WEEKLY QUOTE #3


“Being engaged is a way of doing life, a way of living and loving. It's about going to extremes and expressing the bright hope that life offers us, a hope that makes us brave and expels darkness with light. That's what I want my life to be all about - full of abandon, whimsy, and in love.” – Bob Goff 

Man, I love my calendar. There’s a type of adrenaline rush that only comes from scheduling appointments, detailed with attendees and locations, and cheeky 15 minute reminders. I live for that. If my phone battery gets low, it tells me apps that have used the most energy, and calendar is always in the top three. I’m desperately trying to not sound like Monica, but I frequently open my calendar, check on it, and make it sure it’s filled with the right amount of wild, responsible, and brave engagements. 

I’m not self-aware, so if at any point my shoulders start to sink, I can’t stop obsessively cleaning the mirror, and the length of time it takes to boil water starts to bother me, I stop everything. I time out and quickly re-assess what’s going on in my life. This is what my calendar is good for – it reminds me of where I’ve been, what I’m doing, and where I’m going. Places I have travelled, bus routes I’ve been down, and meetings that have felt like sweaty, unnecessary mascots at a basketball game. My calendar is my life. It can tell you where I’m going to be on the 15th May, what movie I’ll see this weekend, and probably predict the restaurant I’ll be at when my Grandad turns 90. It’s good as long as it’s not bad.


The quote above is perfect because it’s a reminder to put engagement before engagements. There is an invitation to really live and to make everything about love, and it’s extended to everyone. It would be fair to say that a boring life depends on how you view it – if your calendar is looking like day 294 in the life of a succulent, then maybe check if you read the invitation right. The ‘invitation’ is to show up, to love, to swap rhythm for whimsy, to be uncomfortable in the hope of becoming better. It’s to look at Him, look at your heart, and look at how you can smash this life together. 

Sometimes I miss the invitation, I get there late, and in the wrong outfit (although I’m speaking metaphorically right now, definitely done this in real life). We all become ignorant of the little blessings we live in, but there’s grace for that, and there’s never a ‘point of no return.’ You can always come back and fall back in love. There’s always a day with nothing in it, then you fill it, and you live it. And you live that day expressively, you wake up as if the curtains are about to open and reveal a crowd ready to wonder at you as the starring role. Every morning you experience that exhilarating moment: when the man with the headset gives you a thumbs up, you readjust your shirt, and you walk out into ten thousand spotlights with a fresh idea of who are and what you are going to say. All our eyes are on you. 


So when I open my calendar, I’m there to make sure that I’m still going to extremes and being expressive with the great hope I have. I’m there to make sure nothing is getting away from me – mostly myself. Life isn’t boring, it’s extraordinary, because of the purpose that we have. Without purpose, hope, or love, life would be awful.  

Mads x
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