It’s good to stretch yourself.
That’s not something I was always comfortable with. My preference back in the day was always to look for the path of least resistance. Certain things came easier to me than others, so I would tend to stay doing those things that came easier to me. That plan seemed to work very well for the most part in the early days. Then I went to university and the first friend I made there took me to the student radio station and everything changed.
Everything changed because I had never been to a radio station before. I had never seen the set up and work that goes into broadcasting a radio show even if just on the campus for those students who happened to be able to and desiring to listen to the station. My friend at that time was very much into his music and had a wide range of interests, whereas my tastes were very narrow. So here I was with my friend on this radio station with this variety of music that I had never heard before. After going to a couple of the shows my friend got to do, he allowed me to speak a little on his show. Before too long I got really interested in the whole student radio thing. To get into it properly though, would require me to exercise skills and abilities I had not previously applied. It began to stretch me and from that I discovered things about myself that I had not properly appreciated previously.
The thing about the student radio thing was not just about getting to go ‘on air’ and try to be funny or engaging. It was all the work in preparation for what made a quality broadcast. A lot of it for me was more about the preparation and production work, it made doing the actual broadcasting stuff even more satisfying and it left a great admiration for the power of the audio.
From that experience, I was more aware and consciously appreciating of skills and abilities I had that could be of great use in where I wanted to go with my career. Not too long after that experience, I linked up with another friend who was doing some interesting projects in a completely different location. This friend as the co-ordinator of the projects was happy for whatever help I could offer. I went in thinking I could offer things based on what I had done previously, but my friend got me applying myself to things I had not done before. That did not come naturally to me – it stretched me even further as well as gave me an understanding of certain processes that I took for granted. What had been completely alien to me beforehand, over time became a bit more familiar, but it required me to stretch myself in the unknown.
Those experiences were not easy and not always enjoyable. I can remember certain assignments requiring work well into the early hours of the morning. Head scratching stuff working thorugh puzzles in getting things done. Agitation and annoyance would ofter get the better of me and I’d loudly question I was even doing something that I was clearly not equipped to do. Yet the stretch proved worthwhile. It did not make me an expert in those areas, but it gave me a great deal of sympathy for those who do excel in those areas.
Something else those experiences taught me was that to progress in life there has to be an element in which we have to be prepared to be stretched. This does not detract from what you know to be your natural abilities, strengths, passions and inclinations. What it can do, however, is trigger something in you that might have been left dormant if you didn’t go with the stretch. This is why there’s worth in taking an apprenticeship in life, because the learning experience opens your eyes to how much more there is to you as well as to life as you thought previously, just by experiencing what it is to be on a project with a master and be taught by them.
Of course I’m not the first to experience this. Consider the different character in the scriptures and the journeys of faith they took. One that springs to mind effortlessly is Jospeh. He was used to tending his father’s flock, but once thrown into slavery and serving Potiphar he becomes a manager of his master’s goods, then even when he’s thrown into prison he’s given different responsibilities.
This involved using managerial skills he would have picked up looking after his Dad’s flock, yet each different setting would stretch him. It’s one thing to deal with flock, how do you deal with a foreign setting? How do you conduct yourself looking after a range of prisoners, especially when some come from Pharaoh’s court? How do you then adjust to dealing with economic strategy as the second in command of the world’s most powerful country?
Different settings, different roles, different skill-sets – all requiring a stretch. All possible because Joseph knew who to rely on for wisdom in each different setting. Therein is the key for the stretch – godly wisdom.
The beautiful thing about life, for me anyway, is that there’s no time where I can just relax and think there’s no more stretching to do. As long as there’s a goal ahead to reach, then there’ll always be the need to be open and flexible to the stretch.
(Photo by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 