Daily writing prompt

How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success?

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I guess I’ve never thought of life writ large in such clearly defined terms. In specific instances, like learning to ride a bike or a language or measuring twice and cutting once, it’s been a matter of persistence and learning from mistakes.

Vocationally, maybe my time in the ministry came about because I somehow needed to end up there, after a few false starts and work that didn’t mean much other than a paycheck. Still, I don’t view that period in my life as either success or failure, or even a calling. It just… was.

And as far as success or failure as a human being, I find such stark categories to be inadequate and offensive, even as, on occasion, someone might be driven to think about a person in those terms.

Daily writing prompt

You’re writing your autobiography. What’s your opening sentence?

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I’m a tall, thin man who looks young for his age, or so I was once told.

Daily writing prompt

What are three objects you couldn’t live without?

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I suppose food, clothing, and shelter, but on closer examination, maybe eyeglasses, comfortable shoes, and a coffee maker.

Daily writing prompt

What experiences in life helped you grow the most?

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Being raised in a loving family, working in a restaurant during high school, going to college, watching people who worked hard until the job was done, getting married and raising a family, picking up stakes and heading to Seminary, holding pastorates in several congregations over the course of 26 years, traveling to various places, reading, listening to serious people, including comedians, who pay attention to what’s going on in the world, writing in a journal and posting things in here that help me work through and give expression to thoughts and observations and feelings.

Daily writing prompt

Describe a phase in life that was difficult to say goodbye to.

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I don’t know if there were any. I’ve always been ready to move on.
In retrospect, and perhaps as a function of nostalgia, I might choose the college years, when we were on our own, far from home, and having a taste of what in certain ways was more freedom than we’d known before or have known since.

Daily writing prompt

If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be, and why?

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Not sure, since it’s only for a day. On the other hand, if I come away from the experience feeling like it has some bearing on the rest of my life, then maybe it would be worthwhile.

So, maybe a professional golfer winning a big tournament, or a guide at Gettysburg NMP.

Daily writing prompt

Describe the most ambitious DIY project you’ve ever taken on.

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Almost three years ago, we re-did the half bath we have upstairs, from tearing out carpet (have never understood carpet in a bathroom) and toilet, to leveling the floor, to smoothing out the walls, to measuring, cutting, and installing new flooring, to painting walls and adding wainscoting and trim, to new plumbing connections, new toilet, new electrical outlets and switches, new towel and tp holders, fresh caulking, and a new mirror.

When nature calls, I sometimes still make the trip upstairs just so I can admire our work. We’d never taken on anything quite so ambitious, even though, in the larger scheme of DIY projects, it’s pretty modest.

Daily writing prompt

If you could permanently ban a word from general usage, which one would it be? Why?

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In general, any word that becomes cliche, so over-used that it carries little to no weight anymore. Lots of words fit this category.

Narrowing it to one is difficult, but the first to come to mind is “devastated,” or “devastating.” People are devastated by so many things– clothes that don’t match, a favorite actor leaves a show, they ran out of maple syrup at Trader Joe’s. It’s misused or hyperbolized (not sure that’s a word) so often that when reporters or survivors at the scene of some natural disaster or a plane crash use the word where it actually fits, it loses some of its punch.

A close second is “traumatized.”

Daily writing prompt

What is the biggest challenge you will face in the next six months?

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It’s hard to know for sure, but maybe to carry on as if I’m not bothered by what I see going on in the world; to carry on as if I have faith in humanity.

I know that’s dark, but lately– and for a while now— it’s been top of mind. I want to believe that we can acknowledge and learn from the past, be motivated by altruism and kindness on a global scale, but I suspect I will be challenged in fully embracing such optimism.

Sorry. I’d love nothing more than to be pleasantly surprised.

Daily writing prompt

What advice would you give to your teenage self?

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First off, I’d teach my teenage self to feel a pang of sympathy for the upperclassmen who pushed me into lockers between classes, since they may have already reached the zenith of their lifelong influence and notoriety.

As great an experience as college was, I might tell myself to look into a trade– maybe electrician– and forego the four years of higher education that was part and parcel of post-high school planning at the time. Maybe I would have gone to Vo-Tech, so I could study meteorology, if that was something offered. Maybe I would have ended up in college anyway, but better focused and more purposeful.

I’d tell myself to pay closer attention to and take to heart anyone who said to study hard, pay attention to the classes I take and whatever curriculum options might have been available at the time. I’d take my finances seriously! Maybe I would have studied the stock market more closely, learned how to invest and take calculated risks, buy some land as an investment, develop a certain financial acumen.

I would have insisted on guitar lessons. I’d have focused more intently on physical fitness, to the point of developing some lifelong habits. I’d have eaten better. I’d have listened more closely to the stories my elders were telling. I’d have told myself to learn as many words as possible, and how to use them to make a point and convey meaning.

Knowing what I know now, I’d tell myself to take certain things and people more seriously, to appreciate them in real time. I was a bit aimless, and still am.