2008: in bold

Do you ever have those moments when you hear the same message again and again through different forms but within a short period of time? I've had this experience over the past week and I'm thinking okay, okay... I hear you! I've been challenged, I've been moved, I'm hoping this will change me and set a good course for my 2008.

It all started the last week when I connected with Katie in California. A number of years back I had lent her the book "I Married Adventure" by Luci Swindoll. I had forgotten she had it but she returned it to me last week and I spent my 6 hour flight home drinking up Luci's words in this book. I think her words are so easy for me to read because I resonate so deeply with them; I feel as if she and I speak the same language. Much of what she talks about is seizing the moments given to you and living boldly.

On Kelly's 2007 cousin mix she has a song by singer songwrite Aiden James called "Be Just Fine". It's fabulous and the last couple of days I've been listening to it on repeat. It starts like this: "We sit around telling stories about things gone wrong and how we wait for better things to come along and as for those stories we sit around and told, let's start another chapter and write it in bold... write it in bold now... gonna write it gonna write in bold. Things are going to work out right. I know things are going to be just fine"

Finally, my friend Rhonda recommended I listen to a CD by Donald Miller (author of Blue Like Jazz) about "Stories" as an inspiriation for the new year. I listened to it last week and the themes of Luci & Aiden were repeated by Don in his appeal for listeners to be aware of their own story and challenged us - challenged me to write down what my story is about right now and what I want it to be about. He ended the talk with a quote from Robert McKee that says: "Write every day, line by line, page by page, hour by hour. Do this despite fear. For above all else, beyond imagination and skill, what the world asks of you is courage, courage to risk rejection, ridicule and failure. As you follow the quest for stories told with meaning and beauty, study thoughtfully but write boldly. Then, like the hero of the fable, your dance will dazzle the world.”


Here's to 2008 -- in bold!