and be sure of my statements before I post the next one."  And so it sits unpublished.  Because I want to 'be sure'.

What began as a place to share my thoughts became a slate where I needed to feel like I accomplished something.  I have willing allowed this blog to cancel out my dream of writing just to write.  It has essentially ended my love for this craft.

But maybe that's a good thing.  Perhaps I can get back to what this was originally all about.  Hopefully there is a chance I can turn it all around and make good of all this mess.

With no desire for people to comment, no need for words of accomplishment, no hope for a transcendence to being a publicly published author.

All I want is to write, so that just one person has a positive change in their life.

Is that really so hard to fathom?