The un-shared ideas of quiet souls...

I've realized, over a recent period of self-directed disconnection from most of the stimulus happening in our world that so many people matter whose names we will never know and and so many solutions to problems in our world exist that will never be brought to light.  These inspired ideas and peaceful solutions won't even be brought to a level of consciousness other than that of the mind that thought it.

I've realized that our thinking, hurting, angry, over-communicative, over-stimulated and frustrated minds are so full that the quiet space needed for the gentle souls among us and peaceful solutions contained within them have nearly no place in our world right now... but it is precisely those souls and those ideas that are so needed.

The news bombards us.  The talking heads talk.  The angry politicians act without thought and fight without concern.  The egos are bigger than ever.  Acting on impulse, from anger and without thought - it's everywhere.  The injustice is ripe and rotting in our own front lawns but we can't seem to clean it up.  We can't seem to even call attention to it anymore because it is everywhere.  In fact, the stories that seem to capture and hold our attention are those rare stories of change and hope in the world - those are the ones that stand out from the rest.  Those are the stories we are truly seeking, but our pre-programmed and muddled minds always seek more and more stimulation and ultimately they forget the story of hope.  They turn back to the terror, the fear, the desolate reality of a world gone wrong.  We swim in it.  We are desperate for change and peace but we can't find it.  Too much gets in the way five minutes later.  The hope which seemed so palatable is once again gone and we are left seeking, knowing it is somewhere in the chaos of the rotten injustice.

The hope must be held on to.

Those of us with the hope, the ideas, the solutions, the programs, the generous hearts... we must dig deep and find all the courage we can possibly find to speak aloud those truths which we know can change the tides in our world.  It's hard, doing such a thing, because it requires strength and courage that come from a place which requires a loving fuel to keep us going... but such loving, hopeful energy is so hard to find right now.  Yet still we must try.

And keep trying because that's why we are here.

Just remember that when all of the noise and chaos around us becomes deafening, it is in that space that we can be heard.  We carry the story of hope so many are seeking - and the courage to do the work.  There will be times when we - when you - will need to be your own fuel.  When attentions wander and people forget that your ideas, your courage, your work of change are indeed valuable and are indeed changing the world, you must become your own fuel.  It was in the very same space of great pain and injustice in the world that the quiet and humble teachers throughout human history - Jesus, Gandhi, Buddha - walked quietly through the hells that surrounded them to tell their stories of Love, Peace and Hope.  Those teachers became leaders, those leaders became prophets and those prophets became spirits who guide us still today.  Call on them in your time of great need, but remember that you too contain the same courage they had.  You have the same kind of thoughts, the same space for hope, the same earthly body and the same calling to "be the change you wish to see in the world." (Gandhi)

You may be one of us, you may be that peaceful teacher and I tell you now that I  hear you... and you are not alone.  For it is in the time of great imbalance that true balance can be found.  It is in our destitution that we can so clearly see what hope looks like.  And it is in a world that appears devoid of love for our fellow human that we can recognize instantly what love looks like.  While many may become distracted and forget that they've seen the love, somewhere deep inside them their soul remembers what it looks like and they will keep seeking it.  Stand firm in the love and peace you bring to the world and those seeking it will find you.  God's plan is greater than any of ours and he has sent us to remind the world of that.

Be strong.  Be faithful.  Be courage itself.  Be what you were meant to be.

Eye of God

Flip your perspective...

It's so easy to get stuck.  Really stuck.  In our thinking, in our worries, in our ideas.  Even in the good things, we can get stuck - but those are easier to navigate.  It's when we get so deeply lodged in our own fears that it is critical to flip our thinking.  The only way out, I've found, is to imagine - and keep imagining - the exact opposite of our current situation.  That's when you get leverage from the universal law that says that what you think about expands, what you focus on, you attract more of and what you give your attention to, you manifest.

It is easy to understand then - in understanding this universal law of expansion - that by focusing more and more on the bad stuff or the suffering in your life, more of that exact situation is created, digging a deeper and deeper rut until you feel so incredibly stuck that you forget how to look for a way out of it.

Flipping your perspective, by creating a situation that is so completely opposite from the stuck place you may find yourself in allows you to start creating the space you want to be in rather than the one you don't want to be in.  The more you think about the place you want to be, and the more colors you use to paint that picture and the more details and emotions you attach to what you want, the more you open that magical, mystical vortex that allows you to create what you want in your life - and, at the same time, you will be moving away from that place of stuck-ness that you so desperately want to get out of.

I'm a big fan of fake it 'til you make it - that's the what.  The how is by flipping your stuck situation and focusing on where you want to be rather than where you are.  Your mind is a very loyal and reliable employee of yours.  It works around the clock without judgement or argument and it will gladly respond to what you think about by creating a stronger and stronger thought pattern to solidify and: (this is your choice, not your mind's) either further entrench you in what you don't want or to create a whole new attitude and way of thinking about what you do want.  In turn, the cells of your body (another hardworking doobie on your team) will respond in kind by making you feel either sicker, sadder and more stuck, or if you just choose to flip your thinking, your body will respond to make you feel healthier, stronger and more free to create what you want.

So if you're feeling stuck, just try it.  Imagine the opposite situation from the one you are in.  There are endless different perspectives you can have so go ahead and just start creating.  Make your new perspecive as fancy and wonderful as you possibly can, meditate on it and watch what develops in your life.  Remember that all of your employees (mind, body and universe), will respond to create for you so be careful what you wish for...!  Just be sure to keep it up.  Rome wasn't built in a day, you know.

When life shows up....

Sometimes it's subtle.
Sometimes it's overly avert.

Sometimes it's a shock.

Sometimes it's been there all along....

Photo of artwork in a coffee shop, name unknown, message received.

Life brings us so much each day.  Just sit, quiet and look.  Can't see anything?  Close your eyes and look within. It is in the moments when you think God has forgotten to deliver that He is doing his greatest work within you.  Be sure to pay attention to these quiet moments because they are preparing you for the moments that will arrive around the corner when everything you need outside of yourself starts to show up.  Your tools, your relationships, your challenges and your opportunities.  All yours.  All for your work in the world.  It all shows up for you to use in delivering upon your unique, divine mission in life.  

Don't miss it.  Odds are that it won't look like what you expect nor arrive when you're ready, but it all comes.  For you.  And only you.  Are you opening the door?

Knowing it to be true...

Have you ever had a gut instinct that proved to be right?  A feeling about someone or about a situation that was exactly what you thought when the truth came out?  Have you ever felt that you were inexplicably familiar with someone despite only just having met them?

These are all examples of the Spirit being alive in us and actively working with us... and evidence that we are fully present in our lives.  When we are open to our own Spirit (or God), this kind of knowing happens for us.  I've learned that when I feel most alive, most comfortable and most in the flow in my own life with someone or something, it is a sure sign that I am connected to a deeper knowing within myself.

There's a terrible affliction in humankind - one that keeps us trapped, living life in our heads all the time, trying to make sense of things, or worse, trying to make the world fit into our understanding of it. Too often too many of us forget to let go and let life happen.  And more often than not, people don't even realize that this is happening - that they are living life through their thoughts.  We've created our routines, our sense of right and wrong and our ways of seeing the world but they leave little room for seeing the world anew day after day.  There's so much beyond what we thing we know and see each day but it is so easy to miss it.  We forget, in a way, to get out of our own way.

Being open and letting life happen shows us a much more beautiful reality than one we could have written for ourselves in the first place.

I've practiced this openness to life and awareness of my own intuition for years but it's very easy to fall off the wagon.  Fear of loss, worries about the future, shocking information - it all throws us off balance in an instant.  That delicate and hard won balance is worth paying attention to and maintaining because it allows us to experience life in greater dimension.  It's a combination of living in the moment, listening to (and for) our own intuition, and believing that we are each a unique part of a larger story and that our role is critical to that story's success.  No one else can live our lives for us - we are here to live them fully and intentionally in the starring role.

Apathy toward your own life creates disappointment, lost opportunities, sadness, loss, regret - all terribly undesirable things!  So why not be engaged fully in your own story and fully open to all the story lines and walk-on characters that show up?  Only you can experience and share all those wonderful moments in the story of YOU.  And in that story of you, you are the superstar, the director and the producer - fitting indeed since only YOU can know all there is to know... and know it to be true.

You gotta have faith (ah-faith-ah-faith)...

No, not for the reasons George Michael sang about (though that's good too), but for the purpose of getting through.  It seems that we spend so much of our lives getting through something.  An interview, a breakup, a project, a period of change....  We spend very little time in the static space that must exist between one thing and another.  Between achieving/winning/surviving/overcoming one thing before another pops up in our lives.  That between time is as rare as the half of a day when all of your laundry is clean and there is none in the laundry basket.  It's a small moment, it's there, but it's always quickly replaced by a new and growing pile of laundry to be done.  Again.

Unlike the ever-present chore of doing laundry which is mundane, mindless and entirely nonthreatening (save for the part of you that just doesn't want to do it), our ongoing process of getting through something in life just seems to keep coming in surprising ways.  Sometimes we find ourselves getting through something that crept up on us, completely unexpected.  Sometimes it comes as a shock.  Sometimes it's welcome and lovely and you don't mind it at all.  But life is always a series of one thing after another that we are going through.  Or, as you might say, one thing after another that we are living.

Tonight I'm focused on having faith for the getting through.  I'm not talking about the kind of faith that we call upon when we find ourselves in sudden and desperate communion with God.  Not the impetuous kind of begging for the strength to get through something that happens when we are in crisis or hurt or in survival mode. Rather, the kind of faith we have that allows us to move from one phase of life to another.  From letting go of and moving beyond something we know well and moving into the great unknown of the future - having faith along the way that all will be well and banking on it being better than we can imagine in the present moment.

That kind of faith that we humans manage to have in the getting through-ness of life is the kind of faith that is an intimate conversation between ourselves and the higher power that allows us to get through anything. And I do mean anything.  And as humans, across the great span of human history, we have gotten through so much and most of the time we have done it not realizing just how strong we were while we were going through it.

So here's to having faith... and getting through.

When God closes a door...

He really does open a window.  Or another door.  Or eight new doors.  Or sometimes, even, an entirely new building.

I realized recently that I had been looking closely for something in one place for quite sometime.  After years of looking, expecting and hoping for it, I finally accepted that it was never going to happen.  So I let go and gave up the desire for it.  Only after I let it go did something else completely unexpected happen in an entirely new place with entirely new people.

Yes, I'm being vague.  It doesn't matter what it was for me, rather, the important thing is that we all begin to learn the lesson that looking for something is far different from allowing yourself to be open to something.  There are many wise spiritual leaders, metaphysical gurus and none-too-few books that talk about how we attract things to us.  And I've learned, after much studying, reading and listening that they all have pretty much the same thing to say:  We are constantly attracting to us all sorts of things but what the universe (or God) has in store for us is always exactly what we need, be it an opportunity to learn, to grow or to experience something important.  The universe contains such incredible power and works in so many ways we can't possibly measure or understand.  The problem is that we get so attached to what we want (or worse, what we think we need) that we often miss those opened windows, additional doors and brand new opportunities that pop up around us all the time.

Have the courage to stop looking for something in particular and open yourself to all of the wonderful things that life is bringing to you.  They are coming all the time whether you notice them or not.  And don't get attached to what you think the outcome should be.  The actual outcome, once it has come to pass, will be far greater than you could have imagined yourself.  I know, I've witnessed what is behind my own newly opened window after I finally stopped trying to get back into that closed door...

The look of love...

I've been to more weddings than I can count.  I've loved each one even more than I thought I would.  Being surrounded by so much love is contagious, you know.  Last night was no exception.

Meghan & Rob

Being witness to a promise made by two people to each other is quite a beautiful thing.  I've witnessed many broken promises and broken hearts in my life and they can be the kind of thing that leads some people to become despondent, pessimistic and give up on love all together.  But sharing in someone else's love story and being surrounded by so many others who love and support one couple's love story can fill a heart with faith in love and even - in my opinion - help to heal a broken heart and help some find faith again.  Thankfully, and despite a broken heart or two of my own, I've always had that faith.

The tradition I witnessed, as such, was full of the kind of ceremony and moments that one comes to expect at an American wedding.  The pledging of love, the kisses on command, the first dance and the reminder of long-standing love amongst the oldest and longest-married couples in the room.  It feels new and tender in this space if you open your heart to it, just like falling in love feels new and full of wonder - even after a broken heart or two.  There are some who have given up and closed themselves to knowing and witnessing what I did last night and to those people I say be open, forgive and believe in second (or third, or fourth) chances for love.

Love doesn't feel like or look like it does on a wedding day forever and some people, while they claim to know this, still seek moments in life that look or feel like the excitement of love at first sight or first kiss.  Far too many walk away prematurely when the honeymoon phase wears off because they prefer excitement and newness to the mundaneness of life.  Some hold on too long, suffering through something they should not and some (the couples who get to remain dancing the longest during that traditional married couples dance) have enough faith to hold on through the rough times that prove to be the cement of their foundation.  No love story looks like another and sometimes love is not promised forever.  But every opportunity for love teaches you something about yourself and gives you an opportunity to love someone in a way that can fill you with so much more than can be imagined or dreamt about.

So what does love look like?  I'm no expert but I've learned a thing or two...

Love requires work but it is generous in its giving.  Love does not exist on the surface of anything - not in the look of a person, an occasion or an interaction.  Sometimes even the most fumbling and awkward initial interaction can lead to the greatest love.  There is no perfect.  There is no script and there is no recognizable path.  The moment loves seems like it is something you have seen before, somewhere else, it is not love but rather someone else's story that's already been told (that includes your own).  Love is surprising and always shows you something you hadn't before seen - about the world, about life, about yourself.

So relax your gaze, open your heart and take a fresh look - no matter how many times you've tried before.  Perhaps what you are seeking will open to you when you change your own perspective and look in a new way rather than looking for something at all.

Love is a dance worth dancing - don't sit it out.

The moment before serendipity happens...

What does it look like?  

What does it sound like?  

Does the world get brighter?  

Do your ears buzz a little bit?  

Do you get hints?

I'm left asking myself all of these questions today.  Serendipity happened last night.  Divine intervention happened last night.  I was sent to a place to meet a person I'd never met who was sent to give me some very important information.

Where and what don't matter here.  But because I am human - and you are too, and because humans are curious and need context for a story to take root, I'll give you a bit of the story.  I will tell you though that what I am truly in awe of is how and why it happened as it did.

Yesterday afternoon's much awaited sun beckoned me to go for a drive - a drive which took me to one of my favorite places on the planet.  I wound up at my friend Corey Tevan's art studio - a lovely, imaginative human being who, when I'm in his presence, always brings me a sense of love and magic - and who opens a part of me I didn't realize needed opening.  Upon entering his gallery, he poured me a glass of wine and we began to talk.

I thought nothing and everything of the things of which we spoke - our conversations are always esoteric and like a dance without choreography but with a rhythm all their own.  This was mentioned, that was mentioned.  A person I'd never heard of was mentioned - and as such, I thought nothing of it.

My friend Corey Tevan and his art.

That person I'd never heard of and who my friend mentioned off-handedly, just happened to be the person I was meant to meet last night.  I drove an hour to have a poignant and incredibly serendipitous conversation with someone I never knew existed.  Someone who, most significantly, had no reason to show up unexpected as he did.  In fact, he had reason not to appear on this day and time as he did.  The list of evidence that shows that we were meant to meet is astounding - and terribly personal so I'm going to have to leave it at that for now.  But this person I'd never met is a messenger and a man of God - and he had a very important message for me - a message I had been seeking with great intent in recent weeks.

So you can imagine that I'm now asking myself what happened - what existed in the moments leading up to this providence that I can recount?  Is there something palpable in that space that I can use to be more aware of an impending kismet moment in the future?  Or is serendipity so magical precisely because we never know when it is going to happen?  Or can there be both?

Thinking back on my drive North, my mind was full of questions and my body was full of emotion.  I felt as though I was shedding something I no longer needed - but in order to do that, I needed it to all bubble to the surface.  Every song on the radio spoke to me.  The ride seemed both longer and shorter than usual.  My mind was elsewhere - I don't know where it was but it was not freely open to the unknown as it might have otherwise been on a random afternoon drive.  It was processing something and I now think that it was processing and working through things that needed to be brought to a level of consciousness as I grew closer and closer to my fateful encounter.

Somewhere between my divine thought of "Hey, it's so nice out today, let's go for a drive" and the moment my answer arrived in the form of Reverend Joe in his big black coat... somewhere in that divinely choreographed afternoon was a moment of "before" my serendipity and I am beyond curious to find it and recognize it for future use.   I am wise enough, though, to know that the mysteries of the universe are far greater than my linear, organizing mind is capable of understanding, so I am comfortable with the the reality that I may never be able to satisfy my curiosity.  But there's something to be said for being aware of the wonder that comes from a glimpse of divine magic when it happens.  It is that which I revel in at this moment.

My messenger, Rev. Joe.

A message from the Hopi Elders...

I have loved this passage for years and read it often.  Each time I read it, it becomes more true, more eminent.  I encourage you to write it down, bookmark it, print it, copy it - whatever it takes for you to read this again and again when you are seeking answers and guidance.  

The wisdom is not mine, but the sunset, for a few moments last June, was.  

Both can and should be shared.

A Message from the Hopi Elders 

"You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour. 
Now you must go back and tell the people that this is The Hour. 
Here are the things that must be considered: 
Where are you living? 
What are you doing? 
What are your relationships? 
Are you in right relation? 
Where is your water? 
Know your garden. 
It is time to speak your Truth. 
Create your community. 
Be good to each other. 
And do not look outside yourself for the leader. 
This could be a good time! 
There is a river flowing now very fast. 
It is so great and swift, that there are those who will be afraid. 
They will try to hold on to the shore. 
They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly. 
Know the river has its destination. 
The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water. 
And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate. 
At this time in history, we are to take nothing personal. 
Least of all, ourselves. 
For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt. 
The time of the lone wolf is over. 
Gather yourselves! 
Banish the word "struggle" from your attitude and your vocabulary. 
All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration. 
We are the ones we have been waiting for!" 


- Oraibi, Arizona, Hopi Nation

Sixteen thousand six hundred lost souls...

Over sixteen thousand individual human beings have perished in Japan since the disaster struck almost exactly one week ago as I write this.  These are lives that have ended violently and unexpectedly.  People like you and me with hopes, dreams, fears, lovers, crushes, pets, jobs, siblings, hobbies, favorite colors, memories, good days and bad days... dead.

...The "Fukushima Fifty".  A group of anonymous engineers on a suicide mission into the radiation to try and slay a monster that can't be seen, nor, seemingly slayed.

...Lybia.  No-fly zones.  Lybians asking for help from the US and even offering to pay for it.  Surface-to-air missiles.  Rebels attacked. Genocide.

There were so many reasons for me to be happy today but I struggled to be my typically cheerful self.  It's St. Patrick's Day today but the collective jubilation of the day seemed to be muted in a subtle way.  I shopped for a dress to wear to a friend's wedding and I found myself irritated by my own vanity in the dressing room.  How can this be important when I live on the same planet with so many people who are suffering right now, on a daily, hourly basis?

Surprising, unsettling, shocking things are happening all over the world.  Natural disasters, man-made disasters, war, famine, disease, depleting resources, abuse, slavery, power struggles, fights for freedom, and humanity's greatest and most realistic fear: nuclear destruction.  It's everywhere.  Even if you turn off your television or choose to ignore it, it's still there.  And we are getting to a point in our collective human story where we are all affected and none of us can ignore the problems any more.  We can distract ourselves, we can drown our sorrows for a night but when a new day dawns, it's all still there.

I wish I had more answers but I only have one.  I hope you trust me on what I do know and I hope you join with me in opening to it as well, especially if you feel as helpless as so many of us do.  We must give love.  It takes nothing from you yet it gives so much.  We all determine what it means to give our love.  None of us are immune to what is happening.  Just as Siddhartha longed to know what existed beyond the walls of his kingdom and then ventured out to learn the ugly realities of life, we will all one day either seek to know the truth or the truth will come find us.  Let us be like the Buddha and seek the kind of enlightenment within ourselves that will, in turn, serve to bring more love to the world.  Because...

Sixteen thousand six hundred people just like you and me had no idea that their lives would end one week ago.

The families of sixteen thousand six hundred people had no idea that they would lose loved ones.

The community of sixteen thousand six hundred citizens had no way of knowing that it would be turned to rubble.

The nation of Japan had no idea that it would be ground zero for the greatest natural disaster in written history and the unwitting host, now, to a man-made nuclear disaster with no foreseeable conclusion.

As far and as wide as we will look for answers, there will be many experts with many answers and no answers just the same.  The one answer that does exist for all of us lies in the hearts of Six billion seven hundred million people.  And it is this:  The choice we make to love and take care of one another for as long as we are on this earth.  It is the one answer we will always have and we can always employ.  It is universal to every situation in every corner of our world.  Love exists in an endless supply.  As long as ONE of us chooses to do Good for another person, then I believe humanity is on the right path.

...The path to love.

Heal the World, Make It a Better Place...

It's no surprise to anyone who knows me that I know that Michael Jackson sang about the kind of truth in the world that we are experiencing today.  I also know that we can Heal the World, we can Make It a Better Place.  And we must.

I'm so struck today by this unconscionable disaster in Japan.  Many of us are left with images today that shock us and beg the question, "what can I do?"  Or better yet, "what should I be doing?"  I'm typically not a fan of shoulding someone but in this case, I believe that it is our obligation as humans to do something.  And we can do something just as easily as we we breathe, think and enjoy the pleasures that exist just by being here on this big beautiful planet.

While so many are suffering on Earth today, I feel that I have to do something.

I can't go rescue people in Japan.  I can't put out fires.  I can't find lost loved ones or deliver water to people trapped in their homes.  I can't figure out how to secure nuclear reactors or put highways back together.  I can't tell a mother that her child is gone or a child that her mother is gone.  Someone else, somewhere, will do what I cannot do but that does not remove responsibility from me or anyone else.

So I will do what I can, where I can and how I can.  What I can do is feel good that I've been giving my time and passion to a volunteer cause helps young girls I've never met.  That today I gave my time and knowledge to a friend who is growing into a role much bigger than himself.  That tomorrow I will give my birthday to a cause that is dear to my heart.  And I will give my time and joy to my mother over the next few days.  I will also recycle, call my friends, see a newborn and commit to praying more for peace in the world.

I fear that some people have developed a sense of numbness, a sense of helplessness or surrender in the face of the extreme pain, loss and anguish we have seen so much of lately.  It's true that it feels like it is almost too much for a single heart to bear.  I fear that some people have given so much to the last disaster that happened - or to the one before it - that they feel they have been exhausted.  That they've "given enough" - or even worse, that they've "given too much."

We must all continue to give and to give every single day.  Not just when Katrina hits.  Not just when Haiti is in ruins.  Not just when there is upheaval or celebration over a toppled regime.  Not just when you can turn on the TV and be reminded of your responsibility to give.  Just like life, where we must continue to celebrate on all the days between the holidays, we must also give on all the days in between.  We must learn to give when everything seems well in the world, in our community or in our own home.  We must give every single day.  In any way we can.  We must say hello to a stranger.  Ask the clerk at the grocery store about his day and really listen to what he has to say.  We must acknowledge a homeless woman and remind her that she is just as important, or intelligent, or worthy as you or me.  Let's not look away from someone in a wheelchair.  Let's ask a restaurant owner why he is using Styrofoam and then ask him politely not to.  Offer someone a ride.  Offer your skills to a friend.  Start donating to a cause that can do what you cannot.  Be more loving toward someone who rubs you the wrong way.  Call your estranged father.

Let's stop drawing lines.  Let's start building bridges between us.   But more than anything, let's start giving something - anything-  to someone today.  We are all victims of Katrina, Darfur, Haiti, and Japan just as much as we are the hero who pulls bodies from the wreckage or the one who fixes the highways.  What none of us should ever be is indifferent because what happens to everyone else happens to us as well.

They are us, and we are them.  

I am you, and you are me.  

We are one.  

And we can all heal the world.  

...For the children, and the children's children.

We are all affected by one person's pain...

Today I pray for miracles, faith, hope, 
compassion, cooperation and peace 

in the aftermath of the earthquake in Japan.


We are all one.

So many lives were ripped apart by the unthinkable earthquake in Japan today.  We are all connected, we are all affected and we are becoming a humanity that finally feels one another's pain and anguish.  This and all natural disasters happening around the world cause us all pain.


I hope you pray today, send your love and remember that we are all connected. We are all one.  Take care of each other today, we all need one another.  Your prayers, thoughts and good intentions are powerful for you and every other human on the planet.  

Loving someone you've never met...

No, I'm not talking about online dating.  I'm talking about a contagious Love that has caught me and so many others completely by surprise.  It is the Love for 32 orphaned girls in Mtwapa, Kenya that exists within a community of volunteers for an organization called One Home Many Hopes.  This is a community to which I happily belong.

I've worked with underprivileged children for as long as I can remember.  In many ways, I was one myself, receiving the support of kindhearted church-goers who funded summer camp for me and my sister, and the like. I have been working with, loving, and going out of my way to take care of children who need me since I became an adult and I don't see an end to that but I've found myself in a state of awe for the Love that exists in the One Home Many Hopes (OHMH) community.

When I attended an event in May of 2010 at the request of my friend and OHMH volunteer, Tracy, I was surprised to find well over 200 other people in attendance.  I wondered to myself if I had somehow missed the boat.  How had I not heard about an organization with this kind of following in my own town?  I brought my mom to the event which was a great experience because she was able to witness what turned out to be my Love at First Sight moment with the organization.  We sat in the front row, directly in front of the projection screen where I first saw the faces and voices of a group of girls I will now do anything I can to help.

By the time the time Anthony Mulongo (the Kenyan who rescued and housed each of these girls) was finished speaking, I was in tears and I had been changed for life.  I had fallen in Love.  I hugged the man I'd never before met and promised to do anything I could.  And I am.

I brought home magnets with the girls faces that night and put them on my refrigerator.  I now look at those beautiful girls each time I open the door.  I smile at them, talk to them and tell them I Love them.

To those who know me, this isn't much of a surprise - or very far out of the ordinary for me.  I care.  A LOT.  But there has been something special about the way I feel connected to OHMH and these girls that I can't quite explain.  And then, today happened.

Today I asked another volunteer, Cristina, to tell me her story about what drew her to OHMH.  Cristina sent me the link to her story on the organization's website, and I was amazed to learn that volunteering for OHMH is the reason she decided NOT to move out of the country.  I mean, people move for all sorts of reasons and they are typically not come upon lightly.  Some of us have even left behind relationships, families and best friends for the promise of something greater.  But to STAY for a nonprofit that can't pay you for your dedication?  That's unheard of!  I had a wonderful chat with Cristina who is equally in Love with the 32 girls who live in an orphanage in Kenya that she, too, has not met.  I thought this was a pretty incredible moment in my day.  After all, I'm giving my birthday this year to the girls, Cristina gave up an international relocation...  Really! What is in the OHMH water?

But Cristina's story was not the end of my amazement today.  My sister, Suzie, fell in Love with OHMH today, too.  Now, you should know that my sister is as about as opposite from me as she could be.  I'm a woman of words and emotion, she is a woman of images and thought.  I'm a teacher, a writer, and a motivator to causes.  My sister is a photographer with a dry wit who rarely shows the kind of gushy, mushiness that has long been part of my trademark.  Case in point:  She finally posted a response to her only sister's blog yesterday for the first time.  The entry she commented on was the deeply personal essay I wrote about Setting Boundaries.  What did she write, you might ask?  And I'm quoting her here:  "hey. that stop sign is in my neck of the woods."  Yup, she commented on the photograph I used to illustrate my deeply poignant message about boundaries. Oy.

Suzie and I have come to appreciate our differences and I love that my sister shows the world through her lens what is in her heart - and she's damn good at it!  She photographs the unique love of families, pregnant women in their most joyful moments, and babies who don't give a damn about the camera - and somehow each image manages to capture a moment in time that I'm pretty sure her subjects weren't even aware of.  You would understand, then, that I would never expected to get an email from my sister today with a two-page heart-felt letter written to every single one of her friends explaining her Love for the girls of Mudzini Kwetu. 

My sister told me that her letter, and her Love for OHMH, came to her this morning while she was at church.  The message of that sermon was simply that "faith always has a plan."  I wish I had heard the rest of that sermon but I'm pretty sure her minister was talking about the kind of plan that built OHMH and has brought so many of us to have the kind of faith that allows us to Fall in Love with the girls, the cause and the community it has created.  I'm pretty sure that faith's plan is to show us all this kind of Love - the kind of Love that allows you to devote yourself to someone you've never met - and the kind of Love is changing the world.  


Have a OHMH Love Story of your own to share?  Send it to OHMHLoveStories (at) g m a i l (dot) c o m!