Be that someone who makes the difference.

Be that someone who makes the difference.

Caution is great but if you are always looking at your feet you will miss the beauty of the world around you.
Self-improvement is not always about making ourselves better.
Rather, it can be about making ourselves feel better.
I am learning how to not be okay all the time.
Others do not get to dictate how long or how much a person feels sad, lonely, hurt, or frail. They do not get to silence one’s feelings.
Learning to shed the criticisms and the expectations of others is not easy. Learning that feeling and expressing life’s sadness as well as life’s joys does not make one weak.
It is okay to be something other than okay.
Life is tough, even a good life, even a blessed life. It not weakness to feel frail, tired, and hurt. It is not weakness to get frustrated and angry. It is only weakness when those emotions dominate one’s life.
Our testimony is like the wheat that is the essence of out bread, it need to be replenished every season.

Mob violence is never restricted to one side or the other. In the modern world, the town square is often replaced by social media groups. The pitch forks and torches of the past may have been replaced by the written word or photograph, but do not doubt that the modern version of tar and feathers damages individuals and businesses just as much, if not more so than, it did in the past. Looking the other way and hoping the furor will die down does not absolve or protect us from the tragedy when the mob takes action. While we can try to insulate our groups and personal pages from such behavior, we cannot hide from the mob, at least not permanently.

Article discussing how mob mentality is affecting the quilting world.
Developing a good relationship with your tools is so very key to success. An understanding of the nuances of your tools brings accuracy, contrary to what the salesperson at the shop might try to tell you. This understanding, this relationship you might say, only comes through practice.

It requires more than just voting in order to practice informed citizenship. You cannot only tune-in every 2-4 years and hope that you’ll have more than a narrow understanding of the issues.
The world is complex and deferring your civic responsibility to others isn’t going to make you satisfied with the actions of the government.
You might not be a bad citizen if this is what you choose to do, but you won’t be an informed citizen.

The human story that shreds the heart of so many, also seems to bring out the vile ugliness of others.
When people feel a burning need to promote and protect themselves at the expense of another, we see the ugly nature of humanity in its fullness. Turning away from this ugly sight does not absolve one from its contaminants. Like an insidious disease, you either fight it or succumb to it, you do not simply ignore it hoping it will go away.
In a politically charged environment, remaining silent can be just as politically volatile as voicing an opinion. Therefore, it is better to stand and be counted rather than hide behind silence.