LET'S TALK ABOUT . . .


                                                  "PLAYING IT FORWARD CHALLENGE"


We often hear stories about someone paying for someone else's coffee or donut going through a drive-in window and starting a short-term trend.  In some cities it has caught on like a competition to see where they can log the most consecutive deeds of paying it forward.  I smile when I hear about such a break out of goodness and am always curious about how long any one endeavor can last before someone breaks the chain.

Everyone knows such events are temporary and will only last a short time; and yet, we long for their reassurance that kindness is still alive and well out there.  I watch as others listen with anticipation regarding how long such a run of goodness will last.  I listen to the sighs when it is announced that it has come to an end for another day.

When I was a young teen I heard a woman teach about the potential of a life dedicated to doing good, no matter the cost and without compromise.  So what would happen if we decided to not just pay it forward but "play it forward?"  We need a tee-shirt that says on the front, "Don't just pay it forward . . ." and on the back, "play it forward!"

I would love to challenge the youth of today to "play it forward."  They are inheriting a world and a future fraught with multiple challenges on multiple levels.  How will they "play it?"  We need young people who are energized by ideologies committed to impacting the world for good.  They are not always going to agree on what that is or what it looks like.  If everyone just gives up and resigns themselves to indifference and impotence we are in real trouble.  Why?

Have you ever noticed you do not have to nurture weeds?  They survive all by themselves.  Have you ever noticed you do not have to teach a child to be selfish?  We teach them to share. Perhaps goodness, like sharing, is something we have to consciously, intentionally nurture in ourselves and in this world in every generation.  We can't do everything but we can do something!

One of the greatest fears I hear about committing to doing good, even if only in one's own corner of the world, is that "nice guys finish last."  Is life a competition? While it is true that there will always be people who take advantage of other's goodness for their own selfish ends, that does not predicate that the value of such an act is determined by what other's do as a result of the act itself. 

One of the other deterrents I hear is, "I'll do it if you do!"  We shoulder check when it comes to the responsibility of doing something we either do not want to do or where we fear we may be the only one required to do whatever it is while others do not have to.  Sometimes this is about doing something that goes against the natural grain in ourselves.  We can come up with a hundred reasons or excuses not to do something.

If we really want to live feeling good about living in such a manner then we need to figure out how to align our inner and outer worlds.  That is where so much of the conflict arises.  In other words, can we do a good deed for a genuinely good reason?  Can we participate in the "right" we embrace for a "right" reason?  Can we authentically speak truth? Can we bring that kind of congruence and integrity to the way we choose to live out our lives?

When we look inside of ourselves we may be able to pull it off to certain degree or for a certain period of time and then we all bump into the fact that we are all limited, finite human beings.  So then what?  Is it possible to look outside ourselves for either the ideology or strength to somehow rise above such limitations?  I would suggest it is!  Look at the historic examples, like Mother Theresa.

The "ice bucket" challenge requires little of us for a brief period of time and yet it is for a good cause and capable of contributing toward a much greater good.  What if we seriously considered starting a pay it forward challenge somewhere in our lives this fall?  What if we decided to really think about our lives and what it is that is our ruling passion and to commit ourselves to that for a season, or a lifetime?  What if we took the "play it forward" challenge?

Until next time . . . this is, Just Janice!