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When Overcome by Tragedy

Tragedy.  Pain.  Terror.  Suffering.  Sadness.  Fear.  Injustice.  Evil. 

Are you feeling overcome by all the tragedy that’s going on in the world today?  I am.

As the death toll rises due to the horrific actions of a madman in Nice, France this week, I’m thinking of the individual lives that have been stolen away.  Who were they?  What did they dream about doing one day?  What made them laugh?  What were their hobbies?  Do they have siblings?  How did their family hear the news?  How will their family get through this?

I’ve thought about the driver/shooter too.  What took place in his life that would allow him to make the choice he did that day? Was he ever bullied?  Abused by his parents?  Was he innately evil?  Mentally ill?  Could someone have come alongside him in his life and have been a positive influence, so none of this would have happened?  How could this have been stopped??

We may never have answers to some of these questions, but I think it’s important to ask them.

Don’t allow the death toll numbers and multiple incidences of tragedy you hear on the news desensitize you to the individual lives and needs involved.   What most breaks your heart?  Is it the pain that these people’s families will experience?  Find out how you can serve people in your own community experiencing the pain of loss?  Is it that a child was orphaned?  Think about becoming a foster parent or an adoptive parent.  Is mental illness involved in a situation?  Find out how you can help.

Friends, instead of feeling overwhelmed, fear-filled, and sick from these senseless acts, use your heartache to help others.  Take action.  There are people out there, right in your own community, or maybe even across the world, that need you.

Thank you for taking this to heart and for being a source of good and light in this world.

Go and love.

Jill xx

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Here’s How You Can Change The World

Having just commemorated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I’ve reflected on the good Dr. King did in his lifetime and the example and legacy he left us with.  As the “holiday” passes by, I don’t want us to miss and to truly believe how the heart and actions of one person can change the world.

While some of us are destined to create monumental change in the world like Dr. King, others of us–no less important–have the opportunity to create change in smaller ways in our corner of the world.

Read this part slowly: Every single one of us (that’s you!) has the potential to make a significant impact in the world.  Some of you reading this may not believe you can make a difference.  You may think that in order to make a difference you need to have more money, more time, a different job, know more people, live somewhere else.  Not true.

As with Dr. King’s example, great impact happens when we take efforts to protect someone or something.

Dr. King took a stand to protect the rights and freedoms of others…he took intentional steps and created a movement of change.

You and I have the ability to create change, too.  One way is to take steps to protect others.

We can begin by thinking about and responding to Dr. King’s statement and question here: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: “What are you doing for others?”

Who or what needs protecting in your corner of the world?  

  • Your family…your children, your spouse–your marriage.
  • Your friends.
  • Your community.
  • The homeless.
  • The abused.
  • The nation.
  • Your students.
  • Your neighbors.
  • The young.
  • The elderly.
  • The earth.

How can these people and these things be protected?

By taking intentional steps to:

  • Act in love.
  • Be respectful.
  • Be diligent.
  • Be kind.
  • Set healthy boundaries.
  • Be present.
  • Learn more.
  • Act with compassion.
  • Find out how you can help someone.
  • Remind someone of their worth.
  • Be a shoulder to cry on.
  • Do something that needs to be done that no one else wants to do.
  • Have eyes of awareness and hands of action.
  • Educate others.
  • Take a stand.

Did you notice that the list includes things each and every one of us can do?  Today!  No one needs to wait on getting their doctorate degree, or to obtain a high-level executive job, or to accumulate gobs of money.

What action will you take today?  Will you start with your family, your neighborhood, your community, your place of work, the world at large?

Thank you, in advance, for your part in making this world a beautiful place.

Jill xx

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