When I was in fifth grade I had a girlfriend. My family picked up on this when I was on the phone for 45 minutes every day. I got a yearbook at the end of the year and my mom asked to see the picture of my girlfriend. I pointed to her picture and my mom said, “Oh, she’s cute.” And I said, “Yeah I noticed.”
My family thought this was hilarious. I didn’t understand. In my mind this was serious business — a real relationship. “Who knows, maybe we’ll get married.” Armed with experience, my family understood the way the thing would play out. It wouldn’t amount to much.
The wisdom of their experience helped them to hold a very different view of my pre-teen angst from the view I had in the middle of the mess.
Tomorrow I start the drive home to Florida (a drive that will include a couple days catching up with friends in Atlanta). This morning I’m thinking back to a conversation I had with my housemate and friend Caroline Crawford. I had just gotten to Michigan and I was freaking out a little bit. I didn’t know why God had me here or what He wanted me to do. Pounding around in my head was “Get out! Move on!” I didn’t know where I fit so I thought I needed to be somewhere else.
Caroline told me that she had felt something similar when she jumped on staff after the Race almost a year earlier. She told me she had to go back out to lead a Squad before she felt secure in the understanding that God had given her a role with the World Race. She offered me the wisdom of her experience: be patient because chances are you are right where God wants you. Caroline had the wisdom of experience. She was able to see my circumstance differently.
I now have a different understanding of what God is doing with me in this community. I understand I have a place at the table. I understand I have the freedom to pursue the Lord’s heart. I understand the things I’m called to learn from this community will probably take longer, read more patience, than I had anticipated.
We need to have people around who have already tread the ground on which we walk. They can listen to our plight, encourage us to make the right decisions and caution us against the sketchier ones.
People have entered a career field before you. People have had a first baby before you.
People have felt alone before. People have been worried before. People have felt the weight of sin before.
Surround yourself with people who have been there before. They can tell you when you’re overreacting. They can help you listen for the voice of the Lord. There is a place for you in your community. And that place is surrounded by people who can use the wisdom of your experience and offer wisdom from their experience as well.
