More Important Than A Monday Update
In lieu of the normal Monday update, I am going to diverge and tell a personal story.
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Like most of us, there are those people in our lives that touch us in a particular way, perhaps a fleeting glimpse of the love of God revealed to us through another human being. As these people impact us in their own way, our attitude toward the world and those around us is impacted, sometimes in a powerful way. And they become the story behind those parts of us that are outwardly difficult to understand.
Dylan moved in and out of my life in what seemed like less than an instant, and his life and death have had such a lasting impact on who I am. From something as nominal as my haircut to what organizations I support and how I (try to) live with pain, the kid is in my thoughts often.
There is a story to why I have worn a ONE bracelet every day for the past three years, but it's long and better served for another forum.
And then there is TWLOHA.
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Depression, self-injury and suicide impact more people than we care to realize. People close to me have struggled with it, and it impacted my college campus my junior year. The year served as a youth minister put me face-to-face with the difficulties and struggles of that generation. Along the way, I was introduced to To Write Love on Her Arms, an incredible movement that begins with a story of despair and radical love. On most cool days (read: 9 months of the year in Michigan) I wear a TWLOHA hoodie that reads "Love is the Movement" and occasionally I have the opportunity to share the story of TWLOHA with a friend. Yesterday, I was able to discuss in-depth teen suicide and depression with a woman at church.
Today I was rocked by news that someone that I love dearly has attempted to take their own life two different times. It gave me a lot of reflection time to address my need to love more openly and outwardly at all times, never giving up when someone pulls away. This is true in ministry, in our lives as Christians, and in our family and friend circles everywhere. Love IS the movement, and without it, we all are alone our own own mental and physical islands. Somebody's appearance doesn't reveal the tempest inside their own minds and bodies, and we need to constantly remind ourselves to reach out and lend a hand, whatever that may mean.
"Wake up, you're alive, we're on your side."
