when a stranger touches your heart

i never met her. this girl who touched my heart.

i glimpsed her through her blog only after i started blogging.

it was coincidence. or happenstance. or chance.

or maybe fate that directed me towards her.

sara. the gitzen girl. 

i read her words, read her story and found inspiration in her basic decision: choose joy.

so simple.

and yet so hard.

life is all about choices. choices about what to wear, what to eat, where to live.

choices about partners, and friends, and jobs.

but sara reminded everyone that our most important choices...the ones that matter in the end...are those choices we make with our hearts.

those chances we decide to take.

the willingness we have to risk looking silly for the sake of something bigger.

something better.

something more.

and that's what sara did. that's what sara shared.

she laid her life on the line. she laid her heart out for all to see. she laid out her bad and her good. her heartaches and triumphs. her pleasures and pain. and she kept reminding only one thing.

choose joy.

and she defined that by choosing to see the good. in everything and in everyone.

by choosing not to focus on the bad. by choosing not to see her obstacles as roadblocks. by choosing not to blame God for what she was missing, but choosing instead to thank Him for what she had.

such great lessons. such a great life.

and such a short one.

because in the middle of her inspiration was a girl who knew she didn't have long to share it.

sara was dying.

and all the people she touched through her words rallied around her in the real world and rallied around her in the blog world.

it didn't matter that most had never met her. that most would never see her face.

because people only wanted to let her know that she mattered. people wanted to let her know that she helped them. people wanted to let her know that she inspired them.

oh the prayers that Heaven must have received on her behalf!

she died a few months ago and yet i still think of her. i'm still reminded of her goodness. i still remember her heart.

strangers in this world. sisters in the next.

goodbye sweet sara, until we meet again.

your words, your attitude, your decision to live - to really live - touched my heart.

and you will forever remain in mine.


you can meet sara too...here's her blog...

garth brooks : my wish for the next 50 years

to those who know me well, it's no secret that my favorite entertainer is garth brooks.

for years, when i would conduct new hire orientation at a resort i was working at, i would include that piece of information at every session.

really, every one.

once a month for 9 years.

everyone knew. pretty much everyone who knows me still knows.

i love garth brooks.

not in that fantasy i wish he would marry me type way. i'm already happily married. 

and not in that creepy stalker-ish way that has me following his every move and knowing every single detail of his life. because i barely have time keeping up with my own life, let alone trying to do it for someone else.

but i love him in that love you have for someones passion.

that appreciation you have for someones gift.

that admiration you have for someones humanity.

because the passion causes him to live on purpose. to make decisions that mean something. to do things that outlive the moment.

and the gift causes him to reach people that would not otherwise be reached. and touch people in ways unexpected. and change lives. and heal wounds. and give hope.  

and the humanity requires him to share what he has. to be in awe of where he's at. and to be humbled by every second of it.

and i love that about him. and i wish more people were like that.

and i strive to be more like that everyday.

so today, on his 50th birthday, i offer a wish, and a hope, and a dream, for every moment of every day for the next 50 years...


i wish you 50 more years of a deep desire to find the good in each day. to search out the good in each person. to show people the good that is still in this world.

i wish you 50 more years of being surrounded by those you love and who love you. people who you'll stand up for. people who you'll fight for. people who you'll thank God for. and that those people will do the same for you without question.

i wish you 50 more years of the knowledge that struggles make you stronger. that those you've lost can still be heard. and that even your pain has something to be thankful for.

i wish you 50 more years of incredible memories, unbelievable moments and amazing opportunities-and that they're shared with strangers, and optimists and dreamers of impossible dreams.

i wish you 50 more years of choosing to find hope in the hopeless. of choosing to give courage to the lost. of choosing to bring compassion to the broken.

but of everything i wish for you, i wish you this the most. that Jesus may fill your heart to overflowing. that His life will be the example that you live. and that His death will mean so much to you...that there is never a doubt as to who you serve.

happy birthday. everyday.