My Fortune Cookie

Three months ago, I ate at a Chinese restaurant. It wasn't just any Chinese place, it was a wonderful Chinese place. The name of the place was called, Wonderful Chinese Food. As much as I despise places that seem to name themselves with egocentric titles, these cooks made me a believer. But as almost everyone knows, the meal you eat at any Chinese place, is not the part you'll remember. The most memorable part and the absolute best moment of the meal is the opening of the fortune cookie.

You never know what it is going to say about you're future. There are times when it gives you something to look forward too, like the words "Good fortune is right around the corner for you!" Or times when it gives eerie warnings such as, "Be careful with any near ventures, danger may await." Sometimes the words on the familiar white slip of paper, can be pretty or sweet and instead of predicting the future, it will make a statement like, "A good friend is like a flower is full blossom." Not as exciting, but sometimes it helps you too remember not to take the small things, like friendship, for granted. No matter what is written on fortune or if it has a chance of becoming a reality, the fortune cookie always brings a smile to people's faces.

Recently, actually three months to the date, I opened a fortune cookie. I opened it up and I was struck with excitement. I cracked the yellow cookie, placing half of it on my plate eagerly grabbing the small piece of paper between my fingers. I read the following words, "Remember three months from this date. Good things are in store for you." I was in a moment of my life where I wasn't really too excited about all that was around me, but these two sentences made me think about the future, what would happen in three months? Does this mean that nothing good will happen for another three months? How can I wait this long? In my short excitement I remembered that I was just reading a piece of paper, and I quietly placed in my wallet as a keepsake. I knew that there was no real meaning to the paper but I wanted there to be significance. Since then, many of the good things that have happened to me or around me I have often thought back to that Sunday brunch with my family when I first saw my fortune.

Three months later bring us to today. I think about the fortune, and though I do not give all the credit to that paper for the good that has happened to me, I use it to think about how far I've come in the past three months. I feel as though I have been blessed so much I could list it but it would end up taking up all the space on my website! But honestly, much has happened in this length of time and it makes me reflect on all that can change in such a small amount of time.

Things were not going all too great from me, there weren't a whole bunch of positives and I seemed to be sinking into a bottomless pool. But it changed, or I thought it changed. Truly, I changed. I realized that with my little fortune cookie, I was expecting good things to happen, I was no longer being weary of the next negative waiting for me around life's corner, I was now looking for the good. I had a new perspective and though my struggles still continued because I knew that with every dip, there was a rise and I would come to the top again.
Its the little things in life that make us smile. Sometimes those little things make a huge difference and help people like me remember that there is always good happening around us, we just have to remember to look.

Change is Change

Recently I had a friend of mine tell me that change is always good. I laughed at that notion because there are few people that actually believe that. Most of the time we are trying to get people to embrace change because no one wants it. Change is awkward, unfortunate, hurtful, stretching, stressing and difficult for so many people. That is why the majority of persons are afraid of change. If it were good, people would not be so afraid of it. Often time people like a steady environment, which is why change is frowned upon. Or past change has been unfavorable to them because; like when they were younger the family moving made the children lose all their friends and lost contact to the people that meant most to them, or when mom got a new boyfriend and the change of the man in the house led to the abuse of the family, or the time when someone decided they wanted to change what they were studying in college and enter a new field, but when they finally graduated the realized that what they were prepared for was not what they wanted. Change like that is scary.

How could someone say that all change is good, when they are so many examples of bad change all around. But on the other side of the coin, there is the good change. When an unhealthy person finally decides and commits to living a life aware of what the eat and how they live, or when a couple decides that they are going to get married, or when a person accepts a new job that is finally paying them for their worth. Change has the ability to be good, and even great and should not be something worth fearing.

Simply stated, change is not good for everyone. Sometimes change tares people, families or a business apart, and sometimes it is desperately needed for people, families or a business to succeed. Change effects every person differently, and to force your false belief or reality of change always being good or always being bad would be incorrect. Change is change, consistently neither good nor bad, but always different.

Six Word Memoir

I StumbledUpon a site the other day that was all about Six-Word Memoirs written from people about their view of their lives. People would look at their lives and say what they thought their lives were in six words.

There were really good ones...

"Hold on, I'm almost caught up..."; "Hair is graying. Soul is not"; "Daughter's lovely smile brightens my day"

Romantic ones...

"It was puppy love, but lasted"; "He wrote love on my arm"; "Married with kids, still in love"

Funny ones...

"Well educated, but not very smart";"Refusing to be tall, skinny, blonde"; "Bright, cute, smart. Like a monkey!"

Inspiring ones...

"Ghetto to Greatness. A Dream Achieved"; "Knew doodling would pay off...eventually"; "Picking up the pieces, will get through"

and Unfortunate ones...

"'Father-daughter dance': the hardest words heard"; "Barely surviving after Death stole him"; "Antidepressants ruined friendship. Still unrequited love"

I began to think about what my memoir could be with only six words to use. After spending spending so much ending up with five and seven words, I finally found six simple words to say. Through Bitterness, I've learned to Love. But when I said those words to myself I realized that I should not let these words be the memoir of my life five, ten or twenty years from now. With the most part of life ahead of me I also made a goal of what I want my memoir to be in my future: Always Helpful, Always Loving, Always Fun. Even if someone else writes the memoir for my life, this is how i want to be seen. This is my memoir.

His Story

Today I was walking on the sidewalk by my university's baseball field outside the right outfield. I was not paying any attention to the game going on, but my attention was taken by a man struggling to get a good view of the game. I found it odd that he would have chosen this view for watching the game. On this sidewalk, which is street side, there is a large net for blocking balls hit out of the park and a couple of buildings on the side for the baseball players that impair the view for anyone watching from this side. The bleachers are on the next to home plate and only a moments walk away from the position the man occupies. But when I look at him a bit more closely, it makes sense why he does not dare enter the campus property, and stays looking from this poor viewing area. Most campuses don't particularly like having homeless people on their campus "disturbing the peace", and though this man probably wouldn't do much more than enjoy the game with a closer view, his look of homelessness unfortunately would raise questions from people, and from the insecurities of people, the security of the campus would more than likely be called upon to remove the man. So as a child looking at a candy store from the outside window, he stared looking to see what pitch the pitcher would throw next, and if the batter was able to figure it out in time to hit it into the outfield so he could safely get on bade. Unfortunately for the batter, it went foul.

I stared awkwardly at the man for a little bit wondering what his story was. What events happened to him that led to him looking like he did? Was he homeless? Why was he interested in the game that was going on? Maybe there was a relative on the field and he was trying to get a glimpse of them on the field. Does he have a passion for baseball? Maybe he once played for a team and had an injury that disabled him from playing another game making him lose his scholarship, which made unable to pay for his university, which led to him not being able get an education to move forward, which then led to him losing what life he had left. All these small stories rush into my head, making me think too much about this man's former life. I said a quick prayer for him, but I felt as if that was not enough for this man. I want to know more about him who he was, is what he did, and now doing, but I keep walking.

In a world where everyone has their ears plugged with the music of their choice, and eyes consumed with the phone in hand it easy not to see those around us. Its easy not to get to know the life that is next to us. We could be missing out on a story of a man or woman that is more tragic, entertaining, dramatic, heart wrenching or romantic than any book or movie could ever be. But instead we keep walking, sometimes without noticing. I think if I had a second chance, I would like to think that I would stop and talk to this man, because when I'm older and filled with years I want someone to listen to my stories.

Trading Good for Bad

Its interesting how people who do good are often not rewarded for their good deeds. Recently I heard about two brothers who were close but lived different lives. One was a normal guy who worked the average job and enjoyed a low key lifestyle. The other brother who was older was a comedian, lived his life on a cruise ship as a stand-up comic always in the the spot light. Unfortunately, the younger brother became ill with a liver disease that was slowly killing him. Fortunately for him though, this type of disease could be easily healed with a piece of another person's healthy liver added to his, and his older brother had a healthy enough liver to accommodate his need. They both went into surgery and the ill, younger brother came out happy and healthier than before. Exciting and great news. But the older brother didn't come out looking nearly as well as the other brother. In fact, now the older brother was dying. It came to a point that the older brother now needed another surgery to save him from death. It was close, but he was able to make it through alive. For his gift of giving a piece of his liver to his younger brother, he was given a potentially life taking illness from the surgery, and though his life was spared he ended up coming closer to death than his brother ever was.

In a world where good deeds don't seem to come around often to those who give them its easy to be discouraged. Its legally safer for "Good Samaritans" to literally ignore situations because there are so many accounts of people doing the right thing morally and ethically but are sued because they helped incorrectly, or their aid wasn't desired, or their willingness to be there for someone backfires because some lawyer finds a way to show that had the Good Samaritan not been there the affects of the victim would have been less. Interesting right?

I guess that is why twice in the New Testament after Christ's death Paul says to the church (Galatians 6.9; 2 Thess. 3.13) not to become tired, distressed or weary of doing what is right, good and well meaning. It is so easy to lose focus on doing good because good doesn't always come back around fast enough, but when it does it makes what we did so long ago seem completely worth it.