EVER LEARNING | despite distractions, and with genuineness

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“We were born for a purpose. Every person you happen on in your lifetime has a story to tell. Every person on the planet has the ability to teach us something, if we’ll only be willing to listen.” – Chip Gaines, Capital Gaines

This week finishes the first month of the first year of the second decade of the 21st century. It’s hard to believe it’s almost February. I was glad, tonight, while digging out my wallet to pay the barista at the coffee café at Barnes & Noble, I heard the other gal say, “Saturday will be February.” “I know, right?!” I and the girl who took my order chimed in to say. Time really does fly, and as I stepped into the fourth decade of my life, I began to notice the accelerated rated the world seemed to begin to spin. After collecting my coffee from the barista, I returned to my seat to look up where in the world this saying came from. Turns out Tempus Fugit (Latin for time flies) dates back to 29 BC, recorded in Latin in Virgil’s Georgics. William Shakespeare and Andrew Pope, also used a similar phrase in the 1800’s.

In a quick Amazon search about “what to do with my life”, there were 586 book options for all ages; and that’s just on Amazon. Even in my current state, sitting in the café at Barnes & Noble in Brentwood, TN, I passed by an entire row of books that would like to tell me exactly what to do with my life; which I’m sure most of these are on that Amazon list. The inquiry of posing questions to one’s self, seems to be as old as time, even if time is flying by.

As I shared in my last post, one of my goals for this year is to write more and hopefully share it here on the regular. Another one of my goals for the year is to read 100 books. I’m currently behind for being in the fifth week of the year, but sure am learning a lot along the way. Sometimes even more books to read. One I’m currently reading  (ok, full disclosure I’m listening to it on Audible) right now is Andrew Peterson’s, Adorning the Dark. Sometimes, in the listening you feel like you’ve pulled up a chair in his den and you’re at the Warren, and then still others you’re transformed into a listening session of poetry. I appreciate the way he shares about writers, “We aren’t writers, so much as gleeful rearrangers of words whose meanings we can’t begin to know. When we manage to make something pretty, it’s only so because we are ourselves a flourish on a greater canvas.” This blessing of etymology, is inspiring to me, as is the ultimate Creator he’s speaking of in this quote.

I’m by far no professional at writing, but do long to grow in the crafty, so when I meet a professional writer or am around the amateurs in my life, I try to pick their brains for wisdom. I’ve noticed recently that I often get distracted in my writing, so probably need to add a question about how they keep focused to my list. In graduate school, papers often dictated concise formulations of words towards a topic, but even in this task I often found myself wanting to chase a rabbit of research I had found.  This past weekend, I had the pleasure of meeting Jim Asker from Billboard, at a local coffee shop here in Franklin, TN. He’s training for a marathon, and after his daily run, he stopped in at The Good Cup to do some work charting the Country & Christian charts; and he was kind enough to share his table and a little writer wisdom with me. He first joked that he had reserved the whole table, when I asked if I might share the then empty table, with him. We laughed a bit, about how rude that would have been if he denied me the seat, and then went back to our work; me trying to focus on an online discipleship course that had brought me out, and he to his charts. After a visit back to the counter for a refill, he returned back to his seat with heavy sighs  which spark my curiosity, so I inquired if he was ok. This was when he told me of his marathon training, and all that had led him to take this up. We proceeded to chat about all kinds of things, including his journey to the Nashville area, as well as mine. At some point we got to talking about various commonalities in music, and though I was trying really hard not to fan-girl much, I was able to ask about what got him into writing and if he had some tips for me. Jim has been in journalism for some time now, and music almost as long; he’s done it all it seems. One of the biggest takeaways I gleaned from Jim, is genuineness within professionalism. His job requires a lot of interaction with artists in interviews, for his writing gig, but the charting songs dictates he be objective. Even as we talked, and later added another to our conversation, you could really see this coming out in our discussions. He was so genuine with us, and even offered his contact information to Missy – a hustling young manager of an aspiring singer, in efforts to be a resource if she needed it. Only in Nashville, can you go for coffee, and meet such genuine famous people.

I’ve never really aspired to be famous or GREAT , but recently I’ve been aspiring to do greater things with my communication skills; hence the goal of writing more. I mean don’t get me wrong, I’ve always wanted to do good in big ways in this world of ours, but I haven’t ever really wanted to be the one people referred to as GREAT.  I’m sure Freud would have more to say about that, but we’ll just leave it there for now. Many of you know, I had the opportunity to work in communications for a little over 10 years, and even had the opportunity to wear many hats in a film production once.  Some of that actually happened here in Nashville. Early on in my role as production coordinator, I was often thinking hurry up and learn it all, like most jobs, and with each new thing I learned it was from the help of others. So, when the film production opportunity came along, I had been doing various things already, but nothing to the scale of that production. Once again, it was a time of let’s learn from others in the industry; and not just ones who were doing something close to my role, actors, make-up artists and even a director or two. Now before you get all thinking that I’m big time, remember I’m not the GREAT in this story. Some of the big takeaways I learned during that time were very similar to what Jim was sharing with me this past weekend, genuineness and professionalism. Today, I count many on those as friends from that production, and many I’ve been able to follow their careers via social media or over dinners shared around tables in various cities.

Circling back to those graduate school papers, one thing I’m still trying to implement today is to never stop learning, and don’t be afraid to cross learn. A few weeks ago, I was visiting with some friends in Huntsville, AL, and at some point, our conversation turned to theology and politics. There was a conversation about a specific worldview, and though it’s not as easy as I’d like, I’ve learned when I don’t fully understand what someone is talking about, I just ask them to explain it a bit more. So, my friend Sarah began to break down her “Buzz Feed” version of this worldview, where another friend gave his input with a more theologically based interpretation. One of the big takeaways from this worldview, was that they often read and listen to the same selective voices. The more we talked about it, the more I became a bit sad for these, and here’s why. Over the past few years I’ve read all kinds of books, had long and sometimes heated discussions on political hot topics, as well as walked life with many who claim a very faith tradition than my own. In each interaction, I’ve walked away with a richness gleaned from what I learned, and all were still friends, gaining a new level of respect for one another. I think I wrote about conversating before, and this still applies even as we glean wisdom from others unlike ourselves. In choosing to interact with books, thoughts, conversations that are outside our own, really can bring such deepness of thought and relationship.

Last Monday, I decided to do a few touristy things around town. After brunch with some girlfriends, I headed over to Hatch Show Print.  It’s been a Nashville staple since 1879, and my friend Cassidy even interned at an earlier location after college. The tour gives you some history about Hatch and some of its famous clientele, along with showing you behind the scenes of some of the productions today including letting you print a Hatch print yourself. This was a highlight. The artistry going into the carvings of different designs has to take into effect if it’s a multiple color, as well as the placement and the different sizes. As a creative, I really could have stayed for hours if they had let me. One of my favorite things I learned was that not only are they a working print shop today, but they are persevering by production. What that means is that a primary way they do preservation is through ongoing production, and I got to be a part of that.

Our lives are so fast these days, and so in this I’ve found more and more there’s an urgency within me to learn and soak in as much as I can in each new stop along the way. That’s one reason I’m grateful for reading challenges, divine detours, and even yes diversity in our world today. I heard someone say that diversity has become a dirty word of sorts, so forgive me I don’t mean this next statement negatively,  but I’d argue we can learn a lot from the diversity in our world. And if you’d indulge me to issue a challenge to us all, that we may take up more opportunities at community tables in coffee shops to meet  with those transplanted southerners who are often famous people, read stories like that of a Hounslow Girl who’s trying to straddle Western attitudes and traditional beliefs, and may we not be afraid to engage our friends in discussions of ethics as we start to form decisions on who we might vote for this next election. Let us be learners, not for the sake of convincing others of our opinion, but may we be courageous to show genuineness and care to all we meet.

Before I sign-off, I’d like to leave you with a few other things I’ve read or learned recently:

  • “To make the abstract tangible, to define meaning without confining it, to inhabit a house that never became a prison, Dickinson created in her writing a distinctively elliptical language for expressing what was possible but not yet realized.” (Writing about Emily Dickinson, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/emily-dickinson) In preparing this blog, I began thinking of Emily Dickinson, and other women poets of her time. Don’t get me wrong Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman made a great impression me as well; and it is through all of their words that began my desire to arrange words in patterns of beauty.
  • “Nobody remembers if you cross the finish line bruised and bloody, they just remember that you stayed the course. Don’t get hung up on how ugly the race might look as your running it. In the end, all that matters is that you finish.” (Chip Gaines, Capital Gaines) In rereading these words, it reminded me of something I read last week in my quiet time. “Keep in mind that God is more interested in what you become than in what you do.” (Henry Blackaby & Richard Blackaby, When God Speaks) As one that’s a doer, the latter is a freeing statement of grace, while Gaines’ statement is a good challenge towards steadfastness.
What are some of the books on your reading list?
What is something you’ve learned this month, that surprised you?
What are your favorite music genres?

(I know that last note about politics probably isn’t popular these days. This isn’t a political blog, so if you’d like to chat further about this feel free to email me via the contact page.)

Some of the LINKS shared in this blog:

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