Build the Road as We Go

One of the big projects that has consumed much of my thought, time, and energy has been an Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) project that we undertook at the 32nd Avenue Jubilee Center in North Denver, beginning in late 2013. A tenet of ABCD is to build the road as we go. We follow the energy and passion around us, and we set off with no expectation that we will end up in a certain place. We take a leap of faith and trust in the goodness of the Creator and the Creation.

When I blogged yesterday that I am getting all the way off the merry-go-round of my life full of busy volunteer activities to focus on taking care of my family and myself, I didn’t know how the following days would unfold. I felt trepidation and equivocation, and yet, I knew I had to take the first step. I knew I had to save my life in a very real sense, and that saving my life is not an exaggeration.

My Facebook friends have been supportive in their response, and they are helping to lay the pavers for each new step that I walk. I am grateful beyond measure for their affirmation of me.

I have written a lot about affirmation, and one of the most important and most accessible ways in which we support one another is through affirmations. Affirmations are so simple and cost nothing except a moment of your time. You simply say, “I think you are doing the right thing,” or “I appreciate how difficult that decision was,” or “I know that your family will be blessed,” or “I am aware of the thoughtfulness of your choice,” or “I appreciate YOU.” Even one such as me, who has made it my ministry to affirm others, experiences affirmations as the blessings that they are.

I am reminded that on the sixth day of Creation, “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.” [Genesis 1:31a, NRSV] That is how I feel about life in all its trials and tribulations. Despite the challenges, life is very good, down to each breath that we take . . . if we are mindful. There is something to be said about the wisdom of mindfulness and paying attention to our breaths. It is in those moments of the stripped away simpleness of being still that we know the Creator is.