In her book, Kitchen Table Wisdom, Dr. Rachel Remen tells about a friend who attended a bingo game while visiting his elderly parents in Florida. A large sign on the wall indicated, “You Have to Be Present to Win.”
Similar to being present to collect a prize in a bingo game, Dr. Remen wrote:
We are all here for a single purpose: to grow in wisdom and to learn to love better. We can do this through losing as well as through winning, by having and by not having, by succeeding and by failing. All we need to do is to show up openhearted for class.
From time to time, I look back and marvel at how I landed at my current address, which is so much more than a set of numbers on a post.
If, for example, I hadn’t been able to return to the one location that felt most like home—an area I moved away from after my first husband died because I couldn’t afford to stay—then I wouldn’t have met Dan.
And if I hadn’t heard of the Shower Truck, and hadn’t wanted to write a story about it, well then … no Dan.
God was preparing my heart for this location, this address. And He was preparing this place for me.
Since God assigned a destiny for each of us—based on our life experiences, the things we love to do, and the things we’re good at—then His part is to provide everything we need to successfully inhabit that arena.
Our part is to show up with an open heart to learn what He wants us to learn as we love the people He sends across our paths.
Which means I don’t have to be afraid of not succeeding in what God destined me to do at my present address with my one, brave, sometimes fearful life. Because His measure of success is starkly different from the world’s measurements.
What has God called you to do in the place where He’s currently positioned you? What would it look like if you could step into that wild and scary purpose with His courage and with an open heart?
I think it would look like courage, like taking a healthy risk. And ultimately it would look like joy as you walk out God’s intention for having set you on this Tilt-a-Whirl planet.
What if we showed up openhearted for class?
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