Martin Luther King Jr. weekend and the week succeeding it finds me in a time of life where my heart is open, my dreams are big, and my energy to persevere and flourish is unmatched.

I keep saying 2011 feels like a big year.  A year of change.  A year of growth.  A year of giving back.  I really believe some pretty magical opportunities will blossom.  Right now, I feel as if I have the world at my fingertips.

First, I finally have enough experience under my belt to define what the “next level” of this business could be and the opportunities and resources to take it there.  Perhaps it’s patience from above that’s keeping me from exploding out of excitement and passion.  My dreams to change this world and use my gifts to do so are constantly at the forefront of my mind. Cliché as it may sound, it’s true.

Secondly, I have the most amazing, amazing man in my life.  He’s incredibly intelligent.  Wildly funny.  He’s encouraging.  He’s so patient and tender with my heart.  Everyday I am in awe of not only what he does, how it does it, but who he is.  We find ourselves facing some new journeys in the coming years.  Ones that I can’t always wrap my head around, ones that seem challenging and overwhleming, but ones I know can only make us more like Him.

I know there is a big future ahead of me.  The desires of my heart say so.  But getting there?  I have no idea.  It’s not easy.  It’s scary.  It’s risky.  The path to fulfillment is probably one that will never end.  I suppose fulfillment must be found along the way.  On the peaks and in the valleys.

And so there I was this past Sunday, tears gently streaming down my left check, because for some reason that eye always crys first.  As I sat in an unfamiliar church, in an unfamiliar city, listening to an unfamiliar pastor talk, with unfamiliar challenges resting on my shoulders, I felt an all too familiar Comfort.  This time, it came in the form of a couple of references about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Because if anyone knew about peaks and valleys, it was this guy.

He got it.  He got what this life and mankind were all about.  It was him who said,

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience,
but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

And it was him who knew about faith.  About unfamiliarity.  About never being quite where he wanted to be.

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

It’s just that simple, I suppose.  The rest are just details.

Here’s to the first step…