"This? This is for You..."

Tonight I came across a poem/youtube video that is my favorite of both... it is called "Shake The Dust..." by Anis Mojgani

It addresses every single person who walks the face of the earth. I think everyone and anyone can read it and relate to it... It begins by calling out to every type of person.

"This is for the benches, and the people sitting upon them." - Pretty universal. "This is for the two year olds who can not be understood because they speak have english and half God." "This is for the biggots, the sexists, the killers..." "This is for the tired and for the dreamers... this? This is for you."

It ends as universal as it begins.

"Make sure that by the time fisherman returns you are gone.
Because just like the days, I burn both ends and every time I write, every time I open my eyes I am cutting out a part of myself to give to you.
So shake the dust and take me with you when you do for none of this has never been for me.
All that pushes and pulls, pushes and pulls for you.
So grab this world by its clothespins and shake it out again and again and jump on top and take it for a spin and when you hop off shake it again for this is yours.
Make my words worth it, make this not just another poem that I write, not just another poem like just another night that sits heavy above us all.
Walk into it, breathe it in, let is crash through the halls of your arms at the millions of years of millions of poets coursing like blood pumping and pushing making you live, shaking the dust.
So when the world knocks at your front door, clutch the knob and open on up, running forward into its widespread greeting arms with your hands before you, fingertips trembling though they may be." - Anis Mojgani

I want my life to be worth it. I want to run forward into life with widespread greeting arms, and trembling fingertips. I want to be fearless. I want to see each person I come in contact with and offer them some hope just by sharing my life with them. I want to walk with people through life... I want to let go of my "plans" for my future. I want to live today - because I will never know who I was supposed to meet and what I was supposed to see today, if I'm too busy looking forward and planning.

I want to be prepared, but even more I want to be willing to learn from the moment I have today. I want to meditate on the living Word of God, and the fact that I am blessed to be here every second that I'm here. I know a lot of people who's families would give anything to have them back here... I want to shout praise while I'm still here.

Life has never been described as "easy" - so shake the dust. Remind yourself that you're alive. "Speak everytime you stand so you do not forget yourself." You matter. Your words matter. Your story matters. Your art matters. Your talent matters. Your laughter and your tears matter. Shake the dust.

"Do not settle for letting these waves settle, and for dust to collect in your veins." - Find something that makes you move for something greater than yourself.

"We are only given a little spark of madness. We musn't lose it." - Robin Williams

KUSHIKA

Kushika: v- to be held

Today, I met with my best friend Rachael who just got home from Tanzania on a Medical Missions trip. She came back with a heavy heart for many of the people that she met while she walked through the country. She spoke with tears in her eyes about the words God was speaking to her.

Kushika is Swahili for "to be held". Rachael went to Africa with one thing for certain in her heart... to reach the people of Tanzania and to give them hope; to show them that the promise was that when everything in this life fell, we'd be held.

She came back with stories of how poor these beautiful people were, but how rich they were in spirit. How thankful and joyful they were, even when they had little to show for it.

"This is what it means to be held, how it feels when the sacred is torn from your life. This is what it is to be loved, and to know that the promise was that when everything fell we'd be held." -Natalie Grant

Tonight, I sit and remember the stories of the babies I met in Arlington this past week. My heart is heavy for people. Life is tough, and sometimes it takes too much out of us to lift out own heads. We are tired and hungry and thirsty. We can't see the end and we wonder if it will ever come.

If you've had the sacred torn from you're life, remember that you are held. There is hope, and there is healing. You were never meant to face the heartache of this life alone. When it feels like you cant move on, when you cant take one more step, I pray that God will light your path just enough to show you where to plant your foot.

We must remember hope, and we must remember "Kushika". Remember what it is to be held. You are in better hands tonight.

Wherever you are, whatever you are dealing with remember that there is someone who is praying for you, someone who loves you, someone who believes in you and someone who wants to walk with you.

May you find Kushika tonight.