I am a Yellow Crayon

At a meeting last night, my friend, Ruth, gave me a yellow crayon...

This is my crayon. (Thanks, Ruth!)

She gave it to me because--her words--I am a positive, sunny person who spreads joy to everyone around me.

This seriously warmed my heart.

Many people have told me that I am a positive person; this is not surprising to me.

But the tangibility of being given a token like this was a welcome reminder for me of the impact I have on the people around me. Ruth mentioned something specific that had happened a week or two ago while we were working on a mutual, technology-related problem. She tried sharing a file with me, and after I was unable to open it, I emailed her back. My email said, "No joy on my end." And she told me when she gave me the crayon, "I can hardly imagine you with 'no joy.'"

What a lift, from a simple little gift!

I'm embracing it: I am a yellow crayon.

How about you? If someone was going to give you a crayon that represents something about you, what color would they give you, and why?

Grace on Hard Days

In my Facebook memories today, this post came up from 11 years ago...

Interesting for me to see this one.

I remember the context in which I wrote it generally--it was a very low time for me in my personal and professional life--but I am not sure the specifics of why I posted it at this particular time.

As I'm reflecting on this, the thing that I'm finding interesting is that I felt like I should broadcast it on social media. Perhaps it was because I was still relatively new to Facebook, and was figuring out how to navigate the new, online part of my social life. Maybe it was out of some sense that the relatively small number of "friends" I had on Facebook at that time would care to see this. Probably there was some sense of exhibitionism behind this post: I know that early on I shared an awful lot more on Facebook than I do now...and this is the kind of cryptic "you should feel sorry for me but I'm not going to tell you why" sort of post we saw a lot of on social media at that point in history. (Okay, some people still post a lot of that kind of thing, I guess...)

Whatever the full story behind this, what I'm thinking about right now is how we all--and I mean ALL of us--need to have people that we can share the good stuff and the bad stuff with. People who are in our corner no matter what. People who love us enough that we can be our own, true selves with. We all need grace on hard days.

And that, my friends, is at the center of my hope for today. The statement I've seen online about this is, “Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.” (A quick Google search attributes this to novelist Brad Meltzer, but I'm not familiar with his work.) But how about this, all?

I'm thinking about friends whose battles I know, and it's easy to lead with kindness there. But how about the folks I encounter throughout the day? Am I ready and able to lead with kindness?

We all need that grace...and especially on the hard days.

Resolutions, Goal-Setting, and Making a Difference

It's 2020.

I just can't get over the fact that it is 2020.

Wasn't it just 2008 like 6 months ago? The 90s feels like just a few years ago. 2020 is supposed to be "the future" or something, isn't it?

And yet, here we are.

We had a quiet New Year's Eve celebration last night: just my immediate family. We had fondue for supper, played table games, and listened to 80s hits. We didn't even watch New Year's Rockin' Eve or anything; we just spent time together. It was pretty great, honestly.

During supper, we talked about New Year's Resolutions--I asked everyone if they had any resolutions for 2020. My daughter responded with wisdom she had seen on Instagram: "There are two kinds of people in the world: people who don't make resolutions, and people who break resolutions." I was a little surprised by this cynicism, but I get where she's coming from...people do often break their resolutions, and often soon after they are made. I've been there too, honestly. I shared a few examples of resolutions I made that actually stuck, like the year I resolved to lose 30 pounds (which actually took me about 18 months, but I did it) and the year I resolved to read the whole Bible in a year (which I actually did, using a chronological Bible.) But I get where she is coming from. And, when I'm really honest, these are exceptions for me rather than the rule. I'm likely to not follow through on my so-called resolutions either.