Almost twenty seven years ago, I had the crazy idea to drive about six hours from Myrtle Beach, SC to Valdosta, GA to visit with some friends. What’s so crazy about that you may wonder? I was about seven months pregnant with a two year old in tow. I drove alone, because my husband had been deployed to Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf War.

For about two weeks before Les left to fly across the Atlantic to Moron, Spain and then to Saudi Arabia, we had no idea which day he was to leave. We talked a lot. We cried and prayed. We hoped he would be back by November for the birth of our second son. (He returned in March of the following year. Our second son was about 4 months old when he met his dad for the first time.)

I remember one thing he asked me to do before he left:

Ask for help.

What a crazy thing to say, but he knew me well. He knew, I was stubborn and didn’t like to ask others for help. So, I promised him that I would. After the crazy idea of driving by myself with a two year old to see our friends, I began asking for help. My emotions were out of control, and I couldn’t keep up with our daily life. I found a counselor to help with my emotions. I asked my mom if she could come for a month or so to support me with our oldest son, and she actually ended up staying for about five out of the seven months that Les was gone. It was one of the hardest season’s of our life, but asking for help became easier each time.

A strange thing happened, as I allowed myself to be vulnerable by reaching out to others, my self-confidence grew. Before the war, I relied on Les quite a bit to do things for me. (Maybe that’s why he told me to ask for help.) I learned to ask for help, but I also learned to take care of myself in new ways. Things I relied on Les to do in our daily life became points of honor for me. It sounds silly, but I learned that I could rely on God, myself and others in reasonable proportions. Before Les went away, I spent a lot of energy depending solely on him.

It was a growing time, and although we both still get emotional when we recall those days, I’m thankful for the crazy lesson of learning to ask for help.

When was the last time you asked for help? Was it hard? Was it easy? Why?

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from? (Psalm 121:1 NIV)

To read more of the posts in this series click here.

“Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!” (Dr. Suess)

“List every crazy idea you ever had – that you can recall. No rules, no judgement. Crazy being just about anything that seems crazy to you or did at the time. Good ideas, bad ideas, ideas that held you back and ideas the set you free- and the ones that transformed your life.

Can you trust the new crazy ideas within you now? Even if you don’t act on every one, sometimes seeing them on paper helps you connect with something you want to reconnect with, or sometimes helps you let something go.

Either way…I hope you are able to discover something as you write.”

(Dawn Paoletta)

After I read the above excerpt from Dawn’s series “Journal Enthusiast” on her blog, I scribbled down three pages of crazy ideas. I enjoyed the brainstorm of crazy ideas. As they poured out, I began to discover some clarity about what I value.

As I wrote the ideas, I noticed many of them started with some kind of verb. Be something. Write something. Pray for someone. Lead a group. Travel to somewhere. Go places. Open something.

I noticed most of my crazy ideas had two things in common: creativity and community. And that doesn’t really surprise me because I enjoy being with people, and I love expressing myself creatively. Many of the ideas have already come to be, and a few still haven’t happened yet.

I say yet, because I have found that keeping the crazy ideas around, whether in lists or just bouncing around inside my head, they take on a life of their own. I haven’t opened a coffee shop, but I serve coffee on Fridays during the souldare art classes in my home. I invite others to local coffee shops to share conversation and create art in our journals. So the crazy idea hasn’t moved into a physical building, where I’m that quirky barista serving up cappuccinos, but “opening a coffee shop” has become a metaphor for creative living in community, wherever I happen to be.

I haven’t written the novel yet, but I write regularly in my journal, here at this blog, and I have a couple short stories in the works. Writing will always be a crazy idea that stays on my list, because writing words is more than a crazy idea for me, it’s a lifeline.

After writing my list, I had this insight pop into my mind:

Crazy ideas open doors.

If I never entertained a crazy idea, much of my life would be incomplete. I wouldn’t be part of a home-based art community, where we learn and grow together through creative expression. I wouldn’t have gone back to college for my own personal development. (I never did take night classes in the Air Force, instead I met my husband and then raised our two sons.) But the desire to go to college never died, so I began taking one or two classes at a time at the community college. As I progressed, the crazy idea took me down a path to graduate from college in my late forties.

Chasing the crazy idea of going back to college informs how I live my life today, as a person who still loves to learn. And now, I embrace the opportunity to encourage others to grow and stretch into their crazy ideas, too.

What does all this have to do with brainstorming? Brainstorms help us categorize and evaluate our crazy ideas. Taking the time to enjoy a brainstorm may lead you to the one crazy idea that you need to embrace, right now. Why not take Dawn’s challenge and just list all your crazy ideas and see where the brainstorm takes you.

Whoever brings blessing will be enriched,
    and one who waters will himself be watered. (Proverbs 11:25 ESV)

Crazy ideas require trust.

When I wrote my list of crazy ideas in my journal yesterday, I noticed that each one of them invited me to trust, to risk and to choose.

Some ideas I chose to follow. Some ideas are yet to be tried. Some of them will just be part of the list. I love to generate ideas, but it’s not necessary for me to actuate each and every one.

Crazy ideas are usually bigger than me. But I have learned from experience that crazy ideas can become reality. They don’t happen overnight. But step by step, I can embrace one of the ideas, and move forward.

When I was in high school, I wanted to go to college. It was a crazy idea because my family didn’t have the money. My school counselor fed me with dreams of Purdue and Cornell, since I was one of the top students in my class. But I knew deep down the dream was impossible.

A couple at church encouraged me to talk with an Air Force recruiter. “Aim High” was the Air Force’s motto, which appealed to me. I made an appointment, and thought I’d be able to get into their ROTC program.  When the recruiter told me I’d have to wait a year to take the entrance exam, the offer to enlist as an airman, with the promise of the Air Force paying for night classes, seemed the expedient thing to do. I was young, naive and wanted to travel.

At the time, unbeknown to me, I was practicing a principle that I now apply to art, writing and every day life:

Trust the process.

I was eighteen years old. I grew up and lived in rural Western New York my entire life. To travel meant going to visit relatives or camping in Canada. Once I enlisted, I was assigned my “general” status. Not rank, but an ambiguous promise of a guaranteed job in some field of expertise.

Part of the process included taking a bus to Buffalo, the nearest big city, to get my Air Force physical. I traveled alone for the first time that I could recall. I stayed in a hotel room by myself. I was scared.

I opened a drawer next to my bed, and there was a Gideon’s Bible. I flipped through the first pages. One of the pages listed topical references with words like peace, hope, fear, and wisdom. I found a verse to comfort me in my fears.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;
and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths.

Proverbs 3:5,6 (KJV)

Those words comforted me, and to this day, to TRUST is still one of the craziest ideas I have ever allowed to guide my life.

I trust the process. I cannot predict the outcomes, but life will unfold and offer me opportunities to trust, to risk and to choose.

How has TRUST been a crazy idea in your life?

In 2017, I posted Crazy Ideas for  the challenge to write for 31 days on one topic. I was inspired by my friend Dawn, who posted about a topic near and dear to my heart: JOURNALING!

Her challenge was to dream on paper about all the CRAZY IDEAS that have visited your mind over the years.

So, I got out my journal and visited with mine. (Check out some of my crazy ideas over the next 28 days.) For this Intro, I just wanted to say: Here, I am, ready to take on the challenge. I have participated in this challenge in years past, and right now, it feels like something I need.

As you might have guessed by now, my topic is CRAZY IDEAS. My crazy idea, at this moment, is to jump into the challenge, and let the topic develop, as I write each day.

I often think of this blog as a PANTRY, so I stocked this challenge with some new ideas and pulled out some old ideas to nourish our souls. I hope the ideas will be inspiring, challenging and useful to prompt creative soul living.

So come on in, and let’s see what crazy ideas we can cook up together.

Kel

 ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you,

and show you great and mighty things,

which you do not know.’

(Jeremiah 33:3 NKJV)