Photo | Abdul / Yunir, Creative Commons
1) I had the chance to reconnect with a favorite high school teacher of mine earlier this week, because I needed information for the memoir I am writing. It was refreshing to have another opportunity to talk to someone who made a profound impact on my life. When I told her what an inspiration she had been for me during my junior and senior years, and why I was including her in my memoir, she was surprised.
And that’s when I realized I never told her how thankful I was for her kindness and joyful spirit.
It made me wonder: How many things like this do we leave unspoken? And why don’t we tell others how much they mean to us?
I assumed my teacher knew she was important to me, but had I never told her (now four years later), she probably would have never known.
We can’t assume that people know what we think or value about them.
2) Our communities will only be as connected as we make them out to be.
A strong, wide network of fellowship doesn’t just happen. It takes effort. If we desire deep community, we must cultivate it, like Sarah from Dallas did in 2012 by inviting some 500 people to her backyard dinner table, one meal at a time.
Now, some of us might not be able to facilitate community in the same way Sarah did. We may lack the time, resources, or both; but there are other ways to reach out. For me, cultivating community means unchaining myself from my desk, shutting my laptop, and investing myself in the lives I come in contact with.
What about you? What might reaching out to your community look like? // Extra link: here’s why I find community to be such an important part of life.
3) I’m dying to try these Spaghetti Squash Baked Pasta Boats from Willow Bird Baking. (If you make them before I have the chance, you will have to let me know how they are!) Not only do they look amazing, but I imagine because they only require five ingredients, they are super easy to make.
4) Favorite article of the week: Sitting at Home, Alone by Lysa TerKeurst. Turns out I’m not the only one who can make big deals out of small situations. Although they seem life-changing at the time, situations are only moments — they don’t define who we are as human beings. Terkeurst points out it’s important to not put the whole of your identity into the smallness of life’s situations.
5) If you haven’t watched Disney’s new animated short, “Paperman,” do it. Right now, and I promise your day will become instantly better. Or at least, you will be smiling by the time it’s over. Oh the lengths one must sometimes go to for love.
