Today ends what many faith traditions refer to as Holy Week. I love all the symbolism that this week holds, and how it offers so many pieces that relate to our daily lives. For example, when I look at Easter, I often think about the journey of living your truth.

Jesus comes into the city on Palm Sunday, the community is overjoyed, praise him for what they see as the king who has come to save them. The week goes by, things don’t work as everyone had expected, and by Friday, the one who was deemed as a savior showered with love is now the inspiration for hate and persecution.

Our truth can be the same way. Lets take for instance, those who get married; the day of the wedding is full of joy, celebration, a metaphorical Palm Sunday. –Life happens: job loss, ailing parents, kids, and a host of new challenges, that turn the metaphorical week of celebration, into a space of hardship and adversity. –You move from a space of Palm Sunday, to your own cross to bear on Friday.

What hope we can take from both the story of Jesus and our own lies, is Easter. The Sunday after the week of difficulties came the birth of something new. A greater manifestation than what was there the week before. In the story of the marriage, yes life brings about hardship, but through that storm, comes a stronger commitment, an ability to see promise and possibility that may not have been there before, and a space to open up deeper ways of being.

Our truth moves in the same way, the path is not always set with the guarantee to be easy…if your truth is medical school, you will have your own Palm Sunday (your acceptance into a medical program), but in the same way as Jesus, you will have your own difficulties and persecution: course work, qualifying exams, residency, etc., but like all things that are generated through truth, the promise of Easter, that season of new beginning is guaranteed on the other side of our own metaphorical Holy Week, that is, if we have the ability to harness faith, cultivate hope, and the courage to persevere.

Cheers,

Earlier this year, I listened to Bishop TD Jakes share his thoughts on the idea of a new normal – the new normal is what is about to occur for me. In a world paralyzed by fear, consumed by shame, and provisioned by low self-worth; the space we create in that world is mediocre, no self-expression, and the suffocation of love. -The writing of this book was a confrontation of all of those things. I remember being in graduate school with a calling on my heart to start the process of writing this book. Like many of us, I ignored that inner voice, denying it, chalking it up to a pipe dream, something that I need not dare think I could have the audacity to accomplish.

As time went on, the call to write became louder and louder….I would do all I could to ignore it, afraid of what would it look like to be so vulnerable, to jeopardize relationships, and to put myself out there in ways that shook me to my core. What I now know, is my inability to submit to the call upon my heart was causing me to live a life that was boring, inspiration was hard to find, and what others thought of me took precedent over my own truth.

Originally, this website was going to go live on March 17th, but now I see that there was no better day for this website to launch than today: The Ides of March. The story of the Ides of March historically corresponds with the turning point of Roman history…as one of the events that marked the transition from the historical period known as the Roman Republic to that of the Roman Empire. Well, like the fall of the Roman Republic, I am seeing a change in rule in my own life. This book, and this website, physically represent a change in guard, from the rule of fear, to the rule of faith.

Who knows what this book will do, perhaps it will sell one copy (thanks, Mama), or perhaps it will sell millions. Perhaps this book will move, touch, and inspire people, perhaps people will read and say it was a waste—At the end of the day, what this book has already accomplished, is power to move in truth over fear, the ability for me to express love to myself and others, and a declaration of my insatiable thirst to dare again, and again and again! Dare greatly, my friends. Dare greatly!

To God I hold all things with gratitude,