about remembering to live generously

Be a person other people describe as generous.

Let this word set up camp inside you.  Let yourself think about how being it would transform your home, your neighbors, your heart.

Allow generous space between you and the car in front of you on the highway.  Leave a generous tip.  Give a generous portion when serving ice cream.

Learn what it means to be generous in relationship - generously forgive, generously share, generously affirm and generously encourage.

Generously give.  Give your money. Give your clothes.  Give your love.  Understand what it means to give something precious.  Learn to not think of this giving as "losing".

Be generous with your "thank you"s.  Let gratitude seep from you at any opportunity.
Generously thank each piece of your life for belonging exactly where it does- even the sharp pieces, ugly pieces, and heavy-like-brick pieces.  Thank them generously for constructing you into the person you're becoming.

Be excessively unapologetic for hoarding up generous amounts of joy.  Liberally exude it.  Prepare to be abundantly misunderstand.

Generously ask of other people.  Ask for help when you need it.  Ask for input and advice.  Ask for grace and forgiveness when you run dry.  Ask for generosity the way you'd ask for sugar from a neighbor - sometimes the person next door will have it when you just don't.

And be generous with yourself when being generous gets hard - when you want to lock it away because it hurts you, scares you, challenges you or inconveniences you.

Give yourself second chances.  Give yourself 70 x 7 chances to be generous.

There is never a bad time to try being it again.

about zumba

On Tuesday night I went to my first ever Zumba class. 

If you didn't know - Zumba is a latin-inspired dance/aerobics fitness craze.  I've never had the courage to drag myself to class a before, but on Tuesday I just decided that you only live once, and so what if you look a little stupid sometimes?  Not like it would be the first time for that. 

So I found myself in a room full of women shaking our hips to reggaetone and spanish pop, trying to keep up with the instructor and wondering what on earth I was doing.  

and it. was. AMAZING.

I didn't even think it was possible to have that much fun exercising, but apparently it is.  Even in a space full of mirrors that reminded me (more than once) that I personify every antonym for "sexy", I just didn't care.  No one else cared.  It was like "hey, I'm not sure how to roll my body like J-Lo, but here we go, just gonna try it!" 

and try I did.  and laugh.  and successfully manage a few A-for-effort shimmy's. and realize what freedom there is in not taking yourself too seriously.

In the process of losing a calorie or two, I learned to lose myself - just to throw my body around and laugh and dance without care.  It was a pretty wonderful lesson gained.  

about climbing mountains

I was just reading Exodus and this little bit stood out to me:

"The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain.  And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up."  (Exodus 19:20)

I just wonder what that climb was like.

Moses has a lot of different encounters with God - most of them involve the Lord just sort of appearing right smack dab in the middle of things, right where Moses is, right in the middle of the action.

But some of his encounters, like this climb up Mount Sinai, are different.  They involve a very specific invitation.  They involve God saying "Come up to my holy place; come get as close as you possibly can to my glory."  They involve a hike.

I just think - on days when I feel like all I'm doing is trekking up a steep incline, exhausted, worn out by life, but in a quiet moment I feel the love of the one who made me - where am I headed?

When I'm walking up-hill, maybe I'm on a journey for which I had forgotten I received an invitation.

Maybe we'll summit our daily mountains and find something really profoundly true and beautiful there.

about great music

I just discovered John Lucas on one of my favorite blogs and I am enchanted. 
His soft voice and honest lyrics snuggle into your insides and shake them awake.  
a few favorites below: 

And we will bound mountains with a single leap

As you shout your promises

That you always keep

And I want to live fearlessly

Believing nothing could ever hurt me

If I’d just love

If I’d just love relentlessly

check out the glorious free download from Noisetrade right here. It's real real good.