Guest post by J. M. Hawkins
Dear Soul,
I think I’ve given up. I’ve quit learning. I’ve quit growing.
Dear Life,
Okay, I’ll give your life one last quit—quit quitting! And one last command—you must learn to love the difficult. The result? You’ll exult! You’ll become bold.
That reminds me of a story…
Socrates spent the night before his execution learning to sing a difficult song. When asked why, he said, “Just let me learn one more song before I die.” Socrates was an incessant learner, and he learned late in life that he had thought too much and sung too little. So, on his last night, he boldly sang and surprised his soul with a new song:
Blessed are the bold,
For even when they’re old,
They won’t cease to fight,
But will sing a new song
On their very last night.
Today, I will renew my yearning for learning.
I’ll begin to let the easy slide
And from the difficult I won’t hide.
Then, one day—not too far along,
my love for the difficult
will become my bold song.
*The Dear Soul/Dear Life dialogs by J.M. Hawkins are adapted and used by permission. They are excerpted from his collection, Word From Soul City and were used in discussion groups across America in response to the Life That Loves to Happen seminars with Landon Saunders.
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