you have my word

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i'm not the type of person to make new years resolutions. the whole concept doesn't work all that well for me. in years past, i have found myself furiously composing a (longish) list of all the things i wanted to change about myself and then come january 1st attacking the list trying to change everything at once. 

talk about an exhausting way to set yourself up for failure. i don't know about you, but i have a lot of flaws and one enthusiastic week in early january is not going to change them. however, this year i wanted to give "new years resolutions" a chance. instead of making a list, my approach was to pick one word to focus on. this would give me 365 opportunities to take chances and work towards my overarching goal.

i spent only a little time thinking about my word. "brave".

being brave is not something i do very often. i'm not a total introvert or hermit, but after taking a little inventory of my life, i found these were the current ways that i am "brave": i like to try new foods. i like to meet new people (most of the time). you want me to check out a new band you just discovered? all over that. i'm not scared to fly. i take zumba on occasion. if coerced, i will probably go see the new tyler perry movie with you. just kidding. i would never do that.

wow. you can clearly see the leaps and bounds i need to make in this area in my life. is "trying new foods" even bravery? i think it's just called being a normal person.

i realized that i needed to take bigger chances and do things that would scare me a little. as everyone and their mom has probably read on pinterest "if it scares you, it might be a good thing to try." this resounded with me as i thought about several areas of my life that i knew needed improvement but had not done much to change. what was i afraid of? hard work? trying and failing? actually being successful?

one of those areas was my creative ventures. i have been toying with the idea of applying to a craft market for a while now. i always enjoy going to these types of events as a customer. the wide array of vendors and craft products are always exciting and inspiring. i look at all of the artists selling their great wares and think i could do that! but, unfortunately, that's usually where my thought process stopped.

this time was different. almost as soon as i started seriously considering applying, i found two different craft markets that were accepting applications. i took a deep breath and started working on getting a bio together, pictures of my work, a description of what inspires me, a list of my materials, and my process in creating. i paid my application fees, submitted my applications and then waited.

several weeks after each submission, i got my responses. i had not been chosen. from either. the rejection emails were very polite and diplomatic. something along the lines of "it was a very hard decision to make...we had many qualified applicants...you have great talent...but..."

something along the lines of a breakup speech.

you know the feeling of major disappointment? the feeling of getting picked last for dodgeball? the feeling of being left off the guest list to a friend's party? this was not any of those things. this was a little sad, yes, but a lot of satisfaction. a lot of happiness.

my satisfaction came from trying. my satisfaction came from taking a chance and not being scared to do something new. it came from being brave. to me, that's how i want to live this year. taking chances, being brave, being bold in what i say and do and how i treat others. not every opportunity will work out. (clearly). but opportunities working out is not the measure of success. the measure of success is seeing something that scares you and not running away from it.

i ended up volunteering at both of the craft markets that didn't accept me as a vendor, and it was a blast! i met some great people and worked alongside other women who shared my interest in arts and crafts. i took note of how the artists set up their tables and what kind of goods they had for sale. i bought a few items from the artists and noticed how they took sales and packaged up the items. i am filing this information away for future reference when i apply again to a craft fair and get accepted. because, believe me, it's going to happen.

in a weird, backwards way i am actually glad i didn't get into either of those craft fairs. while it would have been great to set up my own booth, there is perhaps even a greater lesson i needed to learn in this. sometimes even when you try, you won't make it. you'll actually fail, but that's ok. the things in life that don't come easily are appreciated even more when they do happen.

so, can everyone raise their coffee mug and toast with me? here's to a year of being brave. cheers!

(a post and fun pictures about the craft markets soon to come!)

serveRDU 2012

ServeRDU 2011 from The Summit Church on Vimeo.

every summer my church puts on serveRDU which is basically a week of work projects and community outreach in raleigh, durham, chapel hill, and other surrounding cities. our mission is simple. we serve because Christ served us. we love because Christ loved us.

projects during serveRDU range from painting and landscaping to helping build houses with habitat for humanity, from hosting neighborhood cookouts to putting together hygiene bags for women and children in india who are victims of sex trafficking. there is such a wide range of opportunities that anyone could find a project to get excited about. i got involved last year and had a really great time. you can read about it here. 

this year i was able to help with a work project at the pregnancy support services of durham and volunteer at a red cross blood drive that our church hosted. 

the offices at pss needed deep carpet cleaning, dusting, bathroom cleaning, painting, shelf construction, mopping, etc. my team met around 9 on friday morning, and after a brief introduction and tour of their facility, we went to work. i vacuumed couches and floors, carried boxes of supplies from one room to another, dusted, hung mirrors, scrubbed walls, rearranged furniture. lots of work, but it was a lot of fun. the ladies who run the place were so grateful for our work and the volunteers were so friendly and willing to help. the thing i love best about manual labor is the way you feel after you have worked a few hours, exhausted.

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the red cross blood drive was my favorite project out of the two. i had never been involved in a blood drive before and didn't know exactly how it worked or what to expect.

i slipped right into the role of snack hander-outer, and i got to talk to each donor as i poured orange juice and handed out cookies. ya'll, people are nice. everyone was willing to talk and answer questions i had about the process and how painful it was (not very). most of them had donated before at various times and all had good experiences to share.

i hadn't planned to donate blood. actually, i had planned to definitely not donate blood, but there i was with almost everyone around me donating, and i caved. i donated. it wasn't nearly as scary as i thought it was going to be. as always, my fears were mostly in my head. the ladies took very good care of me, and i even got an oversized t-shirt for being the last donor of the day. oh yeah, solid score.

i had such a great time helping with serveRDU. it was a blessing for me personally, but to know that our church body became the legs and arms and hands and feet of Christ is what really strikes me. through simple acts of manual labor we showed our city what it means to love.

giving back

{photo credit: pinterest.com}

love comes in many forms, and one of those forms is acts of service. each summer my church puts on what they call ServeRDU. it's basically a week of work projects and ministry opportunities for anyone in the church body and surrounding community to be a part of.

i'm not a born teacher or leader, i'm the worst advice giver ever, and i can't seem to find my fit helping in the nursery on sunday morning. however, give me a paintbrush or a rake, and i'm good to go. there's something about getting down and dirty, sweating in the sun, getting paint in my hair that makes me feel like i'm contributing and making a difference. i can stack chairs like nobody's business.

i got to help with two projects during ServeRDU. the first was at an elementary school where we did a lot of landscaping-shoveling mulch, building flower boxes, cleaning a white picket fence, cutting tree limbs, planting flowers, emptying an overgrown decorative pond, etc. i was the lucky one who got fence cleaning duty, so me and my trusty bottle of bleach got down to it. bleach is no joke, kids. that stuff ate through layers of scum. my roommate, amy, came with me and spent the morning weeding out old flower boxes and filling them back up with beautiful flowers and plants.

{photo credit: pinterest.com}

the second project was at converting hearts ministries. chm is a relatively new ministry in the area that provides semi-permanent residences to help men who are recovering from life-controlling addictions. the group of volunteers met early one morning and were assigned duties including painting the inside of the recovery house, clearing out a property pond, picking vegetables from their garden, and doing carpentry work around the site. my team started the huge task of painting the inside of their house. we worked in small groups on each room and worked alongside several of the men who were currently living in the home as residents. it was cool to get to know them as well as people who attend my church whom i had never met before.

the work we did during serve week was pretty basic-yard work, sweeping floors, hosting cookouts for neighborhoods, playing with kids, cleaning windows, painting walls-but i think meeting peoples' basic needs is one of the most practical ways you can share love. have you ever had someone make you a meal when you were sick? or maybe even cleaned your house? if so, then you know how much it helps. i mean, it's just lasagna. it's just a clean floor. but, really, it's so much more.

giving love in the form of an act of service is different than giving love in the form of a gift. presents are always lovely, don't get me wrong, but when you can help someone do something that they couldn't possibly do on their own, it provides a sense of community that a material gift never could. that's exactly what happened during serve week. we gave our time, our skills, and our energy and we gained an incredible sense of community. turns out, we really are all in this together.

what's a cool volunteer opportunity that you've helped with? what was your favorite thing about it?