a little morsel from my heart

For that past couple of years, I've been doing a lot of learning about myself and about my beliefs of why we were all put on this earth together. Although his transcends far beyond politics- Thank God... come on, I know that's what you were thinking... it does explain some of my 'quirks'.

Even though I was raised on a healthy diet of 'The Lord', I'm not sure that I would claim that I'm a religious person, at least not in the sense that is related to organized religion. I will say that I am definitely a spiritual person, and that I live very true to my beliefs of what is right and what is wrong- every day. I haven't figured out exactly where those beliefs fit into the rest of the mainstream of beliefs, or if they even need to fit in, because really, how boring would that be.

So here it is: I think that everyone is a angle of sort, and that everyone has a unique purpose for being here on earth. And that when we come face to face with that purpose, large or small, life long or just an exhale, if we are leading with our hearts, then we know that we must serve at that moment, because we and it have aligned in time and space, and there we are, in that moment. How lame would it be to turn and walk away?

I don't think that we should be driven to do 'acts of kindness' with the hopes of praise of even a 'thank you'. We don't do them because we're obligated by our congregation, or to give thanks on a day of celebration of the birth of a deity, or of our nation. Nor do we do them out of pity, because in my mind, we are only people living side by side on this earth, all under different circumstances.

We do acts of kindness because we are here, on earth, alongside others who are also here on earth. It is our obligation as humans beings, plain and simple.

Take this as you wish, but do think about why you are here, and what drives you to act in the ways that you do. I really believe that this is important stuff, and that understanding our own unique gifts clarifies our often times muddled journey.

A friend sent an article to me yesterday, and it made me beyond grateful. Not because the content has to do with saving valuable open space, but because of the humble attitude of the person who led with his heart, knowing that it was the right thing to do.

Here's my favorite line:

"I got in there and saw the opportunity to make the difference and then realized that, seeing that opportunity, I couldn’t ethically justify not taking it. I knew that as bad as this could possibly turn out, if I ended up going to prison, then I could live with that. But if I saw an opportunity to protect the land of southern Utah and I saw an opportunity to keep some oil in the ground and give us a better chance for a livable future and I passed up that opportunity, then I wouldn’t be able to live with that. And so, I just had to make that choice on my own."

-Democracy Now. Tim DeChristopher, University of Utah student and environmental activist.