I recently saw a post online talking, or perhaps a better word would be challenging people to come out of this social isolation and the past year and a half a better person.
But what does that actually mean? I’m not really totally sure. I guess it’s something I’m going to have to think about more. Who was I when this began, and who do I want to be when this is over? I hope you don’t mind walking with me as I think through this.
What about you? Who do you want to be at the end of this? It’s really similar to any other life event. Something we go through. For some of us, we’ve had a lot of life events to go through. Or at least it feels that way.
I don’t want to just stumble out and not have this experience move me forward to a different place. But what does moving forward mean?
What does that mean to you? How do you want to come out of this? Who do you want to be and what do you want to have learned? Or perhaps more accurately who do you choose to be and what do you choose to learn? I firmly believe changing and learning are actual choices we make. Some are more subconscious than others, but fundamentally they are still choices.
To compare, we would need to have some sort of understanding about where we are now or where we were previously. For some of us we don’t even think about that. Or have perspective on who we are. It can be helpful to get that perspective from those around us who know us well or have known us for a long time. It’s very possible they will have a different perspective on who we are since we can allow things to alter our own perspective.
It’s really the same idea as changing after coming out of any other personal experience. I really want to change and grow in a positive way, as I go through trials and tough stuff. I hope to be one person at the beginning of it and another person at the end of it. No I don’t mean have a different hair colour or be taller. Well, maybe being taller would be something to aim for! Since I am what you would call, vertically challenged. But you know I don’t mean that!
The analogy of a bridge works pretty well here I think. Some bridges are incredibly short or may be incredibly long. Some bridges are very sturdy and not very intimidating to walk across, and others are not very sturdy at all and very scary to walk across.
Plus some bridges cross the span of something that isn’t very scary. Some bridges are only for looks and decoration and should hopefully instill no fear. While others cross fast flowing rivers at a very high height.
This really can apply to our lives. Each difficult situation we go through looks different than the others. It can be a very short situation to go through and not be too difficult. Yet another situation can be like the shaky, unstable bridge over a fast flowing river. Something that may take a long period of time to journey through, while being very difficult and creating a lot of fear.
I admit after thinking like that, I no longer look at bridges the same way I did before. What about you?
Every challenge is something we can learn from and become a different person from. But I’ll be honest with you, I really struggle with change. Especially changing myself. Maybe you are on that same page with me. Is change hard for you too?
Change and the growth pains that come from change, can just feel icky. Downright yucky. There are times when I think I’ve been through enough tough times and enough change. And I say no more difficulty please!
If only it worked like that. I know that God uses these experiences to mold us.
Friends, if this has got you thinking about who you are and who you will be but that brings some anxiety and fear, I’m praying for you. Praying you will embrace who you are and who you allow God to mold you in to as you go through difficulty. Who you will be at the end.
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Melodee Glassford 