{"id":168,"date":"2018-07-02T20:17:24","date_gmt":"2018-07-03T02:17:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/achsahs-springs\/?p=168"},"modified":"2018-07-04T23:14:26","modified_gmt":"2018-07-05T05:14:26","slug":"grow-old-along-with-me-light-from-many-lamps-assignment-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/achsahs-springs\/2018\/07\/02\/grow-old-along-with-me-light-from-many-lamps-assignment-5\/","title":{"rendered":"“Grow Old Along With Me” – Light From Many Lamps Assignment 5"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have enjoyed these biweekly readings and have learned so much from being pushed to thoughtfully apply the concepts to the practice of my own leadership.\u00a0 I am so thankful that this fantastic idea was included in the course curriculum.\u00a0 (Thank you \u201cLeadership Prof\u201d!)<\/p>\n

This week I was drawn to the excerpt from Robert Browning.\u00a0 There are so many aspects of this particular section that appealed to me at this stage in my life and highlights leadership lessons that I have learned over the years and need to continue to apply in my leadership contexts.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. I enjoyed reading poetry again<\/u>. In my day to day activities I am not exposed to poetry.\u00a0 Or rather, in my day to day activities, I don\u2019t intentionally choose to read poetry.\u00a0 It was a nice change and a bit of a challenge to my right brain.\u00a0 As leaders, we need to be well-rounded, and I sometimes forget to look outside of my four walls for inspiration and enjoyment.<\/li>\n
  2. The poem was written in honour of another leader<\/u>. In particular, a historical person whose writings had profoundly impacted Browning\u2019s own worldview.\u00a0 More and more I find that I am drawn to both the teachings and the life stories of men and women who were not only leaders in their own time period, but continue to have positive influence centuries later.\u00a0 Browning had never met Rabbi ben Ezra, but knew his teachings well enough that he could choose to use creative license and write the poem as though the Rabbi was penning the words of wisdom himself.\u00a0 To honour this man and his wisdom in this way was creative and represents how impactful this historical figure was in Browning\u2019s life.\u00a0 I also want to honour those who have gone before and paved the way for me, and the poem inspired me to act on this desire.<\/li>\n
  3. It encourages us to value the difficult times in life<\/u>. There has not been one difficult season in my life that I enjoyed at the time, but each and every one has taught me something and shaped me into who I am today.\u00a0 So much so that I am able to now \u201cconsider it all joy\u2026 when [I] encounter various trials\u2026\u201d (James 1:2, NASB).\u00a0 I am encouraged by the reminder that there is both temporal and eternal value in the trials of life.\u00a0 This is a leadership lesson that was hard to learn, but so valuable.<\/li>\n
  4. It encourages us to look at the entire story that is our life<\/u>. \u201cChild,’ said the Voice, ‘I am telling you your story, not hers. I tell no one any story but his own.\u201d\u00a0 (Lewis, 1954, p. 139)\u00a0 C. S. Lewis reminds us in his allegory that our life is a story that enfolds chapter by chapter, line by line.\u00a0 John Eldredge, a more contemporary writer reminds us of the same:\u00a0 \u201cLife, you\u2019ll notice, is a story\u2026. When it comes to figuring out this life you\u2019re living, you\u2019d do well to know the rest of the story.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 (Eldredge, 2004, pp. 3, 4.)\u00a0 When we view life as a complete story, we cannot afford to invest our time looking backwards, but look forward to the next chapter, and anticipate and plan for a happy ending.\u00a0 As Browning so wisely advises us: \u00a0\u201cGrow old along with me, The best is yet to be\u2026.\u201d (as cited in Watson, 1951).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    How about you?\u00a0 Have you ever considered your life as a story, like a novel that is written in chapters?\u00a0 I look forward to your thoughts.<\/p>\n

    References<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Eldredge, J.\u00a0 (2004).\u00a0 Epic:\u00a0 The story God is telling<\/em>.\u00a0 Nashville, TN:\u00a0 Thomas Nelson, Inc.<\/p>\n

    Lewis, C. S.\u00a0 (1954).\u00a0 The horse and his boy<\/em>.\u00a0 New York, NY:\u00a0 Penguin Books.<\/p>\n

    Watson, L.E. (1951)\u00a0 Light from many lamps<\/em>.\u00a0 New York, NY:\u00a0 Simon and Schuster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I have enjoyed these biweekly readings and have learned so much from being pushed to thoughtfully apply the concepts to the practice of my own leadership.\u00a0 I am so thankful that this fantastic idea was included in the course curriculum.\u00a0 (Thank you \u201cLeadership Prof\u201d!) This week I was drawn to the excerpt from Robert Browning.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":258,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,37],"tags":[27],"class_list":["post-168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ldrs500","category-ldrs500-unit-10","tag-light-from-many-lamps","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/achsahs-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/achsahs-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/achsahs-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/achsahs-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/258"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/achsahs-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/achsahs-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":175,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/achsahs-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168\/revisions\/175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/achsahs-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/achsahs-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/achsahs-springs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}