SeekingCuriosity

Story has  the power to get to the depths of  life in a way theology, philosophy or even psychology doesn’t.  Some stories or references keep coming up for my reflection — one for me is the story of The Odyssey.    As a teenager, I probably didn't really know the story, but I knew my Dad loved the poem/line from Tennyson's Ulysses "I am a part of all that I have met."  Also, I remember my Dad heard a commencement speaker say  something like "Live a life like Telemachus - find joy in tending to the garden." I didn't understand what that meant but when my Dad is inspired by a story, he tells it a lot so I remember him retelling that commencement address often, and I got the gist of it. Telemachus isn't the one with the fancy stories, but maybe he had a good life. "Enjoy the small things" type lesson.  In my 30s, when I taught 8th-grade World History about the river valleys and Greece/Rome, I used a great lesson from History Alive on the story...

 Anna Cate graduated high school last month. This year was so bittersweet. In many ways, it was hard because we reflected on how our lives differed from what we imagined. She wrote her college essay on how she has had to get used to being uncomfortable, and that living in the stretch zone has served her well. It was emotional to reflect upon for both of us, but cathartic I think.  So many times throughout this year, she expressed, "I just wish life could be easy every now and then." And that makes me feel guilty that I couldn't provide for her an easy life. But we aren't promised that for our kids. I thought I didn't know what she would be facing, but on the last day of school, I went back and read a blog I wrote on her first day of school.  I know the world is going to change you and that is ok.... that is part of this world I brought you into. I pray that your sense of self is stronger than the defeats or hurt you'll encounter.  Wow -- I guess a part of me ...