First Things: Redemption

This morning, my daily devotional talked about an old Christian Poem.

The poem was about the crucifixion of Christ - as told by the cross itself, the tree that was cut down to make the cross on which Christ was nailed. The poem reflects on the idea that Adam & Eve ate from a tree and in so doing condemned mankind, but this tree that became the cross would be the tree on which all mankind would be redeemed.

I get emotional when I think about the idea of redemption, especially when it comes to being an instrument or a vessel for good.  The Bible is full of parables and stories of how God uses imperfect people to accomplish great things. Jacob tricked his brother Esau, yet God chose Jacob to build the Hebrew nation. Zachheaus (sp?) was a tax collector who defrauded people out of money, but the story of his hospitality to Christ is sung throughout Sunday schools around the world. Peter denied Christ and then became the rock of the Christian Church - and Paul killed many Christians before he was called by God to be a part of the foundations of faith. And there are many many more stories.

The Biblical message is clear - no matter what you have done in your past, no matter what your history, redemption is real. You can make a choice for a positive impact, you can change the world. If you feel that you are worthless, so have countless others before you.  If you feel that your baggage is too heavy, it is no more than what others have born. If you feel powerless, you have the power to change the future.

Redemption is freely available if you choose to take hold of its open hand.

First Things: In the Now

This morning I'm really thinking about the importance of what lies before us... of the now.

This idea has really been impressed on me lately as I've been teaching my improv classes. In any acting situation, the actor always strives to be "In the moment" with his scene partners and with herself. When an improviser is focused in the moment, nothing goes by in a scene without it being picked up, examined and devoured.

The best improvisers do this by habit. On stage they LIVE in the now. Your character is tying his/her shoes and misses tying the shoelace - "watch out, you're going to trip over that." A character sneezes - "You have a cold, Damn - I knew it stay away from me!" Not only are they in the moment, they are there with the strongest of emotional choices and imperatives.

This moment that has just happened is the most important thing in the world RIGHT NOW and we need to take action on it before we DIE.

A little dramatic, but the point is there.  Don't miss those moments.

And so it is with life. We live our best lives when we are present in the moment - when we don't gloss over someone's emotionally tinted comment, when we listen with our ears, our mind, and our heart, and when we react to the thing that just happened and deal with it before we move on.  Sometimes that means making tough decisions, or halting something else, or waiting for another opportunity. But we have to live in this moment because that is where our lives, our memories, our world is built.

First Things: Heart in action

Amazing things happen when we love and respect each other.

On Friday, as we inaugurated Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States and he and this congress promptly started dismantling healthcare for millions of Americans, the mood was as optimistic as the fog that filled the air Friday night. Thick, foreboding and heavy with fear.

The next morning the Sun rose, burned off the night's fog and my social media feeds began to light up with photos of people marching in support of women and people around the world. For more than a year, our now President spoke out against many different types of people. He took stands against people of different faiths, different skin colors, orientations and against women. In his name, many took to the streets to bully and assault minorities and people not like themselves. In his name, racism and hatred have found empowerment to move out of the shadows and into the light. In his name, bullying, hatred and fear have become a way of getting things done and making change.

Saturday, millions of people, mostly women, stood up against it. They joined together with different messages but a unified theme to say that we will not be bullied, we will not be threatened, we will not be silences, will stand up for each other, and we will LOVE.

And that was inspiring.

Love in action is inspiring.
Hope in action is inspiring.
A heart in action is inspiring.

First Things: Be The Good

This weekend ended on a sad note for many in my circle of friends as a dear family lost their mother.

It reminds me that in the midst of this bizarre and often difficult world, what matters most is the mark we leave on someone's heart.

On my Facebook Page this weekend an old high school acquaintance left a scathing, judgmental, hate-filled comment on a post that was followed by an equally hateful comment from a current friend which lead me to take down the post and step away.

No matter what the circumstances are in your life, to an issue, in a conversation or in a battle, you can be the good that someone needs.


Be the good for a world in need.
Be the light that shines in the dark.
Be the hope that seeks to be found.

First Things: Do things right away

Written on the giant white board in my office is the phrase "Do Things Right Away." It seems like a self-explanatory, pretty straight forward thing. Right?

How do I wish that I always lived by those words.

Over the New Year weekend, we decided to repaint our living room, dining room, and office. While everyone was out reveling the new year we were pouring paint into trays and navigating boxes of nick-knacks, books, and collections of the stuffs of our lives. On one hand I love to party in the new year, on the other, it was really wonderful to spend time working together on the house.

We haven't done much to our office since we moved into the house nearly seven years ago. The space gets a clean-up for a party, or when guests come over... but a deep-cleanse hasn't really happened. There's good reason for that. 

It scares the crap out of me.

I hate being confronted with how much I blatantly violate my own "Do Things Right Away" rule. So now it's going to take weeks to put the office back together as I sift through the piles of paperwork and files that piled up over the years. Some of it will just end up in the garbage without analysis or proper filing. Some of it will bring back good memories and cause me to pause in happy reflection. And some of it will be tedious.

Sometimes we are too busy to be able to properly do things right away, or we have to put out another fire before we can get to a "right away." But taking the time, carving out the moments to take care of an item, or yourself, is the most important. That fire can rage on for a few minutes while you take the time to do something right away that will save a future fire from igniting.  And then you don't have to beat yourself up so much when you go to do that deep office cleanse again.