Day 22 The Power of Living & My Dash Project

Today was Day 1 of Education Week on the beautiful island of Crete. I was excited to refocus and get in the right mindset for the learning portion of our trip. Our lecture this morning was given by Garrett who spoke about the Power of Living. First we split into community groups to discuss what it really means to live. My group had so many great ideas and I enjoyed listening to each person’s opinion about what was important to them. Afterwards we read a powerful article about a man named James Shepherd whose horrible surfing accident and tough recovery inspired him to open The Shepherd Center, a catastrophic care hospital in Atlanta. One of the takeaway points of the story was persistence even in difficult situations and it helped illustrate a theory that Garrett presented: it either takes an incident or a tragedy to truly live life; sometimes called tragic optimism which leads to reevaluating one’s life. Robbie gave us three things that he strives for in travel and life in general: be intentional, be aware, be grateful. After sharing personal stories about this topic, we watched the film Darius Goes West. Even though I have seen it multiple times it still makes me laugh and cry every time. After the movie, we walked to a local cemetery. It really was one of the most beautiful cemeteries I’ve ever seen. It was small and surrounded an adorable little church. I loved how it was set up. All the graves were above ground and made of white marble. Each one was different and most of them were decorated with flowers, pictures, and letters. Some had glass keepsake boxes with various personal things inside. This is where we ended the lecture with an activity call the Dash Project. Basically this was a way to examine our lives by writing about what we plan to do with “the Dash in the Middle” which represents our live from birth to death. Visually it is the – between the two dates on our tombstone. It was a powerful activity that really made us think hard about what matters most in life. Today was very emotional and I believe everyone was a little shaken by the reflection, atmosphere, and location within the cemetery. This kind of activity is very thought-provoking and deep, many people were in tears. But its good to stop and think about these things. I really enjoyed writing and reading mine out loud.

My Dash Project: No Dotted Lines

I hope and pray that the Dash in the Middle of my life is a long and healthy one. I expect a few spikes and dips along the way- life isn’t perfect. But I do want my dash to have purpose and meaning. I’m promised that I’m on this earth for a reason. I want everyday to be a journey and pursuit of that goal. I want to love despite the fact that I’ve had my heart broken before. I want to travel and learn about myself, I want to be somewhat independent but I also want to be taken care of and have someone to depend on. I want to look people in the eye. I want to be real and transparent and vulnerable. I want people to see a difference in my life because of my faith. I want to hold babies and cry at funerals, no because of a loss but because of joy and hope for the future. I want to be a good friend. I want to laugh until I cry. I want to find my passion and live and work it every day. I want to always be touched by a story and to never grow cold or hard-hearted. I want to fall in love and get married. I want to have a family and love and give like money isn’t an issue. I want to be happy and joyful with/in my career. I want to point people to Christ. I want to motivate others towards their goals. I want to do one thing every day that makes me smile. I want to look at everything I have and all that surrounds me and always be thankful. I want to be content but never settle. I want to say cheesy things and think profound thoughts. I want people to like me for me and if not, I never want to change myself for anyone. I want to eat too much. I want to learn how to cook. I want to maintain old friendships and nurture new ones I want to have deep conversation. I want to use the whole dash- no dotted lines. I want my life to be made up of moments and memories that I’ll never forget until the day that my Dash in the Middle comes to an end.

xoxo,

Jenna