unexpected recognition.

I recently just graduated from Des Moines Area Community College, and it has been a very interesting year and a half. It's amazing how much I've grown and matured since leaving high school. I was in my safe bubble back then, and now I've experienced living on my own, allowing me to make my own decisions and to discover my own conclusions about an ocean of subjects.

While at DMACC I accomplished a lot by getting involved. It was a great environment and I met many wonderful people there! But recently one sticks out in particular...

I organized an Honors dinner earlier this month, and a fellow Honors student as a graduation gift gave me, of all things, a haiku dollar bill! I was thrilled to see the idea catching on, and receiving it was a treat!

"They look up to you,

And surely they look as small,

Feed my grasshoppers."

Sometimes when you least expect it, someone shines a little light into your life. They tell you wonderful things that make you feel worth while and special. Cainon did this for me, and I can't put into words what it meant to know that Christ has impacted my life in such a way that others have noticed. I am who I am today not because of anything I've done, rather what Christ did for me. It's in moments like these when I see Christ's work in my life become real.

Cainon finished his letter with this statement, "I hope that you continue to seek out meaning and purpose with unsatisfiable contentment."

Unsatisfiable contentment...such great word choices. I think that's another reason why I want to do this project this coming year. I don't want to go through life satisfied and content in my situation. I continually want to be challenged and seeking out my purpose in Christ. 

Get pumped for the new year because it's going to be a wild ride doing this! I'm excited for how God will use this for his glory, and to meet some really fantastic people along the way. 

Merry Christmas and remember the reason for the season!

the background to the challenge.

Once upon a time I was eating at Orange Leaf with some friends...

It was my first time, and being unfamiliar with all the wonderful qualities and sides to fro-yo I was quite elated, as you can imagine. Going through the line I was overwhelmingly chattery to my fellow fro-yo companions, both friends and strangers, and acting quite intrepid. In front of me were my companions and behind me were two young men, fellow college students no doubt, whom I had never met before. I understand the unspoken rule, but tonight wasn't a normal night. 

The rule is this: in normal American society you keep to yourself and don't invade the bubble of strangers, particularly in public places. 

But like I said...it wasn't a normal night. Not at all. 

I was overflowing with joy due to a wonderful night at Salt Company (a college ministry at Iowa State University) and the $10 bowl of fro-yo in my hand. The extrovert in me ask the strangers what flavors they had gotten, what toppings they were looking at, and wanted to know how excited they were to be eating the phenomenon that evening. It was a seemingly normal thing for me to do, and I could've done it to anybody. But I only asked them.

Fast forward to a half hour later. I'm sitting in one of those uncomfortably chic chairs, chatting with my group, when I'm tapped on my right shoulder. In my hand is placed a single dollar, and the strangers leave the shop. I don't realize what is given to me until after they leave and then I get a good look at it. It's a dollar bill...but with writing on it...this was it:

HAIKU 575

She's so pretty

With her nose ring and red hair

What a lovely girl.

I was shocked. How do you respond to that?
For those of you who've forgotten their junior year of High School's poetry unit, the 575 refers to the number of syllables per line in a haiku poem. By just being friendly with the strangers behind me line, something I didn't even have to think about, and they gave me something I will keep forever. I know for some this could mean nothing to you and you'd just go to the nearest gas station and buy a pack of gum with it. But I took it as an act of kindness and have found it upon myself to pay it forward. So your next question is: how are you going to do that? Well, here's my plan. 

the time limit: 1 year (January 1-December 31, 2013)

the objective: shed some of God's light on strangers' lives around Ames, IA

the logistics: a) $1 haiku per person

                      b) 10 people per month = $10

                      

                      c) # of people I will encounter = 10 people x 12 months = 120 people

                       

                      d) total cost for the year = $120

                      e) and if they all pay it forward to one other person, total # of people being reinforced 

                          with love by 2014 = 120 x 2 = 240 people

240 people (hypothetically) that could be reached to with love that they would not have received before! I think that is a project worth doing! And definitely worth every penny! I know, I know... I could do it for free. On a slip of paper. Or save some paper, use a gum wrapper. But I really liked the dollar idea...it made it seem like the compliment was worth sharing, and not just empty words. 

Written on currency, to remain current in my life.

Now this is the fun part :)
I'm going to take pictures of every person with their dollar. Ideally, I would love to do this with a polaroid camera, in the moment. I will keep the pictures and post them on this blog so you guys can see my progress. I will also share the stories of the situations, and invite you into my little experiment. I may never see the fruit of this project, but I have faith. And faith is all I need. 

So, I hope by now you've figured out the "Haiku" part of the title for this blog; but you're probably still stuck on the "grasshoppers" part. Well, in Isaiah 40 we are described as grasshoppers before our glorious Lord. A grasshopper is a humble creature, and the people to receive these haikus are going to be the humblest that I encounter. The unnoticed. The unappreciated. Together WE are the grasshoppers before a mighty God, may He ever be exalted. 

"Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers..."

Isaiah 40:21-22