{Your Dash}

Hey y'all!

I'm still in Norway! Which is absolutely beautiful. You should definitely visit if you EVER get the chance! ^.^

     

But anyways! This not about Norway's beauty (which is a topic for another post for sure)...It's about that picture up there.

     Whenever we have to drive through town to get to Tønsberg's downtown, we pass this graveyard on the grounds of a little brick church. It's not really much to look at, but the fact that it's there, near the middle of the city, really intrigues me.

      For some reason, I am incredibly drawn to graveyards. I am always looking for them imagining what the world was like when those people were alive. (The older the graveyard the better, in my opinion.) For me, it feels like I'm soaking in history just by being there; I feel like I learn to experience a lot and to notice history in the making when I visit graveyards. (I know, I am so weird...Is there anyone else out there like me??)

     This past year, in August, I went to Academy 31, held in Manor, TX. (www.academy31.com) IT WAS FANTABULOUS! All the things I learned and experienced during those two weeks...WOW. BUT during the first week of the camp, lovely lovely intern staff forced us to endure a scavenger hunt in a graveyard that was within walking distance from the house we were staying at. (It really wasn't that bad, y'all. My flip-flops threatened to break a couple of times, but other than that, it was a extremely cool experience. :3) After a five-ish minute walk to the yard, we were split into four or five teams (if I remember correctly) and were sent on our hunt. After the scavenger hunt, which was to basically look for different unique things around the yard, our wonderful interns sat the 15 (or 16?) of us down and talked to us about what we saw. 

     "What is the thing that every gravestone had on it?" A dedication? (Not all had one.) A birth date? (Yes, anything else?) Umm...A date of death? (Yes...But for the infants, some had the same birth and death date...Anything else?) Umm...Hmm... [Can you guess, reader?] The thing that every gravestone (almost every) gravestone had was a dash in between the birth date and the date of death.

     The dash represented the life they lived. Some dashes represent more days and longer lives than others, but they symbolize the person's life just the same. In the words of (pretty fantabulous) author John Green in The Fault In Our Stars, "Some infinities are bigger than other infinities." (Which applies to a lot of different things btw...)

     We are commissioned to live our dash well. Although it's represented rather insignificantly on our headstone, it is (easily) the most important part of our headstone (or monument) aside from our name...That dash, that little piece that so many people overlook, is that part of that gravestone wherein you can find out so much about the person buried there. That dash, the seemingly insignificant dash, can be (and kinda is) the most important parts of a person's life.

     "How are you living your dash?"

     Confession time: I am a procrastinator and a master of good intentions. (">gasp!< Not sweet, darling Onyca!" says the people who don't know me while my close friends are choking down laughter in the background.) I have come to realize (at the tender age of 17) that good intentions get you nowhere. :/ (Sad but true, y'all.) That question shook me to my core. How am I living my dash?

     I don't know about you, but when I die, I want to remembered. Not as the one who found a cure for cancer (although that would be fantabulous). Not as the WORLD'S GREATEST violinist (also absolutely fantabulous). Not as the world's best supermom (Exasuperfantabulous!). I want to be known as one who lived out God's love to EVERYONE she came in contact with. Whether it be though my violin playing, or through the friends my kids make (you know, down the road a ways), or meeting someone while standing in line at Wal-Mart.

     Somehow, I want to find ways to make my dash meaningful. Maybe not someone people will remember for years and years and years to come, but I want to be someone who affects the lives of many for good. With actions as "easy" as being a listening ear, or the friend who stayed when all else abandoned ship. The...free therapy sessions...or the hug when it's needed.

     I find that it can be hard, even with my own family, to be there when I'm needed. Well, way more so with my family than with my friends. If any of my friends need me for something, I'm the first one to jump at the opportunity to help...(Or at least really try to be.)

     Guys, our dash involves more than just the nebulous idea of "society." It incorporates the destitute, the poor and broken. It includes our families. Those cranky neighbors. That one person (guy or gal) who just won't leave you alone. Those people are just as important as the starving family in Africa, the children living on the streets in some major city somewhere in the world, the nature walk that's about to get turned into a shopping center. The "least of these" that Jesus talks about in Matthew 25 are, in reality, anyone and everyone who needs us.

     I want a dash that truly makes a difference. I'm gonna start today. 
Who's with me? 

G2g dinner time :) (Yes, we have dinner at 3.) 

Ha det! Gå med Gud