I've been thinking about my purpose lately. I mean my divine purpose. Why am I here? Why did God place me on this earth, at this time, in this community with these people?
Some of my friends call me "The Connector" because I know a LOT of people and like to connect the right people together for the right reasons. A student with a friend of mine who could be a career mentor. A friend is looking for someone to help them with a project and I know the exact right person for that project. Connecting my friends is something that I enjoy doing.
This week I did a "Kindness is cool" lesson for my first year college students. We talked about how being kind to each other is as important for their college success as learning new study skills. I sensed that several of my mostly male athlete class were skeptical of my kindness lessons for that day. But, I pushed on with activities from complimenting and shaming apples to a "string theory" lesson where they had to compliment each other to see how connected we really are to the kind things we hear about ourselves.
Not all the First Year Seminar instructors would do this kind of lesson. It is probably not academic enough. However, I hear things students say to and about each other around campus. I hear and see the mean and demeaning things that humans say to each other in social media and even walking down the street every day. Like the apple that was insulted and dropped on the floor several times, our insides get pretty brown, bruised, and ugly after hurtful things are said to us.
So why was I compelled to teach my mostly masculine class about kindness and risk them thinking I am some wack job, cake professor they don't have to take seriously? It is my purpose. I am a connector. I am a Kindness Connector. Instead of fighting and being embarrassed at who I am, I am going to begin embracing the soft-hearted person God made me to be and TRUST God's purposes and plans for me. Being soft-hearted doesn't make me weak. It takes courage and bravery to be soft in this hard world. It takes perseverance to get back up and stay kind when tough things happen. And tough stuff HAS happened. But, I stay connected to God...every day. He encourages me and makes me see that He is with me, pushing me and walking with me through the tough stuff. This makes it easier for me to stay connected to my purpose on this earth. The world needs a little softness to take the edges off the hard,
I am a connector. A kindness connector.
Your apple picture took my mind right to the apples I just found in the refrigerator last night. They looked good from where I was standing, but once I actually reached in and picked one up, I realized they had sat alone, in the back of the shelf, and had been left to get soft and mushy--rotten.
ReplyDeleteSuch a good reminder. Thanks.
Thanks Val! I'm not sure my students got the picture, but I'm glad you did! It is a good reminder that NO WORDS and no contact with people can make us rotten too. We NEED to connect with others in order to survive.
ReplyDeleteI love your writings and the silly wack job you are just like some of the rest of us..Love ya lady
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite things was kicking that apple around the office for the first time you taught that lesson! Plenty of stuff isn’t academic, but it’s still an important lesson. I loved what you wrote. If anything, I find that the tough stuff in life (especially over the past two years) has made me kinder and more compassionate. There were so many days where one moment of kindness kept me hanging on. Now that life is calmer and more peaceful, I remember that and try to pay it forward.
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