Tanna Clark

Casting Stones = Glorious Success

I think there comes a time in everyone’s life when we question what we are going to do next. A stone is thrown and it casts a ripple across the water. That stone might be experiencing a different culture, meeting someone new or trying something out of your comfort zone. Whatever your stone is, the ripples left behind can change the course of your life forever. I say be open to those ripples. Where will they take you if you allow them to? Have a dream? Go after it! What are you afraid of? Failure?

There are hundreds of quotes on failure vs. success. Great ones. Inspiring ones. A lot of people failed before they succeeded. But they tried. They might have fallen on their butts but they tried and they got back up again. Maybe the original plan didn’t pan out but that failure will give you something to learn from or something new to go after.

I have two old books that were published posthumously as a tribute to Elbert Hubbard. I picture his personal moleskine filled with his thoughts and curiosities taken and turned into book form. The books alone are fabulous pieces of art but the words inside are thought provoking. All this to say, while there are many quotes out there about failure, this one by Elbert Hubbard stood out to me most.

A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success. – Elbert Hubbard

GLORIOUS success. God knows the plans he has for us before we were even born. The thing is, He gave us the choice to pick which stones we are going to throw out there. We cant be afraid of the ripples that stone might cast. They were all intended for us but we have to trust in and lean on God. He already knows the way, we just have to follow. He has given us all a unique story to tell, it might involve failure, hurt, loss but He wants us all to be GLORIOUSly successful.

What stones are you afraid to cast out there?

Everything

I wear a ring on my thumb that has one word stamped on it… EVERYTHING.

More often than not our pastor will give a sermon that strikes a chord, perhaps even hits a nerve, but almost always makes an impact. He has an amazing way of connecting the dots. A few years ago (Has it really been that long?) we were going through a series about what it meant to be a follower of Jesus. Pastor Jacob got to Matthew 19:21 where Jesus asked the rich young man to go “sell all your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” The rich young man then walked away sad. He was just told he could have eternal treasures in heaven and he was sad!!! He was sad because Jesus asked him to give away EVERYTHING. He had so much he couldn’t imagine parting with it. It was as if the man said Everything? and Jesus replied with yes, everything.

That sermon left a deep impression on my heart. This just so happened to be right after I went to Haiti for the first time as well. I couldn’t help but think of the kids I saw there in the orphanage. What if Jesus asked me to give up EVERYTHING? Would I be able to? In my heart I want to say an enthusiastic yes! But sometimes it’s not that easy. Sometimes logic gets in the way… but, what if, maybe this will happen… and our mind over thinks our heart.

I had this simple silver ring made as a reminder. Luke 14:33 is stamped inside. The verse is, “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” He might not be asking you or I to give it all away, but what is He asking you to give or do, and will you do it? If He did ask you to give it all away how hard would it be? What do you hold onto so tightly that it would prevent you from being a follower?

What Is Your STORY?

Everywhere there are people dealing with brokenness, selfishness, perfectionism, self-doubt, and worry. I had the privilege of listening to some fabulous speakers this weekend at STORY. Bob Goff, Anne Lamott and Phil Vischer to name a few. What I realized is that we all have our issues. We either take ourselves way too seriously, doubt we are good enough or think we have to fix it all or what we are doing is for not. But in the end if we aren’t able to let go of the things that are burning us out on the inside and follow Jesus to our ultimate destination then who are we really doing this thing for?

What I came to realize is that if we let God lead the way through the rest of our STORY the ending could be phenomenal. It might not look like anything we would have written for ourselves but in the end it could be so much richer.

My friend that I traveled with said she prefers the cliff notes version of her story, but I think that is way too simple. I prefer the bumps and bruises along the way. The reminders that I’m not perfect and neither is she, or you. We’ve made mistakes and learned from them. If we let our lives be guided by the right Author our stories can have profound meaning. That I look forward too.

They say STORY is a conference for creatives… it is so much more.

Fighting Hunger On A Subway

I keep thinking about the man I saw on the subway last month when we went to New York. It was busy as usual and crowds are not my favorite thing but I do enjoy taking in the different sights and sounds. I often wonder where people are coming from, going to and what their lives are like in general.

As the doors closed on this particular ride a man jumped in carrying a bag. He set the bag down in the middle of the car and he began to address the crowd. “The bag contains food,” he said, as he handed off a sandwich to someone that clearly needed it. He encouraged anyone that wanted food to please help themselves. Not to be ashamed that their circumstances has left them with little. Many of the passengers barely noticed the man, maybe this is a regular occurrence. However, it stood out to me and made an impact. What led this man to give in the way he was? I wondered if in the past he had been the recipient of such a gift on the subway and it led him to give back. I don’t know if I would have the courage to address random crowds on a subway like he does. It is encouraging to see people who are willing to do so.

I like to think of this man as a hunger warrior. Jumping on subways with bags of food as he moves from car to car until his loot is gone. It’s just a sandwich you say? For someone that sandwich meant food for one meal where there was none. A sandwich wrapped in encouraging words and a prayer. Hope for a brighter tomorrow.

The Writing Life

The thoughts swirl through my head but as I sit here with pen to paper a single word cannot be sputtered out. So, I write my thoughts about writing. Why, when I am faced with a blank page it is harder to muster out the thoughts? Is it some sort of performance anxiety? I am reading Right to Write by Julia Cameron. I love the book and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Each page I read transforms the way I think about writing. Not something I have to do but something I get to do. Something that I should just do, not make the time for. Writing is something that wants to move through us, not get clogged up in our minds.

I have so many thoughts to get out that they feel bottlenecked in my brain. The information highway in my mind is stuck in a traffic jam. Instead of taking a few minutes to write down what comes to me, I let it pile up while waiting for an allotted amount of time to craft the thought into something more profound. When the time comes that I finally make myself sit down to write the thoughts seem to cower to a dark corner in my mind. No doubt stuck in a cobweb of other thoughts meant for pen and paper.

In order to simplify life I have had to take a good look at where my priorities lie. I am a recovering 6 days a week blogger who often had a Macbook in her lap forcing words out when they didn’t come easy. The underlying motivation were stats and monetization. That’s not me, I love to write but I don’t want to force myself into a box and say “I am this, therefore I will write about that.” So blogging became sporadic, ad free and more for me. In fact I went back to the desk top life instead of the Macbook. If I want to share my words I have to sit at the computer. It actually feels quite nice to be untethered… but I miss the writing.

In Right to Write, Julia suggests writing 3 pages of longhand daily in the morning. I know I went to sleep with all kinds of meandering thoughts but this is what I woke up with. This is what my 3 pages looked like today. At first there was nothing so I wrote about writing. It may not be very profound but I got it out nonetheless and I am posting it for all of you to see. Fully unedited just as I wrote it in my notebook. I miss my writing life so this is my attempt at a healthy version of it sans Macbook in lap. Back to pen and paper and I will share when I feel like it… unlabored, fully transparent and brutally honest.

After all it is my right to write and writing keeps me in tune… mind, body and soul. It makes me happy and helps me keep things simple. No more waiting for the right words in the right configuration, it’s just me the way I should be. So here I am.

[photo credit: perldude]

Nxamaseri Island Lodge, Botswana Africa

We took flight and off we were to the Nxamaseri Island Lodge were we would stay for 4 nights. Our longest stay in one place on this trip. As you can see in the photo above my son had a turn at the controls in the plane. He was so excited and I think scared at the same time. He really enjoyed it, yet didn’t want to do it again. This time there was not much more than a landing strip of grass. Landing in a small plane on a short runway definitely puts me on the edge of my seat a little more that I thought it would. Still fun all the same.

After we landed we walked to the boats that took us to the camp on the Okavango Delta. I immediately loved the idea that we can only come and go by water.

Nxamaseri was absolutely a little piece of paradise. Our chalet was opposite of the last camp, here our bathroom was closed in and the room partially open. There was a flap we could put down in case of rain…and you better believe it stayed down in case of monkeys! One morning my aunt asked if we saw the monkeys outside of our room, which we hadn’t. It turns out that we had a small family on our porch watching us sleep! The chalet’s were absolutely charming and this was my favorite camp we stayed at the entire trip.

For the first 3 days we had the place to ourselves perfect for spending quality time together and relaxing beside the water. My aunt brought the game Bananagrams and it ended up being a huge hit! We were all hooked.

The weather was great while there. So much so that I got fried the second day out on the boat. I forget how the wind can make it feel as though the sun has no effect on skin that has been covered all winter long. Hah! There is no such thing as too much sunscreen! We finally saw our first Hippo up close and personal. Too close for my taste. When we spotted them the driver slowed down and waited for the Hippo to go underwater. Then as we passed full speed ahead the Hippo popped up just a few feet away form the boat. Now I see why they try to pass as fast as possible. The hippos are very curious.

We set out on land one day and visited Tsodilo Hills. Other than these four hills Botswana is flat, so the sight of them was quite majestic. The hills adorn rock paintings showing animals that had been seen by settlers. The hills have spiritual significance to the people in Botswana as it is believed to be the first place of Creation.

There were small villages scattered along the way to the hills. Every time I saw a child out playing I had the urge to jump out and play but we didn’t have time to stop for long in one place. While at the hills we took a hike to view the paintings and had a picnic lunch before the long drive back to camp.

Up until about day three no one had actually caught a fish, except for my uncle who had one literally jump in his lap. It was quite unexpected! At lease it wasn’t a hungry tiger fish! The delta is full of scary looking sharp toothed tiger fish but luckily my son caught something much more tame. I loved that he was able to go out on a guys only fishing trip!

The morning we left was bittersweet. I loved being on the water literally in the middle of nowhere. I could spend months there without thinking twice. As we packed up and got our things ready to go this Momma and her sweet baby came out to say goodbye!

Xakanaxa Camp, Botswana Africa

As our family broke up into little groups and boarded a few Cessna’s I was excited for the adventure ahead and even more so to be sharing it with my son.

As we flew over Maun, Botswana I was amazed by the views and the beauty.

Our first reality check of the next few days came in the form of a dirt runway. I think my son and I stopped breathing few a few minutes as we landed on the “air strip” near Xakanaxa Camp. The X’s sound like K’s but the bushmen actually speak with a click so your pronunciation of this camp’s name is just as good as mine.

As we arrived at camp we were met by staff and served cold drinks before checking out our rooms. We stayed in large fully furnished tents on wooden platforms. My favorite part about this camp was our bathrooms. They were attached to the tent but outdoor with no roof. When we were walked to our tent we were told to leave the bathroom door closed and not leave toiletries out as the baboons were inquisitive of new stuff in “their” rooms. Henceforth my son would not use the restroom without me close by for the rest of “outdoor dwelling” trip. The idea of a baboon paying you a visit in the loo was not favored by him at all.

During the 2 days at Xakanaxa Camp we went on a few photo safaris in the Moremi Game Reserve. We caught our first glimpses of antelope, baboons, hippos and zebra. Our wonderful guides pointed out different birds which I thought I would have little interest in but they were quite exotic and beautiful. We learned about native plants and berries like the fever berry which is medicinal if prepared right but is also used to kill fish when sprinkled in the water… easy fishing. The animals kept surprising us form very direction, just when we thought we might not see anything else a family of giraffes walked across the road. They are used to having visitors so they weren’t as scared as I thought they would be. It was amazing seeing them standing tall, proud and majestic.

After we saw the giraffes another group radioed to our guide that they spotted cheetah and shortly we were in hot pursuit over bumpy dusty roads. It was quite fun after our leisurely drive. When we pulled up two cheetah’s walked right towards us then veered off to check out a tree. It was amazing to see how tolerant they were of our presence yet at the same time the guides reminded us to be very still and not move too sudden. A gentle reminder that we were still dealing with very wild animals. This is one of my favorite shots from the trip.

The next day we packed up and went on one more game drive before we flew to the next camp. After seeing so many wonderful animals we were really hoping to get a glimpse of a lion and elephant. Sure enough the radio went off and we took of to see a lion and his mate. We learned an interesting fact as we pulled up… it was mating season and apparently lions will mate as frequently as every 15 minutes. SO as you can see from the photo above, we were there for about 15 minutes.

With only minutes to spare before we made it to the landing strip we saw a family of elephants hanging out and grazing on the foliage. I was so amazed at how close we could get to these amazing animals. You kind of have this feeling that you want to reach right out and touch one, then come to your senses and remember this is Africa not a petting zoo!!

The hospitality at Xakanaxa Camp was wonderful and everything there was so comfortable and inviting. This was only day 4 of the trip and I had seen so many wonderful things I would have been completely happy if that were it but we still had 12 amazing days left.

Africa Or Bust

So here I am a month after my trip and haven’t written a thing. Who would have thought taking two and a half weeks off would throw me off so much? Well, actually I am working on something big and my mind has been reveling in God’s glory as I seek a new direction in my life. Plenty to come about that!

Our trip to Africa was amazing. I went with my 11 year old son and 8 other family members… aunts, uncles, cousins and my Grandfather who arranged this whole excursion. I am forever grateful to him for this experience and especially being able to see it through my son’s eyes. This trip also took care of two things on my List, traveling with my Grandfather and going on an African safari. My son and I left Nashville on December 15, 2011 carrying a backpack and one small carry-on to last us until January 1, 2012. I think packing was one of the most exciting things for me to figure out. And honestly we could have done without half of what we brought. I see some serious backpacking trips for us in the future. You have no idea what little you can live with until you live without it! And I liked it!

We flew into Johannesburg from JFK and I can’t say what a relief it was to be off of that plane! I think the anticipation of the flight there made it feel so much longer than the flight home.

After a several hour layover in Joburg we were finally headed to Maun, Botswana Where we stayed at the beautiful Sedia Hotel overnight to freshen up and shake off some jet lag. It was our first taste of the wonderful hospitality we would receive during the rest of the trip. I really looked forward to reconnecting with relatives and my son getting to know them more. We thought we would have Wi-fi at this hotel but it was not working… our first day of Internet free bliss!

During the trip we stayed at 4 more locations, so to make this easier and not run on in one loooong post I will write about each location so I can share more photos. Stay tuned! …

Back In The USA ~ A Brain Dump

It’s been quiet on the blog but I am back and ready to go! I went on a trip to Africa with my oldest son and 8 other family members. We had a blast! I will tell you all about it soon, but for now you can see all of my pictures here.
A very Happy New Year to all of you! I missed Christmas with my family in TN and most of the season’s Christmas music. My cousin kept singing I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas and it got stuck in my head for the whole trip.
In December I was interviewed for HerNashville. (Page 28) It was great to go back over our story from the last few years. I am looking forward to adding to that story in 2012!
I spent two and a half glorious weeks with no Internet or to-do lists. I think it is important to unplug for a week or at least a weekend here and there. When is the last time you untethered?
I am all about removing distractions this year. Twitter may be the first to go. Facebook will have to go on a timer.
Going to Haiti with Soles4Souls in 2011 was a life changer for me. They just announced their trips for 2012. I suggest you check it out. Be warned… you won’t come back the same as you left. But in a really great way!
This brings hoarding to a whole new “scale” YIKES!
Happy New Year everyone! Let’s make it a great one! “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.’ ~ Walt Disney

Rejoicing In Enough

A peek into the old house.

Psalms 49: 16-17 ~ Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases; for he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendor will not descend with him.

Lately I have found myself getting a slight pang of jealousy coursing through my body when I walk into a friend’s home. You know that natural human reaction you get when you see something bigger, shinier more spacious than that you have? It comes second nature to us. We were born into a materialistic society, constantly striving for more.

Our family decided to take a step backwards and a part of me mourns that loss. It’s quite an odd feeling to go backwards. I remember a time when all I wanted was to have “grown up” furniture and to have our home decorated just so. Ironically, when we finally got to that point we turned around and let half of it go.

It may sound silly to be in mourning over stuff but we had a beautiful home. We put a lot of time, effort and money into making it that way. Ultimately, it just didn’t fit the life we wanted. We decided instead on ENOUGH. Just enough house to provide comfort for our family and at the same time allow us to live a more abundant life out in the world.

So instead of mourning I decide to rejoice. Rejoicing in the fact that as a family we can share experiences rather than excess. I am thankful that we have been blessed with ENOUGH so we now have the opportunity to give back.

Looking back, I realize this may have not been the easiest thing to do but definitely the most rewarding.

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