I and Love and You

The Wisdom of Henri Nouwen

Found this today from Henri Nouwen. There's so much truth and wisdom in this, not just for letters, but for how we interact with each other. I'll let Nouwen say it:

When you write a very angry letter to a friend who has hurt you deeply, don’t send it! Let the letter sit on your table for a few days and read it over a number of times. Then ask yourself: “Will this letter bring life to me and my friend? Will it bring healing, will it bring a blessing?” You don’t have to ignore the fact that you are deeply hurt.

You don’t have to hide from your friend that you feel offended. But you can respond in a way that makes healing and forgiveness possible and opens the door for new life. Rewrite the letter if you think it does not bring life, and send it with a prayer for your friend.

From Sept 4 2009 Henri Nouwen Society

Embrace the Good!

A new blog to check out

If you haven't heard Seth's blogging!!! Be sure to check him out and offer him plenty of encouragement.

What to do with credit card rewards?

So you've been buying everything on your credit card just to earn rewards or points. What are you going to spend those points on? Something you don't need? Maybe. Something useless? Probably. Something you frivolous? Certainly. What if you could offer an affordable loan to a farmer in Afghanistan, or a merchant in Kenya? Wouldn't that be a better use of "free" money?

As Karyn and I look to give more one area that we've been intrigued with for a while is micro finance. (If you're interested in it check out this great book.) So yesterday we used the rewards from Karyn's credit card to fund a micro finance loan for Rahmat Gull. Here's his story:

Rahmat Gull is a young boy with great experience, though he is not literate. He works in the agricultural sector and has been involved in this business for nine years, working with his family during this time.

He has some land but he would like to buy animals for his land so that he can provide the grass for the animals from the land. To manage the economics he needs extra money. Therefore, he requested a loan of 50,000 Afghani to buy animals to start raising them.

Rahmat Gull is a professional man and, from when he started his business, he always wanted to improve his business. He is grateful for this loan process. He wants to say that it is his first loan and it is really great, especially for agriculture workers. He wants to continue his partnership and encourage other workers to use this loan service.

If you're want to try micro finance check out Kiva. They're a non-profit and 100% of your loan goes to the entrepreneur that you're supporting. I literally set everything up in less than 15 minutes. Karyn and I are excited to cash in more of our points so that we can continue to support micro finance operations all over the world.