A Renaissance in Me

A rebirth. A renewal. A reform.
Changing. Beginning. Enlightening.
Such is a renaissance.

I feel like I can relate to this time period quite a bit. I bet that some things during the time of the Renaissance felt uncomfortable for those who were experiencing them. They were used to seeing things and processing things in a certain manner, and then little by little those comfortable ways were changing. I have felt like this in my life as well. I have felt things shifting and changing in my life as I mature and enter new phases of learning and growing. Often, some of these things feel uncomfortable. They are opportunities to stretch and apply myself in ways that I never have before.  Some of these things come through school, others through family life and personal relationships.

Just like the historical Italian Renaissance, often I do not recognize my growth and change as important - except in retrospect. When I reflect on my life 5 years ago, I can almost tangibly feel the emotions and struggles that I was experiencing - I had just left the country, traveled halfway across the world, and found myself deep in a culture that I knew nothing about.

My first day in Peru, November 2014

Serving a mission for my church was always something I yearned to do, but I was unprepared for the changes that surrounded me. Everything was foreign to me - inside and out. I was questioning things I thought I knew. Who was I? What was I doing? Why was I here? Little did I know that this time in my life would be pivotal in my personal growth and development. Was it uncomfortable? Yes. Was it new? Yes. Did it change me? Yes.

I can see it now. I can see how I think differently, and I view the world with different eyes. Like the Renaissance time period, a sunrise of new ideas and a new way of thinking was coming into my life.

Changing. Beginning. Enlightening.
A rebirth. A renewal. A reform.
Such was the Renaissance in me.