This is an old entry that I wrote, but never posted. Hope it resonates with you.
I believe in love and hope and fighting for life. I believe love and hope are real.
I've experienced each of these in very real ways; this is the stuff life is made out of. This is what I want to spend my life on. People need people, community, and love. Sometimes laughter really is the best medicine; and other times it's found in silence, listening. Being rather than saying.
Pain is also very real, and the darkness that comes with it seemingly unbearable, inpenetrable. Sometimes the answers aren't so simple or easy. Sometimes embracing the darkness seems like the only way out.
But I also believe that this pain doesn't have to be the end. That there is always hope and love if one can be brave enough to reach for it. Reaching is changing and change isn't easy, change is blinding, sometimes paralyzing; but change can save lives. Change says that there is more than what you're seeing, feeling, doing now. You are meant for more than a prison of pain and half-hearted smiles, and saying you're okay while inside you are screaming that nothing is okay. There is more, there is hope.
To Write Love On Her Arms is a non-profit organization that believes in these things. They are committed to bringing hope to the hopeless and love to the lonely. They have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to treatment and recovery facilities. TWLOHA was founded by Jamie Tworkowski. Jamie reached out and found that hope is real; and that God had a plan for him. Through Jamie and TWLOHA, hope and healing has spread throughout America and is now flowing into Europe and Australia.
Over the past few months, I had forgotten how much TWLOHA means to so many people, including myself. This mobilization of hope and freedom is much bigger than the small staff and group of interns that keep it running smoothly. No, these issues of pain and hope, loss and freedom, death and life are universal. It was TWLOHA that really showed me how much I hurt for those in chains, not just the hurt but also the boldness to stand up for hope, love, faith, and peace. I was reminded of these things while reading Jamie's blog tonight.
This is a link to the post I was reading.
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=8302385&blogId=358209920
(And if that doesn't work, go to Jamie's myspace blog from myspace.com/jamiewrites and go to the Feb. 15, 2008 entry.)
Jamie has a unique gift of writing; his words seem more like letters sent between friends than him bearing his soul to the countless audience that is the world wide web. His writings are reminders that no man is an island and hope is always there. And that it is the responsiblity of those possessing this hope and love, to give it to those dying for it.
Friday, January 15, 2010
2010- Reaping
Galations 6:7-9
"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."
2010. New Year, new decade. Words cannot describe how refreshing and liberating it has been to say Goodbye to 2009. The past year has been quite possibly the hardest and most direction-less year of my life. I literally felt I had no plan at all last year, and if 2009 was any indication, I do not do well without a plan. There was no motivation to do anything, because everything literally felt pointless. But, in the midst of all that doubt and misdirection, I never doubted my life's worth or ultimate meaning. And it was through that Rock and conviction that I dug deeper into God than I ever have, fasted more than ever, prayed more than ever. I sowed so much into 2009, it hurt, to be honest. And that is precisely why I am looking to 2010 with excitement and anticipation for what this year holds; to reap what I have sown.
Matthew 5:3-6
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled."
Those were the first words Jesus spoke in His earthly ministry; he turned conventional wisdom on it's head from the start, and has never looked back. His is not the easiest Way, but it is the best.
"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."
2010. New Year, new decade. Words cannot describe how refreshing and liberating it has been to say Goodbye to 2009. The past year has been quite possibly the hardest and most direction-less year of my life. I literally felt I had no plan at all last year, and if 2009 was any indication, I do not do well without a plan. There was no motivation to do anything, because everything literally felt pointless. But, in the midst of all that doubt and misdirection, I never doubted my life's worth or ultimate meaning. And it was through that Rock and conviction that I dug deeper into God than I ever have, fasted more than ever, prayed more than ever. I sowed so much into 2009, it hurt, to be honest. And that is precisely why I am looking to 2010 with excitement and anticipation for what this year holds; to reap what I have sown.
Matthew 5:3-6
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled."
Those were the first words Jesus spoke in His earthly ministry; he turned conventional wisdom on it's head from the start, and has never looked back. His is not the easiest Way, but it is the best.
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