What We Learn in New Spaces
The things we are discovering
Will determine who we will become
Here’s the truth: I am learning about podcasting as I go. Like getting a degree, getting married, becoming a parent, homeschooling, starting a new career. Experiential learning on the job can teach heaps more than stacks of books.
Here’s another thing I think is true: we are all learning about how to survive and come out of a pandemic AS WE GO. I asked one of my podcast interviewees what he was learning about himself yesterday and he turned the tables on me, “What about you?”
Oh, me? I think I said something about living life more slowly. Yet the question sticks with me.
Let’s go deeper. What am I learning about myself? About how I operate in the world? About how I relate to others?
What I Am Learning
I need to make joy lists.
I prefer creative abstract stuff to unpacking moving boxes.
I have a hard time not taking on other people’s emotions.
I want to celebrate and play more.
I have a new life goal of shedding perfectionism permanently.
It’s good to have afternoons to read a book in a rocking chair with a blanket in my lap (grandma style).
My family needs me to listen a lot. And it’s also helpful for them to know I have boundaries and energy filling requirements too.
Let’s turn the tables.
What about you?
What have you learned, not only about making a way through the fog, but about yourself?
Reflection enables us to mark down moments of becoming. We are always growing, always changing. Taking notes on what we are learning is invaluable. It could be a journal or a chat with a friend. It might be a new creative endeavor you are pursuing. (I’ve taken up learning French again.) Watercolors. Baking. Gardening.
Or maybe it’s deeper. It’s where you are learning to let go, to trust, to love allow God’s love to permeate your very cells.
What is your learning space?
Have you had to learn how really be with your family?
Have you had time to do that creative project you’ve been wanting to do?
What about learning to just stay home?
To trust the care of your elderly parents to others?
To not carry all the negative emotions surging through the world?
To work long shifts to stay lives?
To be less afraid?
To take care of yourself so you can care for others?
Whatever learning space you find yourself in, you are in the right place. It might be uncomfortable, even disappointing or painful, but this is where we shed the illusion of control.
Maybe you need the reminder you are incredibly loved.
In episode #1 this week on the podcast, Bonnie Gray says,
“God is calling us, ‘Let my quiet love bring you peace today.’”
Right now. It is possible to lay aside your burdens and ask God to teach you how to shelter in His peace.
Maybe you are discovering God’s truly abundant giving. In episode #2 this week, Michelle Nezat reminds us,
“‘When our strength has failed ere the day is half done…our Father’s full giving is only begun.”
In the Podcast Preview, I wonder aloud if this is a resurrection of God’s people to claim our heritage as an ancient people of new birth where we live fresh creative, unusually joy-filled stories.
My aim with the podcast is not only to get better at podcasting, but THIS: to provide creative, tender hearts with transformative moments where the soul is renewed and empowered with compassion and courage.
Living Discoveries
As I train myself to let go of perfection in relationships and words, I begin to obtain glimpses of the kingdom: art, friends, connection, and new life. We exist in a new reality where being, reflection, and action enable us to find God’s grace and learn as we go. That is truth worth finding.
