Have you felt your humanity today?
My eighteen-month-old daughter has been practicing singing her "ABC"s. One night at dinner she was going through all of them: "Q,R,S...W,X,Y and Z." Her dad said to her, "Don't forget the T,U,V!" In response she buried her face in her hands, sighing a shameful "arrrggg." We laughed so hard after that. Her shame was nothing but endearing to us.
Recently Jesus has been saying to me, it's okay to forget some "T, U, V"s.
It's funny that when you're approaching a new developmental milestone, you can feel the need to be superhuman. Something in me tells me that since I've been a mom for 18 months now, that I should be less exhausted, less needy. Motherhood is teaching me how to become a stable, nurturing presence to my daughter, to my friends, and to those I lead. But instead of affirming myself for being in this place of rapid development in my character and leadership, I bury my head in my hands whenever I find myself needing extra help.
We recently asked our interns to share when they imagine in their lives that they will be in their leadership prime. They all imagined they would have "arrived" in their leadership by the age of 35 or 40. They were surprised when an expert in lifelong leadership, Dr. Robert Clinton, said that time of "convergence" doesn't often come until someone turns 50 or 60, if at all. We often want to grow ourselves up too quickly.
Growing into our mature selves does not mean abandoning our humanity. It means embracing it and learning to offer it to others. Jesus offers himself to us in the fullness of his humanity (Philippians 2:6-8).
In this season of rapid developmental growth, I want to learn to embrace my humanity. I am starting to ask myself these two questions every time I start to pray:
How do you feel human right now? And
How do you want to offer that humanity to Jesus and to others?
Today I jotted down some things like, I'm sweaty, and my neck hurts. Sometimes I let my friends down. I wish I had limitless time. I can't be two places at once. News about Gaza makes me feel hopeless... And then I thought about how to bring my humanity to others: I can be more honest with my friends. I can laugh at myself when I am socially awkward. I can be okay when I have to get back to people tomorrow. I don't need to fix people. I can show up without needing to be all knowing.
It's okay if I miss some "T, U, V"s.
How do you feel your humanity today? How can you offer that humanity to Jesus and to others today?
P.S. My daughter was screaming for the majority of the time I was writing this...so I am sure I literally missed some T, U, Vs.