My eyes are on you

I've been thinking a lot lately about the type of life I want to live.

What do I want to be remembered for?

When people show up at my funeral and are asked to give brief words about my life, what would I want them to say?

I realize that much of my life has been lived for the purpose of self-fulfillment. Although I don't think a marginal focus of self-fulfillment is bad, if it's ALL that we live for...I think we're deeply, deeply missing out on a far better purpose and mission.

If there is 1 single thing I want to be remembered for...it would be for having eyes that saw the hearts, potential and needs of others. I want to be remembered for helping others.

I think we over-think helping one another FAR too much. Or is it just me? I dont know. I often think that if I'm not traveling to Nicaragua & feeding the hungry or freeing baby seals from oil spills off the coast, that I'm not really impacting anyone. But when I think about the moments that other people helped ME in my life...and how much the every-day, normal, not overly-extravegant gestures helped to change my mood or my circumstances or my heart's condition....I realize that helping someone doesn't involve moving mountains. Helping someone is like every great and wondrous thing ever built - one stone; one brick; one piece at a time. It's not always the big things that make the largest impressions.

I'm putting my passion & my desire for purpose into action. I've created what I call the "Kindness Kard". I'm challenging myself to do at least 1 random act of kindness a week. When I perform the act of kindness, I plan of giving this card to the person I'm helping. Not so that I can get attention. But so that I can encourage others to let the light that may have dimmed inside of them, like it dimmed inside of me, shine bright.

We all have something inside of us that no one else has. We have a way of looking at the world & a contribution that makes the world better than it was the day before. But sometimes life & it's unkind mood-swings cause our hearts to become tainted and the light that resonates from that place deep down inside of us gets shut off or buried under piles of junk! But the more that we step out and dust off that old, broken strobe-light & we shine that sucker on someone else, the easier it is to reach down inside of ourselves, grab a handful of that junk & THROW.IT.THE.HECK.OUT! And the moment that light starts to peak through that junk, the brighter our circumstances get....the brighter our attitudes get...and the brighter life is forced to get because darkness just cant stay darkness when there's light around!

So if you find yourself tired of giving yourself so much dang attention....try giving yourself the cold shoulder & focus on others for awhile. Download my Kindness Kard, totally free of charge and whenever you perform a random act of kindness - whether it's paying for the multi-tasking momma's stuff at the grocery store or leaving a $20 on the dude's window shield at Starbucks who got a little huffy with the barista in line, perhaps because he lost his job today & doesn't know how he'll provide the sole-finances for his wife and 3 little ones at home; or maybe it's after giving your co-worker a ride to work this week because her car broke down and she's working 3 jobs just to pay for rent......

Whoever it is...whatever you do.....do something kind for them and pass them this card. Maybe write a little note on the back of it just to encourage them to remember what an amazing person they are & how much GOD loves them.

If you'd like to share a story about someone that you blessed with a random act of kindness and a Kindness Kard, I'd love to hear about it. Post it on your blog & link it back to this, leave me a comment below, or send me an email at fullyaccepted@gmail.com. But please remember that we should never, ever show kindness to others for the purpose of winning "kudos" or "that a boys" or "youre so nice"'s from others. I believe that when we do kind things for others, it should be with the desire to take our focus off of ourselves and give back to others what GOD has given to us. It says in HIS word that when we do things for the praise of man, that is the only blessing we receive from it. So bless others, with the expectation of being blessed back, and when you have some blessings to spare - share your story. Do twice as many acts in the dark as you do in the light. :)

Be remembered for remembering others.
It's the absolute best way to be.

Shadows...

So many times I've read this story in the Bible but no time previously has it stuck with me so fiercely. I will make a confession to you - I have found it difficult in the past to related to stories in the Bible. Differences in culture, differences in customs, differences in political ideals. But as I'm praying for more wisdom and insight into GOD's word, I'm seeing so much more than I ever saw before and it's all becoming so much more relevant and personal.

Have you ever felt like a shadow on a wall? Like the light is cast on someone else & the darkness always favors you? Have you ever felt second-best; always coming up behind someone else? Have you ever felt like maybe love is meant for everyone else & that your fate is to grow accustomed and content with being alone?

I can imagine that Leah must have felt most of those things her whole life. Her younger sister - better looking. Her younger sister - first to receive a proposal. Her younger sister - scores a man so deeply infatuated & in love with her that he works for SEVEN YEARS for her hand in marriage. As if that wasn't enough to make you feel second-rate, when it was time to hand over the "prized pony" to her suitor....Daddy dearest hands over her (Leah), instead, because "it's tradition that you marry the first born girl first." It wasn't love that compelled Jacob to marry Leah. It was out of "obligation" & "if you don't you can't have what you really want".

The day every girl hopes, wishes & plans for - her wedding day - & she still comes up second best. 

Oh how I've felt like a Leah so many times in my life. If the story ended there, I would get up right off this couch and head for the "double double, marshmallow, nutter-butter, caramel sauce, whipped topping, mint choco-cookie cream" ice cream in my freezer, turn on the "Notebook" and call it a night. 

But GOD's love never leaves a broken heart in shambles. There was one thing - the most important thing - the greatest gift a woman could ever bestow in that day & age....and where Leah so many times before came in second place....GOD handed her the gold metal & pinned that puppy right on her blazer. "When the LORD saw that Leah was hated, HE opened her womb". There was nothing of a greater honor in their time but to give birth to children - especially males. She bore 4 sons before Rachel's womb was ever opened.

Leah may never have won the affections of her husband. But she won the attention, heart & mercy of her FATHER. 

If you've ever felt overlooked....

If you've ever felt "second-best"....

If you've ever felt unseen, unheard, unknown or unwanted....

know, daughter, that you've won the heart, attention and never-ceasing affection of GOD & that HIS arms are out-stretched, prepared to give you the greatest gifts anyone could ever bestow.

You are the apple of HIS eye.

Short & Sweet

It's been just shy of 2 months since I last posted a blog. When I shut down town and slapped the "out of business" sign on my blogging a few months ago, I wasn't really sure if it would ever resurface again. I knew I loved doing it but I felt I wasn't really sure where it was going.

I didn't want to return to blogging if it was just going to be used for my benefit. That doesn't mean that I can't have fun doing it. But it means that the underlying purpose of WHY I blog can't be for my own satisfaction, gain or personal achievement. If I was going to blog again, I wanted to have a reason for doing it and the only reason I was willing to settle for was for the purpose of helping others. When people read my blogs, I want them to enjoy what they're reading and have fun & interact and have a good time. But more then that, I want people to walk away with something that makes them a different person. I recognize that I personally cannot change anyone. Nothing I say or do of my own strength and accord can change someone. But what I can do is I can be a vessel for the one that CAN change people. When I blog, I can blog with the purpose to be a mouthpiece for the One who changes hearts, minds and lives.

My new blog title is one that aligns with the vision and purpose I want my blog to have. I could go into full detail as to all that GOD's been showing me in my own life these last 2 months & how this title came about but in the smallest nut shell possible - we live so much of our lives without ever understanding just how special and important we are to GOD. We wander through so much of life weighed down by our mistakes that we miss the one thing that GOD spoke over us from the very moment we were created, already knowing all that we would do, good and bad - that we were accepted; we were accepted, approved & welcomed. 

If we would just live in that - how much more purposeful & fulfilled we would live our lives.

Anyways, I'm really glad to be back & I look forward to all that's to come.