Bold

Today started out just like any other day. I went to community event with my roommate to get a nice breakfast and was planning on spending the rest of the day preparing for exams. Shortly after I arrived back to my dorm room, I started hearing unwelcome sounds out my window and receiving text messages from Virginia Tech and my friends on campus. A day that I had planned out went horribly astray from what it should have been. One minute, it was just another day on campus, and the next minute it turned into a day that many Hokies will never forget. December 8th, 2011.

This concept of everything suddenly changing shouldn't be anything new to us. Sadly, it happens quite frequently. National tragedies, natural disasters, loved ones passing away, unexplainable deaths, and changes in plans. They are all unforeseeable events that have a tendency to change everything in our lives. The thing is that we can't usually see these things coming and they come at us like a punch in the face. 

Through the course of events yesterday, I felt a community pull together. There were no gaps, but instead we were a united community. It is powerful when you are receiving so many texts messages that your phone doesn't even have a chance to send another one. It is powerful when people who you seldom speak to sincerely ask if you are okay and tell you they care. It is powerful when you finally hear from those that you have been trying to check up on to make sure that they are okay. 

I realized how much I value the relationships I have with people in my life. I feel like it is impossible to return the amount of love i was given from everyone yesterday, but I want to try. I want to show people that I care about them too. I want to be there for them in their moment of weakness, sadness, strength, and joy. I want to be proactive is showing people that I care about them.

We shouldn't let things in our life cause us to live in fear. Instead, they should encourage us to be bold. We should be bold with our loved ones and tell them how much they mean to us. We should be bold with those who are strangers because you never know how bad of a day they might be having. Our world needs more people who aren't afraid to stand up for what they know is right, even if it comes at a price. I want to try to be one of those people and I invite you to join me.

I couldn't help but think of Beautiful Things by Gungor. Below are some of the lyrics:

All this pain
I wonder if I’ll ever find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all
All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us