Friendship

This week I have become so much more aware of the value of friendship and I am so so thankful for the friends that God has blessed me with and placed in my life. Friends are always there for you, with true friends you can go weeks or even months without catching up and then the second you catch up with each other, it feels like you had never been apart. 

So for all those friends of mine out there, this is for you...

the never ending journey part 2

Where is all of this discussion about learning and never ending journeys coming from? 


Well I have just recently had an opportuntity come up for me and even just applying for this opportunity I seemed to learn so much - I have now manged to get the job that I applied for and now know that it will be a hard year of trying to complete my 3rd year of a Bachelor of Teaching, while also taking my new job on board. I was orignally very amped for my new job and quite keen indeed at the prospect of being a child/youth worker in my church in Matamata, in Waikato. The more I thought about this, the more I was excited but also the more nervous I became. 


For some reason when I applied for this job, I was not only nervous but felt as if I was inadequate for this job and like many times before when I had wanted to apply for things, felt that I would automatically fail so what would be the point in applying in the first place - I am sure this fully does not make sense but to put it simply, I thought that applying would be a waste of time as I was not good enough. 


I remember in the early stages of applying for this job, numerous nights lying next to my husband in bed and not being able to get to sleep because too much was on my mind. He would ask me what was wrong or what was going on and with the usual typical female response (that I am sure we have all used many times before), I said in a grumpy tone I am fine. Now being a male, he fully respected the fact that I did not want to talk about it and dropped the subject immediately. This would have been the end, had I not ended up thinking so much and basically crying myself to sleep (yet at the same time, I could not sleep). After a half hour of soaking his PJ's with my tears and then just snuggling in his arms for another 20-30 mins while talking quietly, I was reassured by my loving husband that I was certainly capable of doing this job and that God would not have placed it in my path if it was not a possibility. 


After much dileberation and many hours of consideration from both myself and others, prayer on both sides of the job opportunity and prayer in numerous forms from all around the world, I finally decided to accept the offer I was given.


I contacted my referees to let them share in the good news and celebrations with me and it was then that I was reminded of the never ending journey of learning. One of my referees was talking to me about a conversation he had had with the employers about me and how I would adapt to this job - whether I had the right skills for the job, the right attitude etc. He shared his answer to this question with me and to me, it was one of the best explanations and examples of learning that I have heard in a long time - Yes I did have the right attitude (the fact that I was willing to apply for this job in the first place was proof of that), and secondly at this point I had some of the skills required for the job but he mentioned that when I started training to be a teacher (at the start of 2010), I had hardly any of the skills required to become a teacher but this is what my degree is about, two years later, i'm almost ready to have my own class and I am fully equipped with skills for teaching. I have learnt these skills over time and like this new job that I have now accepted, these skills, I shall also learn over time. 


After talking with my referees, my husband, God and many others, I now realise and understand that it is okay I am going into this new journey without knowing everything that I need to know - this is okay because I will develop the skills I need as I learn and understand more about my job.


So for now, I can focus on getting to grips with studying fulltime and working part time and I look forward to this journey with so much excitement - I can not wait for the learning to begin.


Next time you think of learning - just remember that there is always something for us to learn and that learning is a never ending journey, no matter how many different journeys our lives take, learning will always be a key aspect.

the never ending journey part 1

I have come to the conclusion recently that life is a never ending journey or a journey of journeys. I am sure that fully does not make sense to whoever is reading this but this is what is currently inside my head so here I shall try to explain.


We set out on a journey in our lives, eg the beginning of our education but this does not begin with primary school, oh no it begins long before we even turn five when our parents, family and friends watch us grow, challenge us, teach us and stand in awe and gasp as the amazing things we are beginning to accomplish in our lives - particularly remarkable things at such a young age. 


Once we are five (in NZ, possibly older or younger in other countries), we start attending primary school - from this moment on, most of us tend to spend the next 13 years of our lives involved in education (in terms of Primary School, Intermediate and then High School/Secondary/College) and we learn so much that we feel our brains are about to explode. 


Once we come to the end of our imediate schooling years, it seems like the end of an era - the people we have got to know over the past 13 years are suddenly splitting up and all going their own individual ways (starting their own new journeys).  


At the end of these years, some of us think that we have had enough of education and go off to do something else where we no longer think we have to learn, while other people go off to university, polytech or college to pursue further educational ambitions. No matter what we do once we all leave high school, no matter how different our new paths are from our friends, we are all still continuing on the educational path of life - there is always something to learn and as I have been reminded so much since I have left high school, learning (just like life), is a never ending journey. Wherever we are in the world, whatever we are doing, whoever we are working with, no matter what our circumstance, there will always be something new for us to learn - it really is a never ending journey... it would certainly be much easier though if some people acknowledged the fact that they still need to learn things from others sometimes, rather than always thinking they know everything and that they should be the teachers. 


This is part one, part two is still in my brain and will come through onto the pages any moment now....