The Candle Project

 This is the final week. This is also the hardest week by far. 

This week is dedicated to… forgiving and loving those that have hurt us. It’s a hard a thing to do… probably one of THE hardest things we can choose to do. But I believe with all my heart that it’s so very important to forgive.

Bitterness is crippling but forgiveness if freeing.

Perhaps it is letting go and forgiving in our own hearts or perhaps it is even the act of reaching out to repair a broken relationship…

Use wisdom. Do not put yourself in danger or back in the grasp of a destructive relationship. Use discretion. But also use love.

 How can we seek repair a relationship and begin the healing in both ourselves and the other person? How can we reconcile our hurt and love them anyways? Even if it’s just one singular person, how can we let them know (no matter the hurt of the past) that they are loved and they are valuable? No relationship is irredeemable.

 For me, this week started before the candle project even started. As I sat down to write out the various weeks, I realized that I would be a hypocrite if I couldn’t willingly go through all of them myself. I reached out to a past friendship that had yielded wounds and sought to not only love with words but truly reconcile and forgive in my own heart. It wasn’t until I had done this that I had felt it was appropriate to ask you all to join me and do the same.

 This week I want to take that even further… go beyond my comfort zone and seek out the people in my life who need love, even if they have hurt me with their words or actions.

 Forgiveness begins the healing. 

At your discretion, share your experiences, struggles and victories. This week is about healing through love. 

I am so sorry I haven’t been able to update for this week. It has been a crazy crazy week for me with traveling. So I have tried to continue to focus on last week’s challenge: “strangers” throughout it all.  But next week I will for sure! It will be the final week! Please spread the word! :)

Curt

This week is dedicated to: loving the people we don’t know. 

To what we call “strangers”… to breaking down the barrier of “stranger” and going out of our way to love them as individual people… the people we pass on the street, the patron we stand in line with for coffee in the morning, our fellow commuter on the bus, our waiters, the customers we serve through our work, the student in the back of class we’ve never spoken to, etc. The idea of this week is about seizing a brief moment of opportunity to show them love and let them know how valuable they are. Perhaps it’s just a smile to a passer by or perhaps it’s buying food for someone in need… 

As always, use wisdom, & use discretion but love abundantly and freely. 

Please blog and post about your experiences and spread the word!

Let your light shine!

CIRCLE 3: Neighbors

-The people around us that we see on a regular basis but maybe don’t know or haven’t taken the time to know… our neighbors, our classmates, our co-workers, our store clerks and bank tellers and baristas, etc.

What can we do to reach their heart and let them know their value and beauty? How are we willing to inconvenience ourselves to express this through action? 

Please share your experiences and thoughts :)

Week 3, let’s do this! Be a light in your world!

I am so sorry for being a day late but it was a crazy weekend.

This past week was dedicated to friends. My goal was to reach out and love my friends in an impacting way but I must say, it was I who was blessed beyond measure. 

This past week, I was struggling with alot of frustration: rejection, restlessness, disappointment, etc… the wonderful ups and downs of an acting career in LA. I really let it get the best of me in my heart attitude and was feeling discouraged. That was Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday rolls around and each and every day since then, I have spent a portion of my day with my dear friends I have made here in Los Angeles. Whether they know it or not, they breathed such life into me. They spoke the truth to me in love, they reminded me to get up, dust myself off and push forward. They loved me exactly as I was and showed me such kindness & encouragement simply because of their time and listening ear. 

Although I fear I may not have been the best I could have been this week towards THEM, my heart was chanegd by their kindness and I am so very grateful. 

It taught me a valuable lesson… going out of your way to simply spend time with someone can be the hope and joy they so need in their life at the moment. I know it sure was in mine. I am so very grateful for them. 

How was YOUR “friend” week?

“A teacher in New York was teaching her class about bullying and gave them the following exercise to perform. She had the children take a piece of paper and told them to crumple it up, stamp on it and really mess it up but do not rip it. Then she had them unfold the paper, smooth it out and look at how scarred and dirty is was. She then told them to tell it that they were sorry. Now even though they said they were sorry and tried to fix the paper, she pointed out all of the scars they left behind. And that those scars will never go away no matter how hard they tried to fix it. That is what happens when a child bullies another child. They may say they’re sorry, but the scars are there forever. The looks on the faces of the children in the classroom told her the message hit home.” -Unknown source but true story.” -unknown source, true story.

CIRCLE 2: Friends

This week is about letting our conscious effort of love expand. Now that we have begun conditioning ourselves to going outside of comfort zones at home, how can we apply this to serving our friends? How can we be proactive friends of love and honor them for being such a blessing in our lives? All the riches in the world are nothing compared to the value and treasure of one, true friend. We are so richly blessed. How can we give back to them? How can we let them know that they are loved and valued? How can we go above and beyond being a passive friend to an actively loving friend?

How can we light their candles? 

Please share your stories and experiences! :)

Curt