A Life Worth Living
Several memorial services got me reflecting about what constitutes a well lived life! These services reminded me of the first funeral I attended one June day many decades ago in La Paz, Bolivia … the “heavenward graduation” of my good friend Dennis Farah.
Dennis was a faithful friend from my twenties, a peer who sought to live his life wholeheartedly for God. I was privileged to know Dennis for an awfully short time! We enjoyed doing many things together…late night chats along with CS Kelly dreaming about how we might make an impact on Bolivia and thinking about new ways to build into people in order to bring them together for kingdom purposes. Then of course, there were the numerous motorcycle rides through the Andes Mountains.
You would have liked my friend Dennis! Our brief encounter in my 20 shaped a number of values that have found expression over the years in my life. My interaction with Dennis during my formative years set the stage for being intentional about creating a life worth living. (For the rest of the story; subscribe to “Heart in Hand.”)
Power of the Pen
I believe in the power of the pen—literally. That is, I believe that we process life better and differently when we synthesize “the stuff” we are reading or hearing by capturing it in real time with a pen. Computers and phones have become the go-to note-taking method for many. But I have discovered that our brains benefits from an old-fashioned pen and paper. Taking notes by hand–using the cognitive process to manipulate and transform information through summarizing, organizing and paraphrasing–leads to deeper understanding.
So in recent years I have shifted back to what some might call an ancient practice—an approach employed by learners in the not-so-distant past—of “taking thoughts captive” with a pen or a pencil.
You are no doubt acquainted with these little instruments (both low and high tech). Perhaps you haul one these around with you. My pens has the amazing ability to capture insights in thousands of languages. Lighter, easily accessible, and more compact than a laptop, these tiny instruments have a remarkable capacity to console-date ideas and sort through the gibberish to succinctly capture the essence of what a person was saying amid the flurry of words. (For the rest of the story, subscribe to the cdnglobalsoul Heart in Hand.)