During debrief in Cambodia, our squad was given an exercise, we had a deck of cards filled with different possible values. We were told to go through them and make stacks of things we do value, moderately value, and what we don’t value. Out of a pretty thick stack we were asked to narrow it down to five top values. These are mine:
- Discipline
- Love
- Wisdom
- Honesty/ Integrity
- Loyalty
These are in no particular order. After we narrowed it down, we created a list of things we dream about doing and things we are proud we have accomplished. This list was to see what we actually want to accomplish with our lives and to have a goal for the future.
I don’t like to use this statement lightly, but, this activity was my jam.
I’ll be a bit vulnerable here for the sake of my point in this blog, but these are the dreams I came up with:
- To one day serve in Nepal
- Get my Masters or PHD in Neuroscience
- To have a family
- To love someone with my entire heart (and be loved back)
- Write a book
Over time, some of these things may change, but that’s all right. Right now, these are my future goals, and I am focused on accomplishing them. But for some it isn’t so much accomplishing them, but praying and seeing what the Lord has in store.
So, after we had our values and our dreams we were asked to create a vision statement that reflects a common theme between the two. This is mine:
To uphold integrity and honesty on a pure pursuit of life.
To inspire a zeal for wisdom in others with what I create and express through the Lord.
To seek after Storge, Philia, Eros, and Agape love in life- in people, in God.
To find what I love and be loyal to the Lord by loving His people.
This is a pretty brief description, but it is this one that is the stem of everything I hope to accomplish and give to people. A part of my decision to go on the World Race was to have a clear picture of what the Lord wants for my life. I thought that maybe my life would need some rewiring. I was right. I have let go of a lot of things that I thought defined me, and as I let them go, I let go of the part of me that struggled to hold onto what I held so tightly too.
At the beginning of the Race I was given a key with the word armor on it. The intention of the key is that God would reveal to you the meaning of this in your life, and you would find someone along the way and give away your key to them. I have not found the deeper meaning behind it yet, or someone to give it away to. But, I think I am starting to get there, as I have laid down my past goals and ideas for my life and I ma beginning to pick up this new one built on truth.
