What's your legacy?

Two nights ago, CCSC held its annual Azalea Dinner to celebrate our mission and raise funds.  In the midst of the evening, we received news that our founder, Dean Robinson, had passed away after a long illness. Because of the timing of the news, we were able to take a moment to lift him and his family up in prayer, and celebrate all that he was to our organization and the wider faith community.

Dean was an ordinary person who used his unique skills, talents and personality to live his faith.  By this I mean that he was not superhuman: he had talents and flaws, good traits and bad traits, ways of doing things that were good and habits that weren't so good.  He was human, just like each of us.

What makes him great (to me) is that he harnessed all that was within him, the good and the bad, and picked up his cross to follow Jesus.  He didn't wait until he was perfect to begin to live a Christ-centered life; he just lived it as best he could.

And along the way, he founded CCSC, Amazing Place Houston, and a variety of programs at St. Luke's Methodist Church.  Every great thing that he did just happened to help other people. 

Not many of us will found and create organizations.  But each of us has the ability to use all that we are - the superb as well as the imperfect sides of ourselves - to live our faith daily.  So make peace with your flaws and talents, gather them up, and use them as Dean did: to help others and make a difference in your world. 


Below is a picture of Dean and his wife Beverly at a prior Azalea Dinner.

I had a pity party last week

Last week I had a virus, one that makes you feel miserable and wishing scientists would find a cure for the common cold.  In addition, my husband was out of town, so I was single-parenting while feeling crummy.  It wasn’t a great week.

I confess that I felt sorry for myself.

Then, my virus cleared up, my husband came home, and life settled back into its normal axis. 

This week I sat through a client interview of a single mother who has children about the same age as mine, and I realized that my hard week is her life. 

She doesn’t have another adult in her home to swap advice and daily chores with, and she lives paycheck to paycheck, worrying about things I take for granted. How will she pay for her daughter’s prom dress? Her son is growing, so his appetite is escalating. Will they run out of food this month?  How can she spend quality time with her children when she works so much just to pay for the basics?

I wonder how she manages the pressure and emotional strain.  It must affect her outlook on life.  

Without a doubt, life can be hard for all of us at times, so I don’t mean to imply that we should minimize our personal challenges.  However, I sometimes need a reminder that the burdens I carry are not quite as heavy as those others carry.  Knowing this helps me put my life into perspective.

I am most definitely not complaining about my “bad week” anymore.