Reset

 
 

Do you need a reset? In this crazy season, I know I definitely need one. The past two years have felt chaotic and overwhelming. What’s most interesting to me is that I wasn’t really aware of it until recently. This whole time I had no clue that I was stressed beyond anything I have felt before. There is no question that my life has been uprooted by Covid, but I have also experienced massive transitions in my personal life over the last two years. It is easy to overlook how much has happened and just keep moving forward, but I was able to take a much deeper look during our most recent ONE Day. There are a few takeaways from ONE Day that I would like to share with you.

First, I had no idea how much I needed to dive into my past two years and process with God and community. Like I said above, it’s so easy to just keep moving. As we wrote out our story of the past two years, I realized I had actually been suffering in almost every area of life. I want to put a caveat here explaining that I still have it better off than most, but I also want to validate my own story and leave it there as is.

I also learned just how important it is to be real with my story, own it, and accept it as it is. Oftentimes, I want to downplay my story and experience. Sometimes, that's because I have had a lot of blessings in life, or I deal with mostly first world problems. Regardless of these excuses to invalidate my story, suffering and pain come in many different forms, and the validation I was able to give myself and receive from others at ONE Day grew me exponentially. That validation was what I needed to be able to see a different perspective on the past two years. God showed me how these years have shaped me and matured me in ways I needed. He didn’t cause the suffering, but He did use it to give me exactly what I needed.

Finally, I became aware of my deep need to have a shared experience with other people. I could have done much of what happened at ONE Day alone with God, but I would have missed out on the deep joy and perspective of relationship. Like the Trinity, we are made for community and shared experiences. God is in the people that we share these experiences with, and I received so much from the people at ONE Day. 

I encourage you to consider coming to one of our future ONE Days if you feel like this resonates with you! We have three more on the schedule, one virtual and two in person offerings. Here are the dates:

September 22, 2021 — 9:30AM–3:30PM — In-Person

September 29, 2021 — 9:00AM–3:00PM — Virtual

October 8, 2021 — 9:30AM–3:30PM — In-Person

 
Zach Leal