At the time I’m writing this, I’m sitting in my office, having a cup of coffee in my Bob Ross color-changing mug, and listening to Jars of Clay’s album Who We Are Instead.
It’s been quite a week already. The work of teaching is demanding as ever. The news from Israel/Gaza weighs on me with every update. My inbox is overflowing, and I’m behind on grading. I need to mow my lawn (maybe for the last time this fall?) I’m working on edits for my book and trying to make sure I meet my deadline. And a colleague passed away this week with liver cancer.
I realized that I need a minute.
So I popped a k-cup into the machine in the workroom, and after it finished brewing took my mug back to my office and closed the door. (That’s rare enough—I try to keep an open door policy, literally.) I put the music on, and just took a few minutes to sit, to breathe, to collect myself.
Nothing really changed in my situation in that 10 minutes. But my attitude shifted a bit.
I find I sometimes need to give myself permission to just “be” for a few minutes, particularly when I’m feeling a little ragged around the edges. Maybe you can relate?
I know I get caught up in the rat-race of productivity—there is always so much to do, so much that I could be doing! (I suspect any educator reading this knows that feeling acutely! If you aren’t an educator, check in with your loved ones who serve as teachers or administrators; they could probably use it.)
Here’s the reminder and word of encouragement for you today: remember that you are a human being, not a “human doing.”
It’s okay to just be, at least for a few minutes. Give yourself the permission to not squeeze productivity into every moment. (Note: I’m saying this to myself as much as I am to you, dear reader.)
If the burden and the busyness are too much for you today, take 10 minutes for yourself.
You are a human being.
Just be.
Dave’s Faves
Here are three things I’m absolutely loving right now that I hope you might love too…
Dave’s Fave #1: How We Got to Now
In my new Technology, Identity, & Community course that I’m teaching as a capstone to Dordt’s Core program, students are beginning book clubs—I have a list of books they could choose among to read and discuss with a small group of their classmates. I have a bunch of great options, and this one by Steven Johnson was recently recommended to me. I’m hesitant to include things on my syllabus that I haven’t read myself, but it came highly recommended, so I added it to the list, even though I hadn’t read it yet.
So, it was time to prioritize reading this one! And OH MY, am I glad I did! How We Got to Now is an utterly fascinating history of technological development of six technologies that have fundamentally shaped the world we live in today. The six are “glass,” “cold,” “sound,” “clean,” “time,” and “light.” I am 5/6 of the way through the book now, and I can’t say enough about how intriguing this whole book is. Each chapter focuses in on the twists and turns that these innovations took that brought us to the present. The chapter on glass, for example, begins in ancient Egypt with naturally occurring glass (probably from meteor impacts) that Egyptian jewelers worked into artifacts that ended up in King Tut’s tomb. From there, we leap forward into history from the Romans, to how the sacking of Constantinople made fleeing glassmakers end up in Venice (where all kinds of technological innovations in glassmaking evolved,) to the European lens makers in the Netherlands in the 1500s, to the development of microscopes and telescopes, to fiberglass, silicon computer chips (based on glass!), and fiber optic cables. There are little side trips included into the physics, engineering, politics, economics, and anthropological developments related to glass along the way as well. It’s compellingly written, engaging, and I can guarantee it will change the way you view modern technologies and conveniences that you almost certainly take for granted.
Dave’s Fave #2: Woodland by The Paper Kites
My music recommendation for this week is an EP by the Australian folk-rock group, The Paper Kites. Their 2013 offering entitled Woodland is a great place to start with this group, if you’re not familiar with them. With a wide variety of instrumentation, catchy musical arrangements, and deep, introspective lyrics that draw on their Christian faith, this group has fast become one of my favorites in this past year. I especially love the song “Bloom” from this EP, but every song in this little collection is a good one.
Dave’s Fave #3: Having friends as guests on the podcast!
The Hallway Conversations podcast is still going strong, over two years into this project! We’ll be recording a live episode at the Christian Educators Association conference later this week, so if you happen to be there, stop by and say “hi!”
We recently had a two-part episode with multiple guests: our co-host, Abby De Groot, and two other colleagues from outside the Education department: Dr. Gayle Doornbos, and Dr. Rikki Brons. Abby, Gayle, and Rikki went on a literal pilgrimage this past summer on the Camino de Santiago in Spain. This two-part series was all about their adventures, why they went on pilgrimage, what they learned, and some valuable applications for Christian educators that they took away from the experience.
You can follow Hallway Conversation on all the major podcasting apps (you can find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts, or just try searching for us in whatever podcast app you use) or on the web at podbean.com.
Here are the links to our two most recent episodes:
Episode 097: Walking the Camino, part I (or, pilgrimage is both an individual and communal exercise)
Episode 098: Walking the Camino, part II (or, education as pilgrimage)
We would love it if you’d listen in, and feel free to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Hearing Abby, Gayle, and Rikki talk about their experiences makes me want to hike the Camino myself!
The Last Word!
The back of my Bob Ross mug is always encouraging for me. (If you aren’t familiar with his show, you should look up “The Joy of Painting” on YouTube. You won’t regret it!) One of Ross’s famous aphorisms is, “We don’t make mistakes; we have happy accidents.” That’s my encouragement to you: try and have a few “happy accidents” today, friends!
Thank you for the reminder to just be when life gets busy. Sometimes I listen to the song "Breathe" by Jonny Diaz to help me take a moment for myself. My sympathies about your colleague.
Yes, Dave. You needed space to just be this week, and so do many of us. May God's love surround your department in the loss of your colleague.