Seldom, when your are trying to shine, does it pay to take short cuts.

Last year on September 26, I was walking at Parr Park with a friend.  She was indulging me by listening, while I shared the challenges of working full time, raising three boys, and writing a blog post six out of seven days a week.

Round and round the park we went, while round and round I went brainstorming creative ways to lighten my load.

It was in this very spot that I suddenly realized, if one day a week readers did the writing, I could work less hard.  Readers could submit stories about people who shine and all I would have to do is post an address where recipients could receive letters of gratitude.

Even the idea of mailing letters in yellow envelopes - and by extension the name "Yellow Envelope Project" - was hatched on my walk at the park that day.

Short cut?

I don't think so.

It turns out, paying tribute to selfless people who shine is probably the hardest and most important work I do all week.  Sure, the nominations speak for themselves; each telling the story of someone who is busy brightening their corner of the world.  Still though, I spend time wordsmithing my portion of text, hoping that it will help elicit the response our recipients so deserve.

I'm not the only one working harder because of the Yellow Envelope Project.

What about the work of Peggy, a loyal reader, who joined our Yellow Envelope team in May?  She volunteers by receiving and sorting our incoming nominations, as well as communicating weekly with our nominators.

And, what about Amy in Pennsylvania who volunteers by packaging and mailing each winner a Signature Shine t-shirt?

And, Dawn in Arizona - who like clockwork - sends a House of Shine postcard listing the Ten Principles of Shine?

And, my mother in New York who mails the House of Shine Manifesto to our winner?

And, Heather who logs onto our Yellow Envelope site each Saturday and updates the mailing address?

And, Cheryl who created yet another Ray - Special DeliveRay?

And, Judy our seamstress, who is responsible for the new Yellow Envelope Project gift bags, now in our Yellow Awning Shoppe?

And, what about the new and improved Yellow Envelope website we expect to launch in the next five to six months?

Short cut?  I don't think so.

The Yellow Envelope Project might have started as an attempt to lighten my workload but, as is the case with most ideas inspired by the heart, it quickly took on a life of its own.

Roger Rosenblatt, American journalist, author, playwright, and teacher wrote about art in a way that, I think, helps explain the evolution of the our project over the last year.

"The best in art and life comes from a center - something urgent and powerful, an idea or an emotion that insists on its being.   From that insistence, a shape emerges and creates its structure out of our passion.  If you begin with a structure you have to make up the passion, and that's very hard to do."

Today, let's pay tribute to the Yellow Envelope Project and every other form of art that has simply insisted on being.  Join us in the Community Forum, labeled Today's Post and tell us about how the passion of someone you know has ultimately given structure to art.

Shining off until tomorrow...