Thank you to the friend who said, “You are global” before I really knew what that meant.
Thank you, Friend, for blessing my soul and planting seeds of positivity.
Thank you for making global thinking something cool, warm, and good for humanity.
Thanks to you the quest to understand what I didn’t yet know I possessed traveled with me everywhere I went.

Subconsciously, I sought to live up to and champion the aim of the global living.
There was an excited curiosity in applying my newly found gift to each scene.
I had to and I needed to understand.  What exactly did the friend mean?
I made active decisions to interact with all people with a spirit of openness and giving.

I didn’t know that this description of me would impact my life so.
And I am just thankful that the friend told about this uniqueness quality seen in me.
Thank goodness the friend used words to speak to the special quality that I could not see.
My friend awaked a part of my voice that the world needed to know.

Life is filled with opportunities to express opinion and judgment.
To spew rumors and second hand reports.
Then, life provides opportunities to use words to build forts
Around our hearts, minds, and villages with walls held together with resentment.

Somehow we let the sidebars become the primary narrative of the stories uncommon to us.
Like me, folks are too easily distracted.
We focus on that bright and shiny thing on that one station that works to silence the voices of those impacted.
Meditate on the messages and turn down the brightness on the monitor.  Filter the fuss.

We talk more than we listen.
We want the voices common to us to define and redefine the story lines of strangers.
We pretend to be experts on things more common to our neighbors.
Study the facts.  Get some knowledge for yourself. Listen more. Make that the mission.

Last week, a new friend from India said I was a lucky charm.
Then asked if I would bless his journey by letting him touch my feet.
I cried and thanked God for the chance that allowed us to meet.
And I thought of the other friend’s global insights and my heart grew mighty warm.

This week the concerns came from men and women who were brown, black, and white.
My time was spent listening and advising the young and old from places all over globe.
No matter the color, race, gender, or culture, people just needed some help carrying the load.
The load gets down to the basic needs: safety, family, community, stability, and fullness of life.

Respecting the person makes way for respecting the voice of one who speaks.
Respect the fact that just because it’s not your story doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
Respect the fact that just because it’s not your testimony doesn’t mean it can’t belong to another one.
Respect cleans out the clogs in your head and your heart that have blocked communication for weeks.

For months.
For years.
And can feel like forever.

Understanding the complexities of our communities is tough.
But, do the hard work, dig deep and find reason to listen more than you speak.
Speak with clarity and purpose, choosing words that make us stronger, not weak.
Consider your outside words and the words in your head.  Don’t just speak off the cuff.

Speak with purpose and clarity.
Think unity, community, and hope in children with a future.
Like my friend, speak of the unseen and unheard of or a dream we can nurture.
Infuse positive messages that uplift even the least of the community.

Don’t send mixed messages or spew hate and divisiveness either.
Consider our freedoms and the how we limit the freedoms of others.
Lower your voices, tone down your emotions. Hear and respect opinion of another.
If not the risk of a divided village is steeper.

My friend’s words made me accountable to acceptance and open mindedness.
Those words inspired my spirit to welcome dialog about things and people I thought I knew.
Words have power and power is strength.
Let the power of our words strengthen our communities now and forever.