What are your gifts?"What was I gifted to do"? It's a question that so many of us ask as youngsters. For a lot of us the answer to that question doesn't become much clearer as adults. I grew up in the 80's and 90's in what WAS rural middle Tennessee - during a time when financial success in America was determined solely by the abbreviations that followed your name on official documents you signed as an adult. As a boy, I would often stare at the woods out my window, feeling crushed under the weight of a stack of cold schoolbooks that sat at my desk - all on subjects often taught by those apparently motivated by little more than "tenure" or "retirement". For me, the environment in the classroom was one devoid of both learning and passion - one in which growth and success was the only thing more insurmountable than the stack of homework that stared back at me from my desk – still incomplete.
In American culture today, when we see a student in this state, we at least know something is amiss. Unfortunately, in an effort to put our finger on it, we diagnose kids with a lot of big words intended to recategorize the student as; "different" or "special”. Fill in the blank. This is often done with the best intent, however, the lack of a clear direction in which to encourage the student leaves them with a self-diagnosis of, "not good enough" or "failure". These kids become adults - growing up often feeling as if their whole lives have been wasted, attempting to stuff a "square peg" into a "round hole". Trust me, I know! I was one of those kids. I always wanted to be somewhere in the 800+ acres of farmland that filled the void of development behind my house. Unlike the classroom, I felt connected in the woods; a sense of passion about being there. I suppose at its core, the call TO “the woods” had something to do with the contrast between what was soft and what was rough, the coldness of stone and the warmth of wood, the smell of storms blowing in on an otherwise sunny day, or the contrast between light and shadow that played on the forest floor. There was one thing that interrupted the connection I felt with the woods; the miraculously piercing voice of my mother unavoidably carried for miles on the westerly wind that blew through the valleys where I played. And when I heard it, I'd BETTER get home! :) Most of us can recall moments where we felt a sense of connectedness in our soul, an echo that whispered back - you are in the place for which I made you. But none of us ever live in that place permanently. It’s often interrupted by the piercing voice of reality revealing that life is hard. The challenges associated with reality can, at times, overwhelm us – maybe a task or season that seems apparently insignificant to you, may be the "straw" that breaks your back, or perhaps of the person in front of you. While most of us would likely admit that we have struggled with some form of failure, we might be less inclined to admit that we often mask those struggles from the people around us. Fewer still are likely to admit to WHAT those struggles actually are. It’s important to recognize that life and the tasks set before us will always involve contrast. They involve times of joy and success, as well as moments of failure and seasons of darkness. There are those who will always encourage. But there will always be nay-sayers, and people searching to stand on your next statement and declare that they have been victimized – somehow by you! It's best to normalize these things in the moment as a part of reality and help those around us understand that we were meant to live those moments of contrast - both good and bad – together. When we live this way, growth happens not just individually, but also together. What we seek to do with CICA is to teach and practice skills that contrast the purely academic by offering not just a change of subject matter, but also a change of scenery and of pace. We live and move in a world created with some similarities to the traditional classroom, but there are many things we should be learning that cannot be recreated in the traditional academic setting. Endless opportunities to learn exist by engaging with the world in which we live. Exercising this through the teaching and learning of the historic trades offers a chance to do this while also working to preserve the places of significant history that exist around us. As a part of that process, each of us will no doubt succeed and struggle. We will all taste moments of fulfillment and of disappointment. In those moments, we seek to create an environment that recognizes and encourages the student’s strengths, and normalizes the inherent struggles associated with their success. Environments like this will no doubt expose some weaknesses, but they will also bring clarity to our strengths. In the end, we all grow together and get a little closer to answering that question; “what was I gifted to do”.
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AuthorEarl Burns is a husband, father, and outdoor enthusiast who loves history and who has a passion for youth and adults alike to help bring guidance and clarity as to what they have been created to do. He believes in the benefits of relationship, hard work, patience, and creativity as those values reflect the One in whose image we have been made. ArchivesCategories |