My YouTube Feed
On my YouTube feed, one will often find an intellect, who grabbed my attention during the pandemic. The way his mind thinks, his authentic delivery and willingness to listen and learn, has given me encouragement and hope for the future. When I encounter someone like this, I am drawn to dig deeper into what they know. An addictive kind of flame ignites, as my yearning to learn moves from a spark to a fire. Enter the book!
The intellect wrote a book that was a best seller before the pandemic, about rules for life. As I began reading, I struggled a bit to absorb the message. This man’s vocabulary is way over my head, but I have been able to relate to other brilliant people’s writings even if I couldn’t completely comprehend the message (that’s why some of the books that intrigue me I reread again and again, hoping that with each encounter, their message will sink deeper into my understanding). I kept reading with the purpose to push through and gleam understanding where I was able.
As I read further, I became deeply connected and in agreement with his philosophy. His ideas kept unfolding after I stopped reading. They would keep popping up while I was going about normal chores or in reflective moments. I love when the book I’m reading does that, when the dialogue continues to develop within my normal routine of life, when the concepts arise in conversations. This movement impacts who I am and what I believe and becomes transformational.
As I read on, I discovered that transformational doesn’t necessarily mean complete alignment. Record screech…my thoughts and his words were becoming disconnected. In my past I might just stop reading and proclaimed I was done (I may have even thrown a book at one time; I need an emoji here). Post pandemic me, the one who chooses relationship over being right, chose to not take offense and dig deep to understand what the author was expressing.
The topic of the chapter was on relationships. The theory was, decide to be friends with people who want the best for you. I do not disagree with that statement. I just found it too limiting. The argument in my head kept saying… Yes and… the way he expressed the message told my mind to choose intentional relationships to get you to reach your goals and protect yourself from people who don’t share that vision.
As I pondered my disagreement with this man who has impressive knowledge and intense wisdom, I wondered why such disconnect? Could this be a difference between male and female wiring? Could this be a difference in faith practice? Could this be a difference in personal purpose? Could this be a prepandemic message that may have changed now that the world has suffered so greatly in such a large capacity?
If I were writing that chapter…I would complete the message by stressing that our lives are incomplete if we are not looking to serve others. Family first became a stronger concept during the lockdown.
Let’s never lose that intention and expand. That may include family members who aren’t able to help us get to our best. That may mean reaching out beyond family to elderly neighbors who grieve their only daughter and now need you more than ever to get through life. That may mean giving a ‘mother of the bride/groom’ shower to help friends deal with the burden of planning a wedding during covid. That may mean listening to a homeless kid who ran away from home because of shame and cannot stop dreaming of becoming an aeronautical engineer.
In this post pandemic world, we all are called to add value to the lives of the people we love and even some that we don’t. Through compassion, grace, mercy, and love, we can help in the suffering. We can help carry each other's burdens, allowing no one to feel alone or abandoned. We can listen to those who grieve and understand if their lawn hasn’t been mowed. We can give a flower to someone who is beat down. We can call a friend we haven’t spoken to in a while, just to say hi. We can show patience and compassion when that waiter is just hanging on by a thread. We can show kindness to a mom whose baby is way beyond nap time. We can smile at a stranger. It doesn’t have to be grand. It just must be.
If I ever get to meet this intellect, who continues to be my professor for free, my question would be… what do you say to those people who look at you and have the opinion that you aren’t qualified to help get them to the place they need to go?