24 things '24 taught me.
“Before you tell your life what you intend to do with it, listen for what it intends to do with you. Before you tell your life what truths and values you have decided to live up to, let your life tell you what truths you embody, what values you represent.”
― Parker J. Palmer
I’ve spent 23 years in the last Mellinia and 24 (so far) in this one. By far this year has been the most challenging, heartbreaking, and courageous year of my life.
It’s broken me. Taught me. Humbled me. And, focused me.
Which is what I want to bend your ear about today.
Here are 24 lessons and truths I’ve learned (and been reminded of)…
If you is who you ain’t, you ain’t who you is.
Grief is only love that’s got no place to go.
Divorce is a living death.
It’s possible to reinvent yourself at any point in time.
You’re more loved than you realize.
True spirituality isn’t defined by doctrine or tradition, but by the depth of one’s compassion, the breadth of one’s generosity, the humility of one’s spirit, and the honesty of one’s soul.
The Psalms are brutally beautiful.
There’s a wisdom to befriending the simplicity of one’s life.
It’s possible to be attached to nothing and connected to everything.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and the crushed in spirit.
Fear keeps everything small and manageable.
Playing small limits the good in our lives.
One has to go to war with oneself in order to get rid of self-doubt, bad habits, self-deception and the old tapes on replay.
Listening moves you from what’s being said, to the emotion behind it, and finally to the subconscious expressed need buried underneath the conversation.
Keep the shiny side up and the wheels down.
If God puts you here, He loves you here.
God will put you back together in front of those who broke you.
Slowing down is about quieting the mind and opening the heart.
Freedom is a turning of the whole soul toward the light.
Old man adversity is our best teacher.
Fantasy is an idea one clings to in order to avoid reality; faith is a conviction one clings to in order to find the courage to face reality.
We avoid, attack and deny what we fear.
Surrender is when one puts down the weapons and leaves the battlefield.
Our best days are ahead of us.
I could keep going on, but I’ll stop here. I’d encourage you to reread the above list a few times and pick the top learning that resonated with you the most.
Put pen to paper on it.
Examine what attracted you to it.
Explore what it’s trying to teach you.
Because the truth is, life is always speaking to us—through our joys, our heartbreaks, and even our quiet moments of reflection. The challenge is not just to listen, but to allow what we hear to shape us, guide us, and refine us into who we’re becoming.
So, as you sit with these lessons, I invite you to do what Parker J. Palmer so beautifully suggests: Let your life speak. And when it does, don’t just hear it—heed it. Let it call you forward, not just into who you are, but into who you’re meant to be.
Your best days truly are ahead of you. Go live into them.
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Steve Knox | Pebble Beach
\\\ Thanks as always for reading. I’m grateful to be a voice of hope on this journey with you. Please forward and share this with your people. It’s a conversation worth having. Until next week. Be honest. Be you.