“My piece of bread only belongs to me when I know that every­one else has a share, and that no one starves while I eat.” ~ Leo Tolstoy

Today, I would like to take you on a lit­tle journey…one that began nearly four­teen years ago.

It was a cold win­ter day that wel­comed the birth of our daugh­ter.  Rebekah.  Our sec­ond child (of what would be three).  Our only daughter.

While I speak from my (very male) per­spec­tive — the whole birthing process that day was one of much ease.  A baby girl…a tiny baby girl.  While my mem­ory fades me as to the exact details of this moment, I very much remem­ber the joy of a healthy, happy baby.

Our first moments alone with this new life, a few short hours after birth…cuddling a small, pre­cious, new life.

(just each of us were at our birth…precious and new life)

And in a moment…

In a moment…it all changed.  From a lit­tle baby wig­gling her toes, coo­ing, crying…to blue.  Blue, the color.  Blue, her skin.

Panic.  An urgent search for a nurse, some­one, any­one, to help.

She was whisked away.  Gone from our arms.  And for what seemed like an eter­nity (although it was mere min­utes), we didn’t know.  We didn’t know where she was, what was going on, what had happened.

Alone.  Not know­ing.  A sink­ing feeling.

(some of the most chal­leng­ing moments as a parent)

A few min­utes later, the nurse returned.  Although, she had stopped breath­ing for a brief period, Rebekah would be okay,.  Because of this expe­ri­ence, she would stay mostly in an incu­ba­tor, with con­stant mon­i­tor­ing while at her hos­pi­tal stay.

Within a few days, she came home. 

…home…

What a won­der­ful feel­ing, and one, per­haps, that we didn’t even fully real­ize at the time. 

Life.  Is Pre­cious.  Is so worth fight­ing for.  Is beau­ti­ful.  Is such an amaz­ing expe­ri­ence we are given.

We Are The Lucky Ones

Rebekah is one of the lucky ones.  She has been lost — like that moment we felt at her birth.  Moments where life and all it’s pre­cious­ness flash before your eyes. 

…one of the lucky ones…

She is loved, she is cared for…by many.

She has an education…one that con­tin­ues for this thriv­ing thir­teen year old. 

She leads an active and healthy lifestyle.

She has a place of safety and comfort…home…always there for her.

She has oppor­tu­ni­ties that some can­not even imagine.

She has love and sup­port that some can­not begin to even fathom.

And Those Not So Lucky

Not all girls are so lucky.  In fact, all too many girls have to face dif­fi­cult moments alone, have to do or be things that no child should have to endure, have to bear too much of the harsh real­i­ties of their world at an age that is way too young for these things.

Lost.

Lost in so much more than the phys­i­cal sense.  Lost emo­tion­ally, men­tally, spir­i­tu­ally, physically. 

Life snatched away.

We can look around the cor­ner in the neigh­bor­hoods we live in (it’s there), we can look to the inner cities around our world, we can look to under devel­oped coun­tries, we can look to fam­i­lies that seem­ingly have it all. 

And this exists.  Girls…lost…at an age when they should still be cel­e­brat­ing the joy of their childhood.

The Girl Effect

What if…

Note:  If you hav­ing trou­ble view­ing this, please click here.

What if every girl, across our global com­mu­nity, was loved for who she is. 

What if every girl, across our global com­mu­nity, was cared for in times of need.

What if every girl, across our global com­mu­nity, was treated with respect for the amaz­ing soul that she is.

What if every girl, across our global com­mu­nity, was given the oppor­tu­nity to become educated.

What if…

What if each of us, in some way, went out today, and made a dif­fer­ence.  To a girl. 

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This piece today is part of an effort to bring greater aware­ness to the effect we can each have, by help­ing to give every girl, every­where, a life filled with promise and hope.

To learn more, visit The Girl Effect.  We can all make a difference.

A spe­cial thank you to Tara Sophia Mohr, for cre­at­ing a space for writ­ers to share in spread­ing this mes­sage of hope and inspiration.

photo credit: Vicki & Chuck Rogers

“When you play it too safe, you’re tak­ing the biggest risk of your life. Time is the only wealth we’re given.” ~ Bar­bara Sher

What are you up to today? 

Today.

Are you play­ing it safe?  Are you doing what you’ve always done?  Are you tow­ing the com­pany line?  Are you doing what’s expected?

And how does that make you feel?  Really and deeply, how do you feel about that?

Per­haps it is good.

Per­haps, though…you feel some twinge to be more authen­tic to who you really are.

There’s this one lit­tle thing, though.

“The great­est mis­take you can make in life is to con­tin­u­ally be afraid you will make one.” ~ Elbert Hubbard

Fail­ing.

Will you crash, will you stum­ble and look fool­ish?  Will you some­how fail?

Yes.

Yes, you will.  You WILL have some things that just don’t go the way you’re hop­ing.  And that may feel painful for a while. 

There is good there, though.  It is most def­i­nitely there.  Believe it.

And Nature Speaks to Us
Let me share a per­sonal expe­ri­ence that hap­pened.  Recently, I was in Ari­zona, with my old­est son and a cousin on mine.  We were there to do some moun­tain bik­ing (and jeeping…which was a whole lot of fun…although it doesn’t relate to this story). 

None of us are expert moun­tain bik­ers.  So, we chose to do an inter­me­di­ate trail (because we hap­pen to some­times let our heads get a lit­tle big­ger than they should…) in the beau­ti­ful and scenic Sedona area of Ari­zona.  This trail proved to be chal­leng­ing for us, although still also do-able (well…there were moments where we were won­der­ing about that, too…). 

…back to the story.

We had been out for sev­eral hours, out in the back­coun­try of this beau­ti­ful locale.  And we approached a flat, easy bik­ing area (note:  there weren’t a lot of these areas on the trail we had cho­sen!).  I hap­pened to be the lead biker at the time (how I had taken that position…I’m not sure!!)

Around a cor­ner I came, and was greeted by a large flat rock area…that dropped off to another large flat rock area. 

The few peo­ple we’d seen on our way out (we were com­ing back at this time) had walked their bikes down from one rock area to the next. 

I was sure I could land it…that I could jump from one sur­face down to the next, with­out walk­ing my bike. (do you see my bril­liance shin­ing through????)

The next thing I remem­ber, I am slid­ing across the lower rock, face down.  Mean­while my bike is upon these rocks, some dis­tance behind me. 

After com­ing to a stop, I slowly (very slowly!) stood up.  One glove is ripped, and my hand is swollen.  My chest hurts.  I cau­tiously walk back to my bike.  My son, Jakob, explains to me how he came around the cor­ner to see me fly­ing through the air (I don’t remem­ber that part…I just remem­ber skid­ding across that rock after *crash* land­ing!).  He, after see­ing this, decides to walk his bike down the rocks! (he’s good with lessons like that!)

Any­way, I came away with a badly bruised hand, and what I think is a cracked rib.
[Note:  Please do not use any of this infor­ma­tion as med­ical advice.  What I did should have prob­a­bly involved a trip to the near­est med­ical center.]

And I got back on that bike.  Back on, and we rode for sev­eral hours after that.

Was I less care­free after that?  Per­haps, yes.  (I was well aware of my hand and chest at this point!) 

How­ever, I was also more aware of my sur­round­ings.  I was see­ing these rocks in a new light.  The trail became more real.  The obstacles…something I put more focus on.  And in all, a greater appre­ci­a­tion for the nat­ural sur­round­ings all around me.

Back to The Day to Day of Liv­ing
What hap­pens when we take a chance?  When we try some­thing new?  When we “jump off that cliff”? 

Some­times, some pretty amaz­ing and won­der­ful things happen.

And sometimes…some very chal­leng­ing things hap­pen, too. 

Sometimes…we fail. 

…or so it appears.

What if.

What if we choose to get back up, brush our­selves off, and get back on that bike that’s tak­ing us down the trail of life?

When we do this — we can soar to new heights!!  We can, because we are look­ing now with new eyes, at what before our tak­ing of this “chance”, was just a pos­si­bil­ity.  So, even when we fail, when we fal­ter, when we fall — there are still such great, great things we can come from this!

“I failed my way to suc­cess.” ~ Thomas Edison

Take a chance.  Do some­thing a bit out of your com­fort zone.  Live your life!

Today. 

Because tomor­row is no guarantee.

Postlude
I’m look­ing to leap here in this space, too.  More on this in the com­ing months, as it all comes together.  Rest assured, that this place will still exist, although I’m ready to move toward Jun­gle 2.0.  And there might even be some crashes along the way.  I’m look­ing for­ward to it all (I fig­ure it can’t be as painful as my chest feels right now!!).

“One would give gen­er­ous alms if one had the eyes to see the beauty of a cupped receiv­ing hand.” ~ Johann Wolf­gang von Goethe

Life has an inter­est­ing way of plac­ing within our sights, that which per­haps we need to hear the most.

In early Octo­ber, I com­peted in my first marathon.  As mem­o­rable as this part of the jour­ney was, there was some­thing else that came from this experience.

On Fri­day prior to the marathon, my wife (Lora) and I stopped in at marathon head­quar­ters to pick up the packet of sup­plies and infor­ma­tion that each run­ner gets.  Going on at that same time, was an expo — with var­i­ous ven­dors setup dis­play­ing and sell­ing their wares.  

The Con­nec­tions We Make
There was one small booth that pulled us right in.  

The Give Shirt.

A selec­tion of cloth­ing avail­able, with the word “give” imprinted on the front.  And — for each shirt that sold, the pro­ceeds are donated to a selec­tion of sev­eral charities.

We bought two — one for each of us. 

And it could have ended there (with a very cool t-shirt), except…

Except…for the con­nec­tions we make.

Enter Thomas Budde.

Thomas is the cre­ator of The Give Shirt.  And, the more we learned of what he was doing, the more we loved this whole con­cept of spread­ing aware­ness toward giv­ing, while at the same time — giv­ing (through the pur­chase of a shirt).

What led Thomas to cre­ate this, though?  

The Con­nec­tion Goes Deeper
It just so hap­pened that Thomas was going to run for 24 hours straight — to raise aware­ness for giv­ing, and for liv­ing a healthy lifestyle.  A run that would be tak­ing place in Milwaukee.  

You read that cor­rectly — Thomas would be run­ning for 24 hours straight — with a vari­ety of peo­ple join­ing him along the way.  From 4 AM on Sat­ur­day, Octo­ber 23^rd until 4 AM on Sun­day, Octo­ber 24^th.

First off — just let me state — WOW!!  I can’t imag­ine run­ning for that many hours straight!!  (shoot, dri­ving that many hours straight is a real challenge!)

In a last minute deci­sion, I decided to join Thomas for a por­tion of his run.  (15 miles over about 3 hours on that Sat­ur­day evening)

What an inspi­ra­tion this guy is!!

Dur­ing our time together on that Sat­ur­day evening — we had a chance to talk more about this very car­ing and gen­er­ous project.

A few years back, Thomas vis­ited Thai­land.  Dur­ing his visit there, he was com­pletely taken in by the gen­er­ous, car­ing, and giv­ing spirit of the peo­ple of this place.  A giv­ing spirit, even though they them­selves had lit­tle (in con­trast to what I con­sider I have in my life).  And yet — they had so much.  They did, because they gave so freely of what they did have, and of what was in their heart.  Even more than that — was the deeper sense of peace and joy that these peo­ple exhib­ited in their life.

…and yet, by stan­dards we might be more accus­tomed to…they had little.

…although they truly had so much.

It was a trans­form­ing moment for Thomas.  He arrived back in Mil­wau­kee (his home), and was drawn to how much we have…and yet how much more there is…if we just give more freely.

Upon receiv­ing a gift from his brother — a shirt with the word “give” on it…Thomas had found his deeper mis­sion in life.

And since that time, he has been sell­ing these shirts — with all the pro­ceeds being donated to a select group of charities.

Giv­ing with noth­ing expected in return.

…and in that…everything in return.

“For it is in giv­ing that we receive.” ~ St. Fran­cis of Assisi

Get­ting to know Thomas, and see him liv­ing this mes­sage — what a gift!!  And what a gift — to be able to give so freely.

Your Mis­sion
Your mis­sion, should you choose to accept it:  This week, give some­thing freely, with no expec­ta­tion of some­thing in return.  Do some­thing you wouldn’t nor­mally do.  Chal­lenge your­self to be more freely giv­ing.  Maybe it’s money.  Maybe it’s some­thing you have.  Maybe it’s your time.  What­ever it is — do this with car­ing, com­pas­sion, and love.

And know that I’ll be wear­ing my shirt this week — the “give” shirt.  Spread­ing this mes­sage through one sim­ple word.

Give.

And for all of this — and for my own deeper con­nec­tion to giv­ing — I am deeply thank­ful for this chance cross­ing of paths with Mr. Thomas Budde.  Thomas, you are a true hero!  Keep shin­ing your amaz­ing and awe­some light out into this world!

Oh…and for the record:  Thomas ran 96 miles over that 24 hour period (I know — crazy!!)!!  Crazy awe­some!!! (…and just plain crazy!!)

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the mis­fits, the rebels, the trou­ble­mak­ers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things dif­fer­ently – they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, dis­agree with them, glo­rify or vil­ify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race for­ward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” ~ Steve Jobs