40 Days of Water

"The needs are great, and none of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful.” -Mother Teresa

2 weeks of no pop, coffee, milk, tea, or juice can provide someone in Africa enough clean water for the rest of their life. How? By giving the money you would have spent on these beverages to Blood:Water Mission.

The 40 Days of Water Challenge starts tomorrow, Feb. 17^th. Start with a 2 week goal. Give up all the extraneous drink you have easy access to on a daily basis living in the U.S. and donate the money you save to help people who have no water. The Challenge runs from February 17 – April 3. This is also the duration of Lent, so if you are spurred to make this a part of your fasting, this is a great opportunity.

Water: simple, boring water that we take advantage of everyday. Celebrate the water we have on tap, ready for us to drink, to clean with, and to waste. Sacrifice for people in Africa who need your help.

Collect money on your own and send it to Blood:Water, or get it to Kami Andridge if you live in/around Midland and she will make one mass donation on behalf of the community and students of Mid-Michigan.

Join the Facebook group!

Blood:Water Mission is an organization that works with communities in Africa that struggle from HIV/AIDS and a lack of sanitary water. They work to transform the lives and hearts of people from the inside-out. Each situation is unique and nothing is ever a hand out. BWM teaches the communities they work with to embrace hard work and to understand their potential and ability to rise above poverty.

Blood:Water 40 Days of Water

Beautiful Form

"Once upon a time, I wanted to know what love was. Love is there if you want it to be. You just have to see that it's wrapped in beauty and hidden away in between the seconds of your life. If you don't stop for a minute, you might miss it."

I recently watched a cute film with a simple plot and a fantastic script called "Cashback". The story is about an art student named Ben who breaks up with his girlfriend of a year and a half, and develops horrible insomnia. To use his newly found time in his best interest, he picks up the night shift at a grocery store. Ben is infatuated with the form of the female body and he freezes time to observe and enjoy it. Eventually, he finds love in these frozen moments where he is the only one looking for beauty, and he can sleep again.

One revealing (if you've seen it, no pun intended), or self-revealing, moment of the movie is when Ben is talking about a woman whose secret fantasy is to be loved by an artist. "She thought he would really see her. He would see every curve, every line, every indentation and love them because they were part of the beauty that made her unique."

It is something I've thought about for the past couple years, so to hear it vocalized and portrayed in such a heart-felt story was beautiful. To have someone who finds innate beauty in my body, in my face, in my soul simply because that is what makes me a special masterpiece to be observed and discovered is a fabulous idea. I hope to someday fall in love with an artist, a man who looks for the beauty of this world and finds it in the lines and curves.