SEPTEMBER
“It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties.”
-Abigail Adams
Oh my. A month into teaching and I am struggling to manage all my responsibilities. Mind you, my part-time job hasn’t even started yet. So I am worried especially since I have not yet managed to contact the people for the Fall Roundtable. Will it all get done? That is the question of the year. Isn’t it interesting that I am ever more hopeful for Platform. Yes. Even though I am barely able to maintain my sanity juggling all my commitments, I am astonished how everything is slowly coming together. The advisory board will be finalized this weekend; I have an excellent team for grant proposal writing; and I am planning to add 1-2 more volunteers to help with planning and marketing the events. In addition, I am very slowly and cautiously figuring out the team which will be running the youth version of the Spring Event. Everything has been somewhat a painstaking process but it is coming together.
Does this mean that we will not have any setbacks? No. For every step forward, it has been ten steps back. But progress as I have mentioned is never without challenges. There is resistance but it is in the obstacles that one finds strength, resolve, and perseverance that will prepare a person for other challenges in life. Let me give you an example. Last weekend during a sermon, I learned that trees needed wind to grow. A scientist created the perfect biome where he planted several trees. The trees will grow to a certain height and then stop growing. At some point, they would start to wither and die. The scientist of course was perplexed. Why would the trees stop growing when it had all the nutrients in the soil, enough heat and water, and just the perfect atmosphere? But he began to realize that trees needed wind to grow. The wind made the tree strong enough to persist.
Don’t get me wrong. I hate resistance but it is what we all need to maximize our abilities. How can we discover our potential if we were left in our perfect biomes? We will grow but we could not expand and live to our fullest without the wind against us. I must admit that I have looked for and tried to bury myself in the security of the perfect biome but inevitably, I would find myself in the most challenging situations. I am not happy about it but I am now coming accept this reality and have learned to adapt, resist, or fight whatever comes in my way. For this very reason, I know that I can thrive in almost any circumstance. But I could use a perfect biome once in a while to get away from everything.
Sam
Founder. Executive Director
September. 01, 2019