"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." -Emerson

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

On Becoming World Changers...

Ever since I was a kid, I've always favored the underdog of the story. I became obsessed with the Civil Rights Movement in elementary school. Thurgood Marshall and Atticus Finch were my heroes. I really thought my life would be spent in a courtroom, fighting for the marginalized and forgotten.

Every stage of my life, I found underdogs that needed their voices heard. In High School, it was underprivileged kids so I started a tutoring program. In college, it was migrant farmworkers so I would go with legal aid and tell people their rights. After college it was teen moms then military wives who were lonely and afraid, the hungry and poor, refugees. I like people on the outskirts. I live for fringe people. The ones who often get forgotten and swept aside.

I started using the term world changer a lot the past couple of years. I speak it over my kids. I speak it over my friends. I believe it's a thing and it can happen and there is power in one person inciting change. I believe it in the very core of my being. It may be the fact that I am an idealist or a dreamer or a bleeding heart. But I think about how God sent One to change the entire course of history and how even though we can never have that same impact, through that One, we can change a corner of the world, make it a little bit better than it was before we got here.

I've learned a lot about world changing these past couple of years. Hard things. Good things. Things I didn't know before I found the things that impassion me. Things that could've helped me had I known. Things that need to be said out loud to all the world changers and wannabe world changers.

1. It's hard: That's why everyone doesn't do it. That's why people give up and walk away and buy in to the apathy that infects our generation. It takes a lot of work, often with little noticeable return. It is three steps forward, four steps backwards. It's exhausting at times. Times when all you want to do is not care and just consume like everyone else. But world changers fight through those feelings. They press on. They cling tight to their convictions and beliefs and don't quit just because no one seems to care or listen. They keep moving when it seems like all is at a standstill.

2. You need a tribe: World changing was never meant to be done in isolation It wasn't meant to be a lone wolf endeavor. You find your people. People with your heart and your passion. Or perhaps they don't quite have your heart or your passion just yet, but you share yours. And see what types of fires it ignites around you. It's hearts and stories just like yours that have ignited entire movements. Movements that propelled change and made a difference in countless lives.

3. It gets lonely sometimes: Even when you have a tribe, there comes a point in every world changer's life when it feels like you're the only one who cares. There comes a time when you wonder why your friends ignore your pleas to help whatever cause that fires you up. You wonder why they didn't come to your event. Or donate. Or share your post. But the lonely moments are there for a purpose, too. They may be there to regroup, to add to your tribe, to do some self-care. Or to just think. Because ideas become concrete ways to engage more people in changing the world in whatever form you've found to do that.

4. World changers encourage other world changers: I may not be as stirred as you are to whatever thing you're doing to make a difference, but I am going to be your biggest fan in what you're doing. Seeing God use the talents, treasures, and passions of fellow sojourners is one of my greatest joys on this journey. Because world changers realize they can't do it all but they can take a piece of the puzzle to put this whole broken place back together again. So when I see you with your piece, doing the things God designed you to do, I'm the loudest one clapping and cheering in the back, watching Him weave together your story into His. We get to help each other up when the hard work of world changing knocks one of us off our feet and discouragement threatens to silence our voice.

5. Tell stories: Stories are what God used to draw humanity to Him. Stories have power. They matter. Whatever your thing is, find the powerful stories and tell them. Because the world needs to hear the voices that often go unheard. They need to hear your story and how you got this heart ablaze for whatever you wake up for each day.

6. Leverage what you've got: You may not have all the money to do all the things you want to do for that passion of yours, but you have resources. Your greatest resource is and will always be your relationships. You may need skills and you know someone who knows someone. You may need time. You know someone with some of that. You may need connections. Ask your people. I know it may seem like you got nothing, but I promise, you've got something. It may be a matter of building more relationships, because within those, that is where you'll find all those resources to truly do this thing right.

7. You may start feeling like a broken record: Your Facebook wall may be filled with posts promoting that fundraiser. Or that cause. Or that idea. People who don't quite understand our kind, may not want to hear about it anymore. Or they may quietly unfollow. That's ok. World changing requires a lot of noise. A lot of rooftop yelling because we don't live in a world where infrequent whispers get any coverage. No, it requires a whole lot of squeaky wheels to get some grease. Don't be afraid to ask. Again. Or to mention it. Again. Or to post it. Again. Sometimes you got to beat the gong for people to awaken to the harsh realities of this place and how YOU are trying to change one of them.

If you do it right, you're going to be poured out at the end of each day. That's ok. It's when we are completely emptied that we can be filled up the most again. Keep running your race. Don't look around you or at how far you have to go, just keep looking up. That's what is going to get you to the finish line. Don't let the naysayers and the pessimists and the small thinkers keep you from going big on this. Those are the kinds of people who leave this place either just as they found it or worse. Don't let excuses keep you from doing your thing. There will never be a perfect time. There will never be enough of anything to make it work. Just take the first step. See where God takes you with it. The world has been changed by a lot of moms, a lot of college students, a lot of 9-5ers, a lot of __________________ (fill in your position here). Start small. Watch the small lead to the big. Ripple effects. Tipping points. It can happen, my friend.

So, to all the dreamers, the bleeding hearts, the lovers of fringe people, DO. YOUR. THING. The world will thank you for it one day.

Here's to all the world changers...
Until next time,
-C.
One of my favorite world changers...with her 75 bags of rice she collected...that time she was 6.

Sunday, October 11, 2015

On Storytelling...


Yesterday, I had the privilege to interview six former refugees who are rebuilding their lives in my community for videos we are going to show at a fundraiser I’m putting together. I asked them to tell me their story, which they did with such courage even though bright lights and cameras intimidated. I asked them what their hopes and dreams were for their future and the future of their children. I asked them what they would be if they could be anything. I asked them what their struggles and joys have been. Their answers were profound, meaningful, and hope filled. Hearing their stories in their own words had moved me so much that by the time it was my turn to be interviewed as a volunteer who has worked with refugees and share my own story, I was raw. So raw that I ended up crying during my interview. [Insert embarrassing moment when said video will be shown at the event on a big screen]

It got me thinking, though. Stories are powerful. Stories have the potential to motivate, inspire, change, push, challenge, and grow people. Stories are the conduit God chose when He wanted to give us something to reveal His redemption plan. Stories are the thing that create collective memories and pursue hearts. Stories matter.

 
I think about some of my friends whose stories are riddled with deep valleys of pain. I think of some of those friends, the bravest ones I know, who make it a point to share their stories. Not because they want attention or sympathy, but because they believe in the power of stories. I think about how many people are changed in some way by those courageous ones who open their book to the most tender, heartbreaking chapters and read it aloud. It is hard to share our story. It opens us up for ridicule, judgement, pity, attention, gossip, and the like. It can make us feel vulnerable and naked and acutely aware of the eyes turned our way. But when we are bold enough to disclose, there is always a quiet, timid voice standing in the shadow of our pages, whispering “Me too!” It is in those intersections of stories, in those places where your pain and mine meet, that people connect on the deepest of levels. It is in those seams that we begin to silence the lies that scream you are all alone and no one understands. We find light where darkness once invaded and peace where chaos festered.

But, I wonder how many stories have gone untold because of all the fear that surrounds becoming an author? How many refuse to formulate the sentences that will release their story into the world? Yet how many more are anxiously awaiting to hear one with pages like theirs so they can finally feel like another truly knows them?

Stories are powerful. They change the world. And yours is a good one. An important one. I just hope that one day, you will be brave enough to tell it.

Here’s to all the storytellers…

Until next time,

-C.

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

On Learning from Each Other...

I just returned after FIVE days away from my people. Yes, you read that right...1 2 3 4 5 days away!!! I had meticulously typed out notes for being me in the interim (90% of which were ignored...but it's whatever) and hopped on a plane to Dallas, Texas to visit one of my BFF's in her new home and life with a newly arrived third child. It's one of those trips where even though it wasn't meant to, it taught me a lot.


Whenever you get the opportunity to be a house guest, you get a front row seat to seeing how other people live. To the reality show junkie in me, this is amazing. Not that my friend exhibited any behaviors that warranted a reality show, but you know what I mean. You see how others cook and clean. What they feed their kids. How they handle tantrums. What their daily schedule is like. You see underneath the Facebook veneer into what is real and true.

I got to experience simplicity, something I long for daily in my life. My friend is so good at choosing simplicity: in the amount of stuff in her home, in the amount of things on her calendar, in everything. She chooses simple over more. Her home was just filled with a sense of calm and peace because she wasn't frantically moving about all the time like I am. She doesn't live life to the absolute edge and threshold. She recognizes her season with a newborn babe and two other sweet girls under five who need her full attention. There isn't clutter in her everyday because she consciously chooses what is fitting for her time in life. In five short days, it got me thinking about my own house and life and how so much of my chaos is self-induced. It's my schedule. It's my "yeses." It's the things I let in. It's my lack of understanding what this time of life means for everything else. It has me reevaluating everything on my plate that is literally about to fall and crack in to a million tiny pieces. I cannot do it all. Something must always give whether its our family life, our social life, our spiritual life, our physical life or our emotional/mental life. With every give in life, something is taken.
 

I got to teach her a few things too during my stay. Like the recipe for my favorite arugula salad and pesto chicken. How to entertain kids for hours with Bingo Dauber art . The shortcut of covering a cut watermelon with some saran wrap (saves a dirty dish, you know). Really life altering things...

This whole time away made me think though how very rarely we get to go inside someone's life. I mean really go. I see my generation struggle so much with basic hospitality in just inviting others over, let alone, inviting others in. We are missing out on so much relational depth because we are awaiting our Pinterest-perfect setting so we don't even want to allow others the chance to see our imperfections. And if it isn't because of our desire to make things pretty inside our space, it's because we have a desire to make things pretty inside our hearts. We can't bear the thought of people seeing the raw and ugly. We can't stand the idea that our cracks might show if we open up the door. If it isn't fear holding us back, it's busyness. We pack our schedules to the max so that there isn't any time to open our hearts and living rooms. The most connected generation, yet we are so relationally alone and unknown. It's the being unknown that is ultimately going to drown us: not the jam packed schedules or the one too many yeses. It's the daily living with the fact that no one can see underneath that threatens to choke us to death. We have so much to learn from each other, but we don't even get the chance because we are too afraid or too busy.

I just wonder how our generation is going to fare with this false sense of connection through a computer screen. Will mamas ever be able to learn and teach one another? Will women find comfort in knowing their pain isn't unique, that someone else has experienced a similar heartache too? Or will we just continue to gain more and more "wisdom" from thousands upon thousands of internet sources without any "flesh" on them, people putting out the impossibly perfect, "do what I do" blogs and pinterest pins for the masses to indulge in?

I know it's a ramble today, but perhaps, we all need to take a minute and step into someone else's life, a real person we know and love, and learn a little something new to get us thinking...

Here's to learning something new!
Until next time,
C.

My Favorite Arugula Salad
1 bag of Arugula washed and ready
1/4 thinly sliced fennel
1/2 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup thinly sliced GOOD quality Asiago cheese... don't skimp, man
1 lemon
3-4 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
 
Toss the arugula, fennel, and tomatoes. Squeeze lemon directly on salad and toss. Slowly pour in olive oil and toss again. Salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with cheese. Life. Made. Pair with your favorite, HOT bread and call it a day, because you've adult-ed enough just by making this salad.