Tag Archives: one word

They Chose to Rewrite the Ending


“I’ll sing the song if you can play it on the guitar,” he said.

A google search later on a nearby iPhone & chords were in the guitar player’s hand.

“Let’s do it,” she said.

He stumbled through the first few notes…off-key & out of rhythm. Forgetting the words as he went. It was an embarrassing train-wreck in the making. A potential ego boost for the rest of the room.

But they chose to rewrite the ending of this story.

First the guitarist joined in, then the redhead on the couch, another “I love to sing but I’m not a singer” guy, next the long-haired blonde with an accent…soon the entire group was singing. A classic that had high school flashbacks playing in all of our minds.

Instead of embarrassment the ending was one of community. When he began to stumble…to lose the melody…the group quickly stepped in to carry him along for a bit. It may sound silly, but I see Jesus in these moments clear as day. His love & his life feel tangible for just a moment. 

I can’t guarantee you that all of those people in the room knew who Love is, but they certainly seemed to know what it means to live love. And I have a group of strangers to thank for helping me see Love just a bit more clearly…if even only for a moment.

1 Comment Creativity, Relationships

With Seeing Comes Responsibility

What is that line from Spiderman? “With great power comes great responsibility.” 

I’m beginning to learn that the same is true with seeing. When you eyes are opened there is no going back. With seeing comes responsibility.

Responsibility to act.
To share what you see.
To speak the truth in love.
To live the truth in love.
To be patient & sit in the tension between the old reality & the new.

Seeing is information…knowledge. And knowledge forever changes things. Information changes the reality that once was & there is no going back to the way things were. I’m discovering that part of seeing is also learning how to redefine & navigate a new reality in light of what is seen.

And that may be the hardest part of all.

Comment Deep Thinking

What Do You Do When You Don’t Want to See?

What do you do when you don’t want to see?

I honestly hadn’t thought about it. I hadn’t considered that there’d come a moment when I didn’t want to see. It’s one thing to be unaware…to not see because your eyes haven’t yet been opened to things. And that was a challenge I anticipated this year. But it’s another to have open eyes which you choose to close because you don’t want to see.

The introvert in me can become quite selfish in relationships. It reaches a breaking point at which it chooses to see no one but itself. It doesn’t want to see that there are other people who need connection even if it doesn’t. In those moments, I often choose not to see. I choose not to see because I don’t want to see. Seeing is particularly hard & messy in those moments. Seeing is exhausting in those moments. Seeing feels like taking one step forward only to take 4 giant leaps backwards.

This past week was one of me not wanting to see. Of more often than not choosing to close my opened eyes because seeing just felt too hard & I was tired of hard. Then I got a note from a dear friend. And I saw. I saw that I’d been refusing to see. Sometimes it takes being seen to make you realize you’ve been choosing not to see & I am grateful for friends who do just that for me – who remind me that I am seen even if I think I’m not…even if I try not to be.

Do you ever not want to see? What do you do in those moments?

Comment Deep Thinking, Just Life

Step 1: Wake Up!

Awake my soul! – Psalm 57:8

I read that simple little three word phrase…one I’m sure I’ve read many times before…back in December & for the first time my soul felt it – really felt it as it screamed “yes! that’s what I want. I want to be awake!”

I want to be awake to life. To the celebration, the pain, the love, the hurt, the laughter, the tears, & most importantly to the joy & beauty in all of it.

Yes, to be awake to ALL of life. To have a soul that is awake to ALL of life.

I think it was in that moment that I realized if focusing on surrender for 11 months had done anything for my soul it had woken it up. From slumber. From mediocrity. From fear. From comfort. From my plan…my dreams. From the box that I try to confine my limitless God to – the God who created the universe & writes my story. Yes, I had surrendered to Him & in doing so my soul had been awakened to the larger than life story He was writing for me. 

And that’s exactly where I needed to be in order to focus on seeing in 2012. I needed to be awake. Because you can’t see if you’re sleeping.

Seeing requires waking up. Waking up flows from surrender. Another piece of the puzzle…or maybe it’s a spoke of the wheel…falls into place.

Are you awake to life? 

2 Comments Deep Thinking, Just Life

S-E-E – One Word 2012

S-e-e. Three simple letters. And although I haven’t quite sorted it all out in my head just yet, I think part of the key to fully living lies in those three letters…learning how to really see. To see God’s goodness, to see others, & to see myself…all honestly – the good & bad.

Seeing inspires gratitude. It fuels courage. Fosters growth. Builds trust. And banishes fear.
Seeing strengthens community. It encourages others.
Seeing gives birth to dreams. And it leads to action.

Seeing requires slowing down. It means choosing to be vulnerable.

To see is to surrender assumptions & “the way it’s always been” in order to discover what really is. 

Seeing is risky. But I believe it’s a risk that is life-giving. So for 2012, my one word, my goal, is to see. To really truly sincerely see. To discover how the eyes of the soul see.

Do you have a word for 2012? I’d love to hear it!

8 Comments Just Life