Three Things Will Last Forever

On Sunday our church went to a local hospital to deliver handmade fleece blankets and offer prayer for patients on the cancer floor. As I drove down the street, the memories began to come. One after another and with every passing block, they came faster. It's been nearly ten years ago since my friend Sherri was battling leukemia and all those visits to see her. Yet it seemed like yesterday as I turned the corner and parked the car.

As we divided up blankets and people, Sherri and I were paired together. I've done this outreach more times than I can count, yet this is the first time I've done it partnered with Sherri. She was joyful, gentle, and strong - arms filled with blankets as we went room to room. I kept watching her interact with the patients and all I could think is, "Wow, she's alive."

We visited five rooms. We met people of all ages and stages of cancer. Couples and singles. Old and young. One had only been diagnosed two days prior. One was facing another diagnosis, which may well be his final. Some were courageous. Some tired. One laughed with us. And another cried.

I have never felt so in touch with life. And such vulnerability. They lie in bed and trust. 

Simultaneously, I'm watching Sherri out of the corner of my eye. Walking room to room, more alive than I've ever seen her.

I left the hospital different than I entered. I had experienced such a range of life and death, joy and sorrow, the ordinary and the sacred, in these moments shared with people I will most likely never see again.

I’m a little less fearful of what I cannot control.
I’m a little less busy trying to make life better.
I’m a little less worried about what others think.

I’ve tasted and seen the three things that will last forever - faith, hope, and love. It is enough.

Living our best lives puts us in places that stretch us. And it is there we discover the fruit we most desperately crave grows. Let’s not shrink back from suffering, from strangers, from friendships, from God. Let’s go. In faith, hope, and the greatest of these… love. Let’s live our best.

Determined to Learn

I have been teaching piano lessons for seven years and currently have 16 students. I’m still amazed as I watch the learning process unfold right before my eyes. There are so many different ages, personalities, learning styles, and giftings that keep me continually learning how to teach each student to maximize their musical skills. One recurring conversation I find myself having with the students is how to be a good learner.

Just yesterday, I had two students with two very different responses to a challenge. One student had worked diligently practicing a song at home all week and had the notes down perfectly. Unfortunately, she had the incorrect rhythm. Re-learning is hard because you are now having to address the muscle memory that’s been established and intentionally adjust it. We took probably five minutes (which can feel like a lifetime to an 8 year old) to work on correcting the song. I could tell the process was stretching her and watched her do it over and over again until she got it right. I was super proud of her perseverance to hang in there and her capacity to engage in the learning process without letting the frustration get the best of her.

The other student came in and admittedly wasn’t having the best of days. We came to a new skill that she tried two or three times and then threw her hands up in the air and said, “It’s too hard! I can’t do it!” This is not an unusual response to learning, and I gently prodded her to try again. She moved on and then kept making an error in the same place. As I corrected her, she strongly told me, “NO! That’s not right!” I let the silence hold a moment, letting her words sink in as she looked at me. Then, I gently said, “Really? I’m not right?” She sighed dramatically, caught in her the trap of her own frustrated words realizing how ridiculous that sounded in telling the teacher. We went on; she was able to make the correction and discover how she really could do this new skill. It was just going to take some time and practice.

What’s your response when facing challenges? Are you willing to learn? Determined to learn?

Living your best life is being engaged in the learning process. Certainly, we love those times and environments when things ‘click’ and come easy for us. However, there are equally the number of situations we find ourselves in that challenge us and our skill set. What we do in those moments are more defining our our lives than anything. Go easy on yourself. Ask someone to help you or guide you. And stay with it.

If you are not willing to learn, no one can help you. If you are determined to learn, non one can stop you. - Zig Ziglar

Let Life Speak

A few days ago in a class, I had the opportunity to spend about 20 minutes watching a live eagle cam. While I often say I wish for quiet and rest, this exercise made me wonder if I really do. It’s hard to sit still like that and quiet my running mind and body to simply observe!

The nest had an adult eagle (not sure if it was momma or dad), a recently hatched eaglet and one egg. Other than the adult eagle clearly keeping watch through turning the head here and there and moving occasionally to a new spot in the nest, there wasn’t a lot of action going on.

It was a time to let life speak to me.

Life is beautiful.
Life is boring.
All things take time.
What is destined to happen will happen.

Living our best lives is making time to still ourselves and listen to what life speaks. And then rising up and carrying this knowledge into our ordinary lives. Not every moment is a soaring through the sky moment and that’s okay. Let’s live our best each moment we’re given. 

Today as I hopped on, life speaks again as I watch that little eaglet up and moving now.

How quickly things can change. 

Click here to check out the live video. You might be surprised by what life speaks to you.

 

A Misconception

This fall and winter I have been on a spiritual journey through the Ignatian Exercises. The meditation and focus for the last couple of days was when Jesus was on the cross. As the scene plays out, there are three different people groups: the religious leaders, the soldiers and one of the criminals being crucified next to him, all telling Jesus the same message... "Save yourself!"  

As I identified with the crowd of people who were standing and watching, I heard those words being yelled out at him. I thought of how they were demanding power and proving of His authority as Son of God and here he was demonstrating His love as the Son of God. Of course, as God he could have saved himself. But that wasn't the point. The whole reason He came to earth was to save us. 

In their cry for power, they missed love. 

Just a few days prior of the crucifixion, as Jesus recognized his time and all that the Father had given to Him, he took off his robe, picked up the towel and washed the feet of his disciples. Even those of his friend who would turn betrayer. He came to show us love. 

It makes me think of all the stuff that captures my attention. Of all the injustices I want to prove wrong and correct in the world. Of all that happens that I wish I could speak into a little louder or have the power to change. And these pictures of Jesus now give me context for the greatest question of all, "How will I love?"

Living our best lives is loving even when it is misinterpreted by all the people around us. It's laying down our own lives and rights and serving others. 

Jesus, show love through us.

A New Chapter

Great things have small beginnings. - Francis Drake

There’s something special about a blank page in front of you and a pen in hand. Releasing the thoughts and ideas within and etching the words or drawings into being. They take shape in the process of creating and we end up with something more than the seedlings we began with.

I know this is why I love writing. Maybe it’s why I love the New Year so much, too.

We are beginning a New Year and the page is blank. What is yet to come, none of us fully know. What we can do, is be intentional about taking our ideas and dreams and begin to look for where they can be written into our life. Take the seedling and make a next step: a phone call, an appointment, a conversation, or whatever. Never underestimate the potential within these small beginnings. Beginning is the hardest stage. Once you get moving, the next part takes shape and then the next.

As you begin to actively live into life you find a greater freedom and happiness. No longer sitting on the sidelines and watching life happen, you become an active participant.

Living our best lives is being engaged in the creative process. What do you most desire to see this year? What is one area you want to be intentional? What is the first small step in getting there?

Write it down. Tell a friend. Here’s to authoring a new chapter in our lives this year.

Happy 2017!