The world needs people who have come alive

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Howard Thurman.

This quote is hanging up in my office, so I remember every day to do the things that make me come alive.

Lately one of the things that brings me the most joy is to see people doing things they love, and watch them loving it openly and proudly. It's almost like watching little kid version of them. Which I guess sometimes means, the less reserved, the less scared, the less embarrassed, less guarded, etc. part of them.

I remember a girl in seventh grade choir who loved to sing. I knew that she loved to sing because every day she would close her eyes and get really into the music. I didn't appreciate how beautiful it was to watch her love singing.

We had a swing set on my college campus. One of my best friends and I would go swinging almost every day. Sometimes we would go in the afternoon while the football players were practicing across the street. Then she'd start singing, really loud. People would walk by, going to class. I was always a little too shy and a little too embarrassed to join her, but I loved watching her be ridiculous and awesome and love life and be so much braver than me to sing when she wanted to sing, and swing when she wanted to swing (I added that second part for rhyming sake).

When have you seen people really loving something?

I can think of so many. Here's a few:

1. A friend who loves snorkeling so much.
2. Harry Potter fans everywhere.
3. Friends who love reading all day.
4. My family that love-love-loves Disney.
5. My sister and her husband who dance in public all the time.
6. Friends who love doing theater and improv.
7. My BFFs from home who are doing the jobs they dreamed of doing when they were little.
8. Pastor friends preaching.
9. My dad's love for his workplace, Costco.
10. My mentor's genuine love for working with youth.
11. My other mentor who starts half of her conversations with, "Do you know so-and-so? I just LOVE them!"
12. A woman at my church who has just been freed to ask all kinds of questions about faith and the joy that she has asking them.
13. My husband who loves '90s rap.
14. Friends that love going to school and love learning.

It's not just that they love things. They love things without wondering how others will feel about their love of that thing. I don't know how else to describe it, but it seems like what "coming alive" is like.