So, what is taking The Plunge? If you’re just joining us for the first time, you might want to check out the info page – it will help you get up to speed on this wild, crazy adventure we’re taking together!
But it is NEVER too late to get started with living each day by choosing joy – choosing to live it as the best day ever.
So what is this week going to hold? You ready? Let’s take THE PLUNGE: Volume 2!
This week The Plunge is going to focus on those things we always “mean to get around to doing.” The things we procrastinate and put on the back burner. Living each day as the best day ever means we live it as if TODAY were the last day – because we would want the last day to be our best day. If that is true, then we don’t put things off. So this week, let’s take the plunge AGAINST procrastination! Trust me, I need it as much as you do.
PLUNGE #1: Reach out to that long, lost friend.
We all have someone in our lives we haven’t seen or spoken to in awhile. It may just be that time has slipped away. Maybe it is someone who moved away and you just drifted apart. Maybe there was a falling out and you need to make something right. Maybe it’s time for reconciliation.
Or maybe you just need to say thank you to someone who changed your life in a dramatic, wonderful way. It could be that your friend lives next door but you just haven’t had the “time” to connect. This week, reach out to your friend. Call, text, e-mail, write…but say something meaningful and positive. This could be your big moment – the time your friendship flowers. Take the plunge!
Hint: I found a lot of articles at Huffington Post about long lost friends. There is even some advice as to how you can locate people in a non-creepy kind of way. Check out this article – it has great websites to help you find people who are difficult to find.
PLUNGE #2: Clean it out. Yes, finally.
Okay. It’s either the junk drawer, under the sink, or that closet. But this week it is finally time to CLEAN IT OUT! Purge your life of that place you keep ignoring. But let’s make a goal of getting at least one full garbage bag OUT OF YOUR HOUSE. Do you really need that stuff? Is it that important? Why do you keep it when you don’t even know it’s there? Remember…ONE FULL GARBAGE BAG OUT OF YOUR HOUSE.
PLUNGE PLUS: Get THREE full garbage bags out of your house and I will definitely do a dance of joy for you. You need to simplify, friend. You’ve wanted to do it for a long time – and now is your chance. After all, it’s part of The Plunge!
Now, if you REALLY want to do this, take the 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge. It’s a great challenge started by a blogger who wanted to simplify her life. She does it every year. I guess that would be called a SUPER PLUNGE if you went after that challenge.
PLUNGE #3: Write a letter to a stranger.
A few years back I discovered this girl named Hannah Brencher. She has a TED Talk (if you don’t know TED, be prepared to get lost in the website. But be sure to come back to The Plunge) that you MUST WATCH to understand this Plunge. Don’t worry, it is only 4 minutes and 52 seconds long. Hannah writes letters to strangers and leaves them in unexpected places. They are encouraging, uplifting, letters that have made many a day for many a stranger.
Now, I realize this is probably not something you have procrastinated in your every day life, but I guarantee you have passed many strangers – and not had the time to talk or smile or encourage them because you were so busy. So, watch the video, then write your own love letter. Leave it somewhere – in a bathroom stall, on a coffee shop table, tucked behind the pew at church. Don’t sign your name. Then trust that the letter will do its job at just the right time.
PLUNGE PLUS: Hannah has a super cool website and she has started a MOVEMENT of love letter writers. If you’re interested in writing more love letters to strangers, check it out here.
THE SPIRITUAL PLUNGE
I’ve heard a lot of sermons lately about reconciliation – read a lot of blogs and books about community. We need each other – and intentional living is what I am striving to reach. I know I’m not always going get it right, trust me. But I don’t ever want to leave words unsaid. Relationships are so important – and I want to cherish those gifts, even if just to say thank you to someone who impacted my journey in a powerful way. And of course, unforgiveness can eat at my soul and keep me from hearing from God. So, as it says in Matthew 5:23-24:
“Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.”
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42 (NIV)
The Sheep and the Goats
…34“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’…
Carrie Wisehart 