When You Dare to Dream

I'm feeling excited this week . . . particularly for my friend Whitney Johnson, whose thoughtful, remarkable book, "Dare, Dream, Do" has launched online and in bookstores around the nation. 

I was privileged to receive an advance copy of the book (a section of my "Mommy is a Person" post was published in it), and I have been reading a little bit each night.  "Wow" is all I can say.

 

Whitney has been on our Advisory Board at The Power of Moms for the past couple of years, and I learn so much by watching her.  We've only met once,

 

but when I read her blog (Dare to Dream), and as I read the wealth of information in her book, I somehow feel like she really knows me.  

Whitney understands that desire we each have to become our best selves, to try hard things, and to consider that perhaps the "pie in the sky" ideas we've been pushing to the side actually need to happen.

One quote from this book that I love says this:

"God calls you to the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."  -Frederick Buechner

That is exactly how I feel about my work strengthening families.

Another quote included from The Maiden King says, "For thousands of years, a powerful voice was a mark of personhood.  The longer the person stayed in the underworld (plunged to the depths of sorrow, for example), the more powerful the voice."

Sometimes I feel like I've been "in the underworld" for years.  It's a beautiful underworld--full of 2 a.m. feedings, the sweet chatter of babies, and volumes of precious experiences--but now that my youngest is starting kindergarten in the fall, I can see how incredibly challenging it has been.  

So many mothers feel like this.  They have so much to say, so much to write, so much to offer the world.  But they have to hold back for the sake of their families and wait for the right time to tell their stories.  

My planner is full of little notes and ideas that are just waiting to be shared, and as I ponder the quote above, I am excited to think that all the long hours of working, thinking, praying, and waiting have actually strengthened my voice.  And now that my time is opening up a bit more, I'll be able to "emerge as a powerful voice for change in the world" (p.25 Dare, Dream, Do).

All of us can do this.

So thank you, Whitney--for caring so much about the women around you that you would be willing to put together this book of insight, wisdom, and encouragement.  

And honestly, if you haven't yet ordered your copy--this book is well worth the read.

Love,

April