Aug 7, 2019 | Community, Do The Hard Thing, Lead, Speak up |
The trees, the dolphins, and
the mountains call to me
and demand to be seen.
I can’t look away.
The bird’s song,
the breeze, tickling the trees,
the way a flower grows
from a teeny seed.
I can’t look away.
I see their creator in them.
His design, his joy,
his creativity is in the magenta flower,
the succulents, the manatee,
the neon tree frog, and the terrapins.
They sing a song over me and
I am compelled to sing with them.
I want to join the chorus.
What are the notes?
I don’t know their song.
What are the words?
How do I join them?
Humanity has a song, too.
I can hear it
when I listen.
The song is constant –
everyone taking a breath
at a different time.
Some scream to be heard.
Some sing into a void
where no one listens.
Some are making their
own stages.
It’s hard to listen to the song because there’s
so much to grieve,
so much hurt
and righteous anger
in the song.
So much so that sometimes I try to silence it.
Headphones on.
Head down.
Just make sure
all is well in my house –
that everyone under my roof
can sing.
But.
My song is the song of humanity.
My voice is meant to be
heard and it is meant to
amplify the song that
others are singing.
I can’t not listen to their song
and there’s no other song
for me to join in on.
I can’t look away.
They demand to be seen.
I can’t look away.
I see their creator in them.
His design, his joy,
his creativity is all
over us all.
My voice must add to
their song of long-awaited,
the-time-is-now
justice.
Otherwise,
I
am
just
noise .
#PermissionGranted
Jun 19, 2019 | Be you, confidently, Do The Hard Thing, purpose |
The pitch darkness
makes her stumble.
It doesn’t matter if her eyes are
open or closed –
the light is the same.
She keeps to herself,
keeps herself small
so that she doesn’t
end up with bumps and bruises.
she shuffles imperceptibly.
Her lack of confidence is
because she is
swaddled in uncertainty.
Her movement,
her thoughts,
are
stunted,
stagnant.
Her dreams –
vacant.
What ifs
keep her a prisoner
to what has always been.
She sits and waits for…
she doesn’t know.
She waits but
doesn’t know why…
an invitation perhaps?
An invitation to leave
the dark and
cross the threshold
into brave.
Will it ever arrive?
Whatever it is?
This waiting game
is draining life from her.
She crashes into the nightstand
and hears a
rolling in the drawer.
She grasps in the dark
and pulls open the drawer
and shuffles through madness.
Her hands find round, tapered.
Her heart skips a beat.
Is this what hope feels like?
Her hands flit around the item
and she knows, she just knows,
it is a candle.
She reaches into the drawer again,
in search of matches.
She finds a box.
She lights the candle.
Holds her breath.
And she can see.
And she remembers.
She remembers the invitation
sent long ago.
She remembers who she is.
Ahh, yes.
This is hope.
The small light gives her enough to see
and certainty takes root in her heart.
The small light is like a
spotlight on her soul.
It stirs dreams,
stokes hope,
and she believes that there’s
possibilities for her
beyond this smallness
that she has been relegated to.
The light reminds her
of her worth,
enables her to see
the door to the room
she has been shut in for so long.
She turns towards the door
with steps of purpose.
She turns the knob and
steps into brave –
taking the candle with her.
#PermissionGranted
Are you in the dark, friend?
Find truth, seek light, and remember that you were made on purpose, for a purpose.
Are you hiding in darkness?
Cling to light and step into brave.
Jun 12, 2019 | confidently, Do The Hard Thing, Speak up |
Some things just
need to be said.
They don’t need rehearsed –
there’s no time for that.
If the passion is now –
the time is now.
So often the space when
something needs to be said
is a small gap in time –
and once it has passed
the opportunity for maximum
impact has also passed.
If you wait –
it may be too late.
When we wait for
an invitation,
wait for more research to be done,
hope for the right time,
write draft after draft,
jockey for position,
for platform…
We miss the opportunity that
needed our voice –
It’s gone.
And those who may have gained
strength, peace, or freedom
through the impact of our words
will never receive the power
of our words.
When your heart feels
like it might burst,
when hope is blossoming,
when peace includes a fight,
when truth requires armor,
when fear and bravery hold hands,
when passion can’t be contained –
Speak.
#PermissionGranted
Are you holding back on speaking up, speaking out?
Are the words you keep within you blocking purpose, passion, and possibilities – for yourself or others?
Jun 5, 2019 | confidently, Do The Hard Thing, Encouragement, Grow |
Each time I stand on
the precipice of a gap –
between what I know –
and what I do not know –
I am surprised by
the question that
must be answered.
I thought I already
chose bravery?
Remember
last
time?
We’ve already been
through this.
So why, then, am I standing
here looking at this gap
and feeling queasy?
If I turn back to known
the nausea abates,
but I wither and bitter when
I stay in known
for too long.
And it has been too long.
Excuses disguised as
valid reasons cement
my feet to what I know.
The gap stares back,
demanding an answer,
taunting my hesitancy.
I lift my foot and
step forward and
the heaviness crumbles.
I choose the unknown,
again.
I choose bravery
and leave my excuses
in crumbles
at the edge of the gap.
#PermissionGranted
What decision are you facing today? Sit with it and realize you have a choice to make, a gap to face. Recognize the power of excuses. Name the excuses that are cementing you to the known.
You can do it. Again.
Choose bravery.
May 29, 2019 | Becoming, Do The Hard Thing, Encouragement |
It’s always been there –
on the shelf –
hiding in the dark.
It’s never seen the sky
or felt the tension
on the other end of the string
as it rose
through the sky.
The kite has sat,
still in plastic,
the pricetag faded.
Here’s the truth.
I’m scared to fly it.
Afraid I will
make a mistake
and break it.
Afraid I will ask it
to do more than it can
and then we will
crash and burn
and look silly.
And so the vibrant colors
stay hidden in the closet.
The kite on the shelf
is full of purpose
but no one really
knows it is there.
It’s not meant to
sit
on
a
shelf.
And neither am I.
And neither are you.
We are meant to fly,
we are supposed to
be boisterous with our
purpose, passion, and possibilities.
We are to be color and joy
and we are to feel the tension
as we let the wind drive us
where we are supposed to go
while we are held,
tethered to the one
who created us to fly.
Storms will come.
We are tethered.
Questions will pelt us.
We are tethered.
The sun will shine.
We are tethered.
Mistakes will happen.
We are tethered.
Go ahead.
Chase the wind.
Chase your purpose.
It’s what you are made for.
#PermissionGranted
Is your kite on a shelf, friend?
If you are facing storms…be encouraged, you are tethered. You’re in good hands.
May 2, 2019 | Becoming, Community, Do The Hard Thing |
Here’s what we forget –
what I forget –
sometimes Permission Granted
is a turning from
versus a turning towards.
Sometimes it means
we have to own something,
and dig in and grow.
Sometimes Permission Granted is
turning away from
what you’ve always
believed
and turning towards
what’s always actually been true.
Sometimes it’s admitting
you
are
wrong.
Often, Permission Granted
isn’t a warm fuzzy feeling.
I know.
It is my favorite thing, too.
Permission Granted can
take us to hard places,
challenging moments and
often requires an honest
evaluation of who we are
in comparison to
who we are made to be.
This is the genesis of growth.
And it’s not always fun.
However, it is always necessary
if we want to be all
that we are made to be.
Why does this matter?
Our world depends on it.
The world you and I
live in is created
by who we are –
by what we do.
Don’t run from
Permission Granted.
Don’t avoid hard, challenging
issues or conversations
because they aren’t
warm and fuzzy.
How do you tell your kids,
the child down the street
who is hungry every day,
or the sweet baby at church with
mocha-colored skin
that you are
unable to effect change
because there aren’t warm fuzzies
each step of the way?
We can do hard things.
#PermissionGranted
What do you need to turn from, friend?
What do you need to learn more about so that you can know what is actually true?
