“Don’t ask kids what they want to be when they grow up but what problems they want to solve.” – Jaime Casap, Google Global Education Evangelist

I didn’t know that Google Corporation had a “Global Education Evangelist,” but I think it’s pretty awesome that they do.  It’s a great job title — I bet that Jaime Casap invented it for himself.  And I totally love his suggestion, which is applicable to kids and to all of us: don’t get fixated on a destination, but rather engage fully in the journey of our lives as an ongoing discovery of ourselves, each other, and the world.

Asking what pre-defined identity we hope to fit ourselves into, what pre-worn path we hope to follow, or what pre-scribed story we want to tell is a self-limiting enterprise.  It defines our future based on what we already know, what we’ve already experienced, what we already think we’ve figured out.

It seems a lot more exciting and expansive instead to ask ourselves:  What am I interested in?  What do I care about?  What do I want to learn more about?  How do I like to work with others?  If I could create anything to share with the entire world, or solve any problem, what would that be?

I’m not talking about (and I don’t think Mr. Casap is talking about) emphasizing doing over being.  It’s more like integrating our doing and being in an authentic and deeply engaging way.  Be you!  By all means, boldly be full-out yourself.  And doing what lights you up and inspires you is the way for each of us to bloom more completely as the fabulously unique beings that we are.

This feels true for our individual journeys, and it feels true for what we create together in our relationships, communities, and as a global family.  We are all growing things — we grow things and we’re the things growing. 

With open hearts, open minds, and a willingness to ask questions and experience wonder along the way, who knows what adventures and possibilities, mysteries and magic, we might encounter?  I, for one, can’t wait to see!

Please join us this Sunday, May 6, for a special service blessing children and families and all of us as “growing things.”  It’ll be a fun, kid-friendly scene with song and ritual and celebration.  Patty Stephens will be hosting a Song Spiral immediately following.  Everyone is welcome. XOX, Drew

© 2018 Drew Groves