Starbucks in one hand, a new friend by my side, and this view right in front of us.
Yesterday was such a wonderful day! It started off bad. I felt sick and I just wanted to be alone…you ever have those kind of days? I couldn’t just walk away from life that morning, though…I knew I would regret it. I decided to let the bad day pass and move forward, so I went through the rest of my schedule with a positive attitude. I’ve been a little ungrateful lately about all the miracles that have happened in my life. A few years ago, I was going nowhere fast. I didn’t know who God was, and I was going in the opposite direction of where I should’ve been. These past 2 1/2 years I have gotten the pleasure to be a part of a group of people who have taught me how to love people, love God, and love myself…I have gotten to travel the country, the WORLD! I have been to Hungary, Croatia, Guatemala, and El Salvador all in 2 years of life. I have been to public schools all up and down the east coast, delivering the message that their life counts! Everything they do matters. And now I am here at this crossroads in life.
I know that my life has been blessed and it has been purposeful. Now as I journey through my last year in this program, and soon onto whatever awaits me after, I want to begin blessing the lives of others. Do you ever feel like all you ever do is take, take, take? I am tired of taking! I want to give. I want to give my time, my energy, my resources…I don’t want it to be said of me that…”I helped Ashton eat that day when she had no food”…”I helped Ashton go to college”…”I helped Ashton when she felt like she had nowhere to go”…and then they all say, “But she never really did anything for me.” Oh gosh, I would be heartbroken!
Ending that little thought, after all the grunt work of the day, our students went to the beach for a little game of beach volleyball! It gets a little scary sometimes because most of us are pretty competitive…but it’s all in good fun! So as I am standing there, the ball is served and then all of a sudden…
I scream, “MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!” I was just standing there and then I saw this money blow right towards me and so I ran and grabbed it, thinking it would be just a buck or so, but it was $20! You may be thinking, wow, big deal, but you have to understand something…I really needed that $20 and for it just to appear was incredible! Like manna from heaven.
If you haven’t learned anything by this point, though, when randomly gifted with something wonderful like $20, you can’t just use it all on yourself. You gotta pay it forward. There is definitely more joy in giving than receiving.
Finally, my day ended with the picture you saw at the top…a beautiful sunset. I got to know a new friend over some yummy Starbucks! I forgot how fun it can be getting to know new people. The more I go through this little “experiment” of one month to live, the more I realize how many opportunities there are out there to embrace life. There are so many moments, so many people, so many places just waiting for you!
Living life…
October 12, 2009 at 1:22 am |
I want more blogs! I check a few times a day to see if you posted anything new…hope that’s not creepy. Keep it up! Your thoughts are beautiful. Thank you for challenging me.