“There’s the moon Nana!” exclaimed my two-year-old nephew. “There it is!” “Look, Nana! Do you see it? There’s the moon!” “The moon! It’s big, and Jesus put it there!”

He continued on and on and on and on and on. Until I listened. Until I acknowledged. Until I told him that I agreed that there was so so so much to be gained by stopping to notice the moon. It’s beautiful, you know? More than just a ball in the sky. It enables us to breathe, rest, live in a home. It allows us to exist.

And I must confess, I don’t get nearly excited enough about the moon.

Why? Because I’m a bad listener. I’m bad at noticing the way beauty is screaming at me each day.

We’re all bad listeners. Yes, we read text messages. Sure, we can check facebook. We definitely ask the cashier at Walmart how they are, but in honesty, rarely do we care. As soon as we have the chance to listen, we close our ears and return to distracting ourselves from feeling pain. And we stop ourselves from hearing the joy.

The more time I spend in the corporate world, I see how terrible a job we all do of listening to one another, to the world, to the hearts of those around us. Because if we really listened, we’d have best friends, we would let love win, and we’d hear that there’s a struggle within us all that is exactly the same. That gnawing feeling that all we want is to be understood, enjoyed, and valued for each thing we say until we leave this earth. That struggle to let ourselves listen to our own hearts.

The end of here comes fast. Hope in something greater. Let a child lead you to hear from the moon. And, exclaim in the way you listen that this world is worthy of love.

Please use today and listen up.

…because love wins.

I never wanted to be diagnosed with cancer. But, in some ways, I did. For in doing so – in facing life and death – I was changed. Not the kind of change that a person can choose on their own. But the kind of change where one’s heart is ripped away from everything that keeps them from seeing that everything here, will be gone. That in fact, it’s already dying now.

Cancer made the trees greener, the sky bluer, the hearts I meet more breakable and fallible, and forgivable. Cancer made me give thanks. Not for one thing, or for food to eat, but to kneel and beg in Thanksgiving for each moment. Cancer taught me that I lived to teach everyone else that their anger, fear, need to be accepted, dreams of great fortune, or pride, mean nothing. Literally nothing. I live to teach by my existing, that love wins. That love matters. And that afterall, because we are all dying, it’s all that ever has, and ever will.

Realize. You will die someday. Love everyone like they are dying.

And live like you are too. Because you are. And they need you to care. Be kind. Change lives. Let the grass be green. Smile. Let go of the anger like it matters. Hold onto the only thing that does.

With every atom of you, appreciate that you breathe.

Jesus is showing you love. Just let Him open your eyes.

…because love wins.

I know we know.
Because I know we’ve all been close.
If you haven’t, thank God.
A heart in tact if only for another day.
People who stand when they know this.
They aren’t strong.
They’ve just been so weak,
that they know they have,
nothing left, but
still have to walk.
But everyone dies.
And some die at 1.
2.
12.
16.
17.
82.
And it’s always too soon.
For everyone who waits.
For everyone that lets another go.
For every mom who observes
a birthday where a celebration ought to be.
For every sister and brother
who play hide and seek
with one less best friend.
For every father who
tries to hold the tears
but can’t hold anyone
tight enough to make
the pain go away.
So we all know that
everyone dies.
And still,
it takes deeper breaths
than we have ever breathed
and bigger tears
than we have ever cried
to stand up
and take another step.
It’s not going to be okay
in a day,
just because we know it’ll all
be okay.
But it will be.
You know that.
I know that.
We don’t have a thing to say.
Just a hug,
a tissue,
and a set of eyes that
say,
“Sooner or later,
I swear, we’re gonna
make it.”

Everyone dies. And it wouldn’t be so hard, if Heaven wasn’t so far away.

Love everyone today. Let your heart break. Let your eyes look up knowing that sooner or later,
we’ll make it there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-QQekBc0wY

…because love wins.

College, check.
One night. One day.
Over and over and over again, until I held in my possession a piece of paper that means something in this life, it seems.
But, what I have learned in the last four years is not on a piece of paper.
It’s in my heart, my mind, and my soul.
It is the scream within me that as soon as I walked across that stage,
I was going to be a better influence in this world.
That I would let my heart be used to free people.
From addiction.
From fear.
From anxiety.
From brokenness.
From poverty.
Of money, and of soul.

There is a lot to process in the weeks that follow a college graduation. No longer is the crutch of, “I’m a student.” That statement alone has wrapped hearts into thinking they could avoid the way they were to be wrapped with one another. That statement sometimes kept us from simply being who we were supposed to be. Working, reaching, being as we should.

Who am I really?

I am not a student.
I am not a career seeker.
I am me.

For the first time ever, I will explain to you, that who I am is not what I do. It is not a compilation of the dreams I have or the things I’ve done. Who I am is my interaction with each person I meet. The belief I have in the power of the human workforce, and that kindness and devotion can actually change the world. In fact, that they are the only thing that can.

There is a lot more that matters these days in America than what we see. Dare I say, we’ll notice it if we close the media, turn off the computer, pick up a shovel, or sweep a kitchen? There is work to be done. We have ourselves. We have each other.

And what we spend our time talking about that we think matters, will soon fall away.

Soon enough, we’ll realize that us, our bodies, our love, and our greater hope in Jesus really is all that mattered.

At the start of “real life” those things that matter are what I am standing on.

Join me?

…because love wins.

Why this happened I cannot explain,
Why write the script with such heartache and pain?
Could there not have been an easier way?
Washing life through this glass so faded,
I cannot see the bigger picture taking place.
Oh, to understand one day.
My heart will fly,
when I finally see You face to face.
And my tears, will fly away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC-Ae7PKeQo

…because love wins.

“Life? Don’t you understand? It’s a terminal illness.”

Cherish.

…because love wins.

so you thought you had to keep this up,
all the work that you do,
so we think that you’re good.
and you can’t believe it’s not enough.
all the walls you built up
are just glass on the outside.
so let them all fall down.
there’s freedom waiting in the sound.
we’re here now.

this is where the healing begins.
this is where the healing starts.
when you come to where you’re broken within,
the light meets the dark.

Do you wish to be healed?

…because love wins.

I ask You what you want for me,
and You keep silence all around.
I beg you for direction,
and there is nothing but the light of the sun.
I wonder at the future,
and I know no more than I know now.

And though most would think that I am not getting what I want, I have learned that I myself do not know at all what I want. I have a quiet soul, whispering stillness beyond any of my frustration. I see beauty as it should be, and I have gotten every answer. And I am not in need.

My soul rejoices and I see,
that all I want is more of You, and less of me.

Everything is beautiful.

…because love wins.