And just like that, there are more posts behind me than in front of me. Today is blog post No. 183, which officially catapults me over the half-way mark.
It’s hard to believe that every single day for the past 182 days, I have opened up my heart and soul and poured it into this blog. OK, to be fair, there have been five guest blogs in that first half of the year, but every day, no matter where I was in the world... whether it was Guadalajara, Nashville, San Francisco, Raleigh, New York, New Orleans, Las Vegas, Santa Barbara, Washington, D.C, I logged on and posted about a new charity.
There have been times when I’m scurried home to make sure I post by midnight, there are other days that I’ve had no idea what organization I’m going to give to when I’ve started writing.
This has been an exercise in faith and discipline and the way in which they are intertwined. Every blog begins because I’ve had the discipline to open up my computer file and start to write, and then the faith that the words will come. Some days, I have more to say than others, and some days I say it better than on others, but every day I’ve been here. I’m still digesting what that means and how I can take this discipline and faith into other areas of my life.
The next milestone will be hitting 200 posts. I have a feeling that after that, the rest of the year is going to whiz by. I already feel a little sad when I think abut that.
If you haven’t suggested a charity for me to donate to, please do. I’ll try to get to them before the end of the year. Blogging daily has never felt like heavy lifting and I think that’s partly because I’ve never felt like I was doing this alone.
Today, in honor of Chooseday Tuesday, I’m giving to HOLA LA. In addition to being the obvious— the Spanish word for hello— HOLA stands for Heart Of Los Angeles. HOLA provides free after-school programs to underserved and at-risk kids in Los Angeles. My friend Mitchel Moore started HOLA 20 years ago by simply inviting at-risk kids in the Rampart District to play basketball after school. HOLA has since grown to a premier academic, arts, and athletic program serving thousands of inner-city youth. The campus, around Lafayette Park in Los Angeles, serves kids 6 to 19 throughout its four buildings. A partnership with the LA City Recreation and Parks Department has created green spaces for the kids to play soccer, basketball, and other sports in a safe environment.
Mitchel is beautiful, incredible proof that one person can put in motion a ripple that will affect thousands of lives. Yesterday was Mitchel’s birthday, so today’s $10 goes to honor him and all those who work with HOLA.
July 2: HOLA
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