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David had no problem taking the slingshot to Goliath. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stared down King Nebuchadnezzar. What gives us the grit and gall to stand firm when we know – at least logic dictates – that we might just leave well enough alone? We believe. David and the fire dancing trio all believed. They weren’t scripting the outcome. They were not running the show. They all knew, right off the bat, that one step is followed by another and sometimes, actually all the time, you have to believe that there is something or someone larger than us pulling the strings. They believed it was time to make a difference – to stand firm – to act. If only as one. When we believe we can make a difference, and sometimes that first step can lead an army. Today I introduce you to another small miracle worker. The website Small Can Be Big (SCBB; www.smallcanbebig.org). An all volunteer staff who has made it their mission to stand up and fight for those who cannot. To protect the weak and help the needy. All the while knowing the odds are high. Well, odds or not, SCBB isn’t giving in to the house just yet. In fact, their band of handy and talented volunteers are helping families stay in their homes, escape dangerous situations, and cope with loss and need – one family at a time. Don’t think they are miracle workers? Ask a family that they just helped. Ask the children safe in their bedroom just how scary being throw out can sound – let alone having it happen. Ask yourself just how blessed you and your family are. One person helping is a blessing. When we get together we’re a team. Social media has shown us that we can become a force. Sprinkle that with a little compassion and love and my friends, we are knocking on the door of a miracle machine. I believe there are many, many families who would say that SCBB is their miracle. I hope you want to be a little slice of that heaping helping of love and care that these folks need today. I do. I do indeed! Take a minute to check out Small Can Be Big today. I’m slaying a giant today and I’ll throw the first stone because I believe I can win – and I know I’m not running the show. Remember, you don’t need a map to follow your heart. It’s not unmasculine to care. And the only thing that you can give away without limitation is love.
After a small hiatus this summer, I”m back with a renewed vigor and resolve. It is my goal to provide ways in which you, and I, can help those in need in small installments throughout our daily lives. I am happy and excited to start getting ramped back up here with some brand new tiny news. There is some good stuff coming so stay tuned. If you haven’t already, sign up for our tiny newsletter and keep up to date. Alright – got to go… back to work, as they say. LTYALL
UPDATED: We are done resettling and set back up to bring you more good stuff on Tiny. I’m excited to get geared back up and into a tiny new groove. Bear with me as I get a few ducks in a row and get back into a tiny rhythm. ORIGINAL POST: Yes, we are in the process of evaluating a move to another area of Texas. Please be patient with us as we sort out the various aspects of relocation. Through this process, TinyGiver will be on hiatus to allow ample time to relocate and setup. Thanks for your patience in this process. To be notified of when Tiny comes back online (estimated to be July of 2011), please sign up for our newsletter in the top menu bar. My personal thanks for your support and I look forward to our continued work together.
Today is short and sweet. Please take a few moments today to check out St. Judes website. I guarantee you’ll be amazed at what they do to help sick children and their families. Consider making your MDM donation to St. Judes and rest assured there are some miracles being performed – medically and personally – at this wonderful facility. As always – do what your heart tells you to do. It’s the best advice you’ll get.
This is a very serious matter, so please read carefully and completely: Do you have a viral infectious disorder? Do you use facebook? Do you recommend things you like to your friends, co-workers, and family? Do you email links, or blog about things that people should be aware of? If you answer ‘yes’ to any of the above – I’m sorry to tell you that you indeed have a viral infectious disorder. Viral: It spreads quick. Infectious: When you talk, your network listens. Disorder: Different and new. Yeah, you got it baby! It’s OK. We’re going to get through this – together. Basically, the material fact is that you’re willing – and able – to share important events, happenings, actions, and needs to your ‘community’ very quickly and easily. The real question is how do you use this awesome grapevine communication channel? For good. For gossip. For help… or helping? Here’s a great thing that you can start that will truly have an impact on our world – today! Start the chain of giving today – Million Dollar Monday – and first personally recruit five friends or associates to pledge to do the same. That’s a piece of cake. Only Five! You likely can do that with a text message to your five closest friends and family. Easy-peasy! Now, (this is the only condition in which I would say this) pass that infectious dedication to all of your friends – facebook, YES; email, YES; texting, YES; myspace, YES – use them all. What’s the downside here? Are you embarassed to give? Not wanting anyone to know that you care? You think your buddies will think you’re soft? Or not cool? ALL FALSE! What will happen is a certain number of all of those people you shoot out your request to, will do the same. They’ll join you. They’ll contact their network of people. They’ll think about helping someone, or something, or some cause. Basically, we’ll take this tiny bit of good-heartedness and turn it into a big chunk of help and hope. For a few small minutes of your time and almost none of your money (a buck…c’mon). Are you with me? OK. Let do this thing. Get to work and let’s start taking Million Dollar Monday to the streets. Follow your heart. It may take you off your intended path once in a while, but you’ll find direction in every detour.
1.) Find the cause, family, person, or charity that your heart tells you is the right target for you. You’ll know. Here’s a tip: Don’t try to judge the situation. If your heart tells you to give – follow it with open abandon up to your budget – then let it go. 2.) Give what you can. It doesn’t need to be $500. Maybe you can give $10 today, this week, or month. Maybe it’s $5000. The size has no direct coorelation on the effect. Don’t believe me? Give a homeless person $2.00 and give Goodwill $200. Compare gratitude. Don’t get me wrong – Goodwill will love you, but you’ll feel the effect of the $2.00 in a whole different way. 3.) Tell no one. Other than your spouse or significant other (or the IRS), there is no reason to tell anyone about your gift. Enjoy giving because you can. 4.) Move on. Maybe next week you’ll see a new cause. Something will jump out that says ‘I could use a hand, a dollar, or a ride.’ (Admin note: Evaluate any ‘ride’ offers you give very carefully. Safety first, and never give a ride to a total stranger. It is not safe to do so, IMO.) Keep your eyes and ears open and you’ll be amazed at what you realize you can do – in teeny, tiny bits of kindness. 5.) Live in this new world of ours where we do little things to make our community, and our world, a better place to be for us all. 6.) Repeat steps 1-5 as often as you can. For a real trip, turn off the GPS and follow your heart.
There are times for reflection and times for evaluation of the things and events in our lives. Today is a good day for that to happen – the evaluation. If you have a birthday coming up – as I did last March – this is the perfect time to look at whether or not you really need, or want for that matter, another set of typical birthday gifts. More so, it’s a perfect time to allow your loved ones to give those gifts to people who can really use them in the form of redirecting that money to causes and people in need. Here’s how to do it: Send out an email to your loved ones list. Anyone who would normally get your a gift of any kind. Explain your thinking in the email: “I would appreciate any gifts planned for me to have the cash equivilent given to one of my favorite charities – which is xxx.com, xxxx.com, and xxxxx.org.” Further explanation of your thinking is helpful and eases the change in thinking and habit. Add links to your favorite charities donation page so it makes it easy for people to follow your request. Simply click the link – whaala! Done. It’s that easy. Finally, make it clear in the email (nicely, but clear) that you feel strongly about donating your gifts in total and anyone who actually buys you a gift must be OK with you passing it on to a local charity who can use it. I stated, “If it’s clothes – Good Will; and if it’s food – The Food Bank.” So they know, you’re not keeping any presents at all this birthday – They are all being donated. If you receive it – even from Mom! – it will be donated to the best organization to use and benefit from “your awesome gift. And thank you.” I donated the money my Mom sent to me to my favorite charity – Ronald McDonald House of the Central Valley and I called to thank her for it. I was thrilled, and so was she. Win (me)-Win (Mom)… and Win (the final recipients). All of my family members donated to my two favorite charities for my birthday (except my Mom and Dad, online giving is not their game) - and it was the best birthday I’ve ever had. Thank you all again, and you’ll hopefully be saying the same thing after your birthday. Hey, giving is easy and c’mon – don’t we have enough ties, hot pads, bad shirts, and puffy slippers – the difference made to the really needy children and families is the best present you can receive. Bar none. Remember – this is MDM – and I am doing my part right along side the 999,999 other pardners out there who are doing the same. If you’re new here, hombre, we’re all donating a dollar today to the cause that we feel is important for us to give a little back to. For me it’s sick children and everyone of us have our pet cause. The key is to give your little part today and help make this a truly effective Million Dollar Monday. Follow your heart like a treasure map… you might be surprised at the good things you’ll find inside of it.
A thousand times a minute I bat my eyes. Huge tears are running down my cheeks. Tilting my head back a little helps keep the water gush in my eyes – for just a minute – then it floods out and down my face again. Oh. Wait. A few quick bats to clear off my vision like the wiper on the car when we kick it on high to clear a spot from the sky sprits that can’t decide if it wants to rain or stop. I can see and the speck in my eye is gone. I’m not sure about you but I have very sensitive eyes. I can think about a speck in my eye and it makes them water (like now… crap). Trying to type with blurry vision isn’t easy and the frustration builds. It has a tendency to make us see things in a cone shape funnel specifically focusing on that one little problem – the speck, or the tears. We have very similar life vision when it comes to peering down on our world. Like a satellite we can all adjust our view of our current life to see what we want to see – I call it our mind’s eye. It’s been called perspective, overview, life goggles and likely dozens of names over the years but the real key is that we forget to control it. It’s easy to forget and the affect that it has on our attitude and daily living is tremendous. We all deal with challenges: a flat tire, the flu, the lawn didn’t get cut, acid indigestion, and I just kicked the bed post and I think I ripped off a toe. This is a horrible day! Is it? A broken leg, the car was totaled but no fatal injuries, the dog ran into the street and was hit by a car (hated that dog anyway – NO! Kidding. lol.). Please give me the flat tire again. At 36,000 feet directly above your seat a six foot gash ripped out of the roof of the airplane you’re sitting in and the cabin depressurizes – dropping masks and passengers simultaneously. You have time for a short text: ‘going down… luv ya!’ How bad is your day today? Yesterday? Yeah, I know about the toe (damn bed post). When you’re seeing things close up they look REALLY HUGE, but when you zoom out a little you can gain some perspective. Sometimes we just need to slow down - and calm down - and think. Ah, there’s my perspective. How lucky are you? How lucky am I? I would have quickly unloaded the morning muffin and coffee combo into an airplane biscuit newly lodged into my wide-band, no wrinkle Michael Jordan underwear, were I on the plane with the new skylight. I’m not sure if I would have had time or poise to text my wife, but I like to think so – and I hate to even think about it. We are so lucky – or blessed. We’re all going to be challenged with those big issues. But for now – while you just have a flat tire and a screaming child with a cold – widen out your view and remember how little our daily issues really are. Your life is what you make it – each and every day – and it can be good or bad no matter the challenges. If God gives you lemons – make lemonade; if he gives you garlic – make toast; if he gives you gold – call me. But be happy making today’s dish from the ingredients that you have. Remember to pass on a little of those ingredients to people who don’t have them today. The family with garlic toast may love a little lemonade. The family with nothing today would be so happy for a piece of toast – and this poor writer will definitely help you with the weight of that gold (call me… hand-phone symbol to ear). Tomorrow you may be given something that’s a whole lot harder to cook with – or nothing at all. Help when you can – with what you can – and be thankful for each and every blessed day we’re given. Today, as with every Monday, one million of us are going to give our dollar to the cause that makes us realize just how blessed we are. And together, we’ll knock out those challenges one at a time. God willing and the creek don’t rise – I wish you sweet lemons until we meet again. Follow your heart and you won’t need a brick road.
Silence may be the sound we hate to hear most. Our mind has a tendency to take internal role call when we experience a level of quiet that in this day and age we’re not subjected to very often. Many times we make sure to fill the dead space because of the deafening sound of our own shortcomings. ‘Motivation’ – check. ‘Emotional output’ – low. ‘Emotional absorption’ – overload. ‘Morals’ – upgrade in process. Our checklist varies with our background, upbringing, and beliefs but we all run down our lists if we let our minds do their work. Work we try hard not to get to. ‘Compassion’ – pass. ‘Understanding’ – it’s fine, alright. ‘Kindness’ – I’m super freaking kind – OK. ‘Values’ – Shut Up! Taking a self assessment isn’t always what we want to do – and many times it can be a frustrating experience. Working hard to bring home the bacon – of course. The kids need… well, if they are under 18 years old they need everything. After 18 they’ll settle for cash. Your spouse or significant other wants time and attention – and now your own mind wants to know if you think you’re doing all you can to be the best you can. Are you? Stop and ask yourself a few of those questions and listen to yourself. Oh, if you’re quiet and you just sit for a few minutes – you’ll hear yourself. The most honest person in the world is your inner self talking to you. Golf Saturday – Yeah. Oil change for the Beemer today – and oh, yeah, I need to get those new shoes I saw at TJ Maxx. The girls are going to love them. Sorry, I got off track. The mind will wander. Now, did I do all I could? Did I do a little for someone – anyone other than required family needs? Anyone at all, anytime this week? I don’t think I did a thing. Actually, I didn’t. The funny thing is (and it’s not really all that funny) that I think I’m a pretty good person, right? I’m doing all of the good stuff – right? I’m a giver… Right? Our daily lives are a jumble wheel of things to do and if you have a family, it’s a jumble wheel that never stops spinning. This, that, the other thing – one after the other – and it’s pretty easy to skip over the people who we don’t see, who we don’t hear from or about, and the people who we may be isolated from because we are really blessed. You know – now that I bring it up – I am really blessed. We’re busy, but healthy. The kids have four million activities going on – but they can participate in them all. We have challenges for sure – but they are paltry when compared to many, many other people and families. I thank God for our blessings – and I’m sure that you do too. So for one small minute, once every week, sit down at your computer or in your favorite chair and let that mind wander a bit. You’ll be OK. Let it slap you in the face a couple times. You’ll be OK. You’ll realize that there are opportunities where you can squeeze in a little help and hope for someone – maybe even someone you don’t even know – but you can provide a helping hand in some form or fashion. It only takes a moment for you to set your heart right for the week. To target your week looking for a good way to give back a little. Whether that is a donation of things to a charity, money to a cause that you want to support, or an anonymous gift card to Wal-Mart for a family who’s struggling to make those ends meet. When you start to look for little opportunities to let your heart open up – you’ll find that life will steer you into the path of good things every time. Think of how much good you’ll talk yourself into next week. As always – do what your heart tells you is right. It will always steer the ship, if you let it. Sometimes we steer into deep water and high waves but the experience of the open seas make us better Captains for those who sail with us. Please don’t forget MDM today. You, I, and 999,998 other people all giving that buck today are going to make great things happen this week. You know it is. LTYALL
It is good to get, but better to give. Your heart knows only the bounds that you put on it yourself. If left to its own devices, our big and generous hearts would allow us to act like the kind and caring people that… well, quite frankly, that we really are. Open your heart today to a little more good, even just a touch of kindness that wasn’t there yesterday. Do something today for someone that takes a bit of the incredible blessings you have received – and passes it on to someone who is not as fortunate as yourself. Open your heart. Give. Repeat daily.
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