daily post

Fun Is Good

| Marie Griffith

I have a long list of “must dos”. A longer list of things I need to do. And a short list of fun things I really want to do. We all have these lists, whether on paper or in our heads.

The long lists take up most of my time. They include the everyday things I do at home or work. It means at work I figure contracts, reconcile GL accounts, take care of accounts payable, and analyze financial statements. At home I do laundry, have good conversations with my family, clean the refrigerator, cook dinner, or wash dishes.

The other items on the long lists are those that can wait but still need doing. Like clearing out the sun room and painting the walls. Getting quotes from contractors on more work we want done to the house. Cleaning out the attic and the barn. Trimming trees and more landscaping.

But what about that short list? Yours will be different than mine because what is fun to me may not be to you. But we all need our own list of fun things we want to do.

I want to fly somewhere with each of my kids and backpack on the Appalachian Trail this year. My husband and I want to see the Northern Lights and picnic in a vineyard. I want to paddle board and learn Spanish, do some freelance writing, and complete the Spartan Trifecta. These things don’t need to be done, and as author Mark Buchanan put it, the world isn’t changed by my doing them or not.

But I need to play. You need to play. Because we need a break from the ever growing “to do” list.

Because of the chores and responsibilities and deadlines, the short list tends to get shoved under the others. Disregarded as less important. Forgotten about.

If we’re not careful, adulthood can turn into one big obligation and we forget we need to have fun. We forget how to play.

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If you’ve neglected play for so long and don’t know what to do, start small. Play Go Fish with your kid. Dance in the living room. Fly a kite, jump on the trampoline or ENO in the park. Visit a theme park and ride all the roller coasters. Sign up for that cooking or dance class you’ve always wanted to take or join a book club.

I’m not going to tell you how you’ll benefit from playing. I want you to find out for yourself. Because the world may not be changed by your playing, but you probably will be.

Excuse me while I go jump rain puddles.

Dancing

Face Your Fear

| Marie Griffith

Earlier this week, a story I wrote was published in Shattered Magazine. This is a first ever for me and something I’ve wanted and waited for a long time.

But I almost didn’t write the story.

The stories I write are remembered ones…..the ones I’ve lived and felt. This one was going to be an altogether different way of writing a story and I wasn’t sure I could do it.

Instead of letting my fear of failure scare me out of trying, I took it on. I knew I would learn from the experience even if the story wasn’t published. The online managing editor worked with me during the process and I was right:  I learned so much!

First, I realized I have a lot more to learn about writing for publications like Shattered Magazine. I also learned the importance of doing things in spite of being afraid of them. This is one of those lessons I seem to have to relearn again and again.

During the process of writing the story I made another decision. I’m a writer so I’m going to write. I will submit a book proposal at the speaking/writing conference I’m attending in July.  This is another new and scary thing for me but I know whatever the outcome, I will learn from the process.

And that’s a win-win!

I urge you to do something new and scary this week. Set a goal, move toward a dream, make a plan, have that conversation you’ve been putting off, ask the question, start the project. Face your fears and go for it!

Because it matters!

Live like it matters.

The story I wrote is about Zach Williams and his journey to freedom. You can read the story here.

 

 

Riptides

| Marie Griffith

One of the best times on the beach is early morning. You may spot a runner or two, a few shell collectors, some slow moving coffee drinkers……but mostly the beach is clear. All you’ll hear is the sound of the waves crashing onto the sand….. and the sea birds close to shore. IMG_4231

The lifeguard tower is empty. No need for a rescuer in the early mornings on this beach.

But when the crowds come, the lifeguard stares out at the water. He watches the ocean, looking for the swimmers and the floaters and the heads bobbing up and down with the waves.

When the riptides are dangerous, the lifeguard stands tall in the tower to make sure no one is caught in them. The whistle shrills loudly when he spots a swimmer too far out. He waves the red flag motioning the swimmer to come toward shore. If the swimmer ignores the warning, the lifeguard waves the flag passionately and blows the whistle over and over. Sometimes the lifeguard climbs down the tower and runs to the edge of the water. He waves his flag forcefully while blowing the whistle until the ocean dweller obeys.

He is guarding lives after all.

Liquid

10,000

| Marie Griffith

You’re more influential than you think!

I had the opportunity to share my favorite leadership lesson with a small group recently. Not only is it my favorite lesson….it’s been the most valuable.

I was in my 20s when I read John Maxwell’s book “Developing the Leader Within You”. The most important words of that entire book for me were these:

Sociologists tell us that even the most introverted person will influence 10,000 people in his or her lifetime.

I was astounded. To think that I would impact 10,000 or more people in my lifetime was amazing. And humbling.

I still have the copy of the book I read twenty something years ago. The 10,000 statistic is a pre-social media number. It’s not a stretch to guess that the most introverted person will impact an exponentially greater number of people in his or her life……50,000. Maybe even 100,000 with Facebook, Twitter, blogging, and all the other ways of connecting with others.

The statistic might have changed but the main point of John Maxwell’s book is a timeless truth: At its most basic, leadership is influence.

I know God used that truth to inspire the way I live my life. That’s why I’m so passionate about Living Like it Matters.

Jesus said “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16  light-bulb-1246043_1920

We’re mistaken if we think our influence only happens when we’re speaking in front of a crowd or leading a team or managing employees.

Part of the thousands we touch are the people we meet day in and day out. In the grocery store, at the bank, in the park and at the drive-thrus.

Part of your thousands is the tired unnamed waitress that served you lunch on Sunday. It could be a young man in your daughter’s class struggling with his identity or the homeless couple sitting on the curb near the mall you drive past each day. The flustered cashier ringing up your medicine at the pharmacy or the UPS delivery guy.

Do I see them? Do I smile and connect with these that come across my path? Do I ignore them or dismiss them? Or think they’re less than?

Our influence reaches even to those that are watching us from a distance. How we live matters. Our attitude and actions toward others. How we work and play and love and give. It matters.

I’ve missed too many opportunities to be light or to speak life-giving words or to simply smile and acknowledge the person beside me.

I don’t want to miss any more…..I have thousands of lives to impact.

So do you.

Live like it matters.

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For the next several weeks I’m going to post ideas on how we can Live Like It Matters. I began my Live Like It Matters challenge 2 years ago on this blog. Some of the challenges will be new ideas and some will be reposts of past challenges. Either way I know I can use the reminder to live like it matters. Maybe you can too.

 
Identity

A Good Path

| Marie Griffith

A good path in the early morning is just right for my better runs. Optimum conditions for my best runs are high energy levels, a crisp 42 degrees with sunshine, and a lengthy path.

Most days I will have one or the other. One day the weather will be perfect but my feet feel like bricks. The next run day I feel spry but the weather is warmer than I like. The path is generally the same at my local park.  I take a 2 mile loop a couple of times for a good run. But occasionally I get to run in a different place on a brand new path. Like when we were in Boulder last October and I explored part of the town on the various running trails. Or when I run with a friend and she takes me on a new trail.

I ran a new path this weekend. My goal was 6.2 miles. The conditions were not in my favor. It was a balmy 67 degrees and my energy was low. But I needed this run and I wanted to explore the beauty of the state park we were in. I just wasn’t sure where to start, or which way to go……

So I started running. Almost a mile in I realized the path I was on ended. I turned around, running at a good pace, enjoying my surroundings and saw a trail marker for a hiking trail through the woods. We’d hiked parts of the trail the day before and I remembered there were other trails off that one I wanted to explore. I knew this would slow my pace but I couldn’t resist the urge to be in the woods. The trail was familiar at first but then I realized I wasn’t where I thought I’d be. I finally ran into an open path near the road. My 6.3 mile run took me over hills, near the water, through the shaded woods, into the bright sunlight, beside a golf course and around the park swimming area.

The run was hard.

And it was glorious.

The tough parts were worth the beautiful parts.

“Now you’ve got my feet on the life path,
all radiant from the shining of your face.
Ever since you took my hand,
I’m on the right way.”                        Psalm 16:11  MSG

Against the Odds

| Marie Griffith

My parents’ story is an “against the odds” kind of story. They were like the rest of us, trying to make it the best they knew how. Learning to make a life, raise kids, work their jobs, and have fun while doing it. They got it right sometimes but they got it wrong other times.

I don’t hold the wrong parts against them.

We’re all learning as we go. Not one of us has it all figured out. Still we wake up each day, try again, and maybe do better than we did yesterday. But we don’t give up and we don’t give in to the idea that it will never change or that we’ll never learn. We keep at it. Sure we go through trials, we have pain and sorrow and bad things happen. But by the grace of God we make do with what we’ve learned so far.

And we forgive. Then our hearts are softened and all of the sudden we realize we see people differently. Even the ones that caused the pain.

Because you love people better when your heart is softer. And you’re better prepared for the next thing life throws at you. You’ve learned how to weep and laugh and do it with those who are weeping and laughing.

And at the end of your days, someone will say your story is an “against the odds” kind of story.

It’s funny: I always imagined when I was a kid that adults had some kind of inner toolbox full of shiny tools: the saw of discernment, the hammer of wisdom, and sandpaper of patience. But then when I grew up I found that life handed you these rusty bent old tools-friendships, prayer, conscience, honesty-and said ‘do the best you can with these, they will have to do’. And mostly, against all odds, they do.

                                                                              Anne Lamott

Abrupt

Broken

| Marie Griffith

Every year we go to the beach to gather with friends and family. One of our favorite things is to look for shells. The shells that catch my eye are the broken
pieces….like these. The ones that have been broken so long and been tumbled around in the ocean so much that their edges are smoothed out and rounded.

God notices the broken too. Broken ones like you and me. The ones with shattered dreams and splintered lives. Those of us wondering what’s next because everything we’ve known before is gone. The weary ones and sick ones and those of us asking what it’s all for. The ones of us with doubts and fears. Those with regrets and mistakes and failures stacked up high. Those of us on the edge of something new but scared to take the leap.

He sees you. But more than that….He loves you.

Give Him your broken heart. All of it. Your questions too. All of them.

He makes beautiful things out of broken ones.

“My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. ”  Psalm 51:17 NIV

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Here’s how I repurposed
some of the broken shells I’ve found…….a frame for one of our beach pictures.

Wonderfully Wild

Image | | Marie Griffith

When I was young I thought I knew exactly how I wanted my life to be. I dreamed and planned and prepared the best way I knew how.

Not that all of it was for nothing. It wasn’t. Plans are good. We should know where we’re going and how we’re going to get there.

But all the planning in the world can’t prepare you for the wonderfully wild life of love and grace and faith and hope.

 

In response to the Weekly Photo Challenge Bridge and the Daily Prompt Tame.

Keep Track

Image | | Marie Griffith

 

He knows us far better than we know ourselves…….that’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.      Romans 8:28 (MSG)

 

How we look ahead has a lot to do with how we look back…..how we keep track of where we’ve come from and the people we’ve known and who have known us along the way.

Who we are now is because of who we were then. The people who raised us and taught us and the ones who hurt us. Our parents and siblings and childhood friends. Aunts and uncles and cousins. Our teachers and preachers or strangers and lovers. All of them had and some still have a part in our lives.

And because God gave us the gift of memory we can’t get around it. That’s just how it works. So it’s important to remember well and truly……the wonderful and happy and the scary and tragic. All the good and all the bad.

A gracious thing happens when you remember well.

The good memories are treasured. They come unexpectedly and make you smile. Sometimes they bring tears but it’s the sweet, cleansing kind.

The other memories….the painful ones and scary ones…..the lonely ones…….the dark ones……all of them can become a source of thankfulness and compassion.

Thankful….because you’ve either made it through or are making it through. And compassion for those who have endured or are enduring the same pain or darkness.

Because we either make our worst memories work for us or they’re going to work against us.

All of them make our story. God takes all of it and uses it for our good.

We just have to let Him.

“It is through memory that we are able to reclaim much of our lives that we have long since written off by finding that in everything that has happened to us over the years, God was offering us possibilities of new life and healing which, though we may have missed them at the time, we can still choose and be brought to life by and healed by all these years later.”      Frederick Buechner

In response to Beloved.