Five Life Values (Part 1)

Last week my squad leader/current team member Connor asked us the question: What are our five life values? It was a fun topic to think about and hear about from others. Afterwards I took the time to think more about it, and figure out what my five life values would be. To help me reflect on each I came up with, I thought I would write a blog for each, and try to tie it in to what is happening on this trip.

These aren’t going to be shared in a specific order of importance. I was actually going to share a different one first because it ties more into what is currently happening, but this ties better into my post to announce this blog and all the lovely earth day posts I came across. I want to encourage you to reflect on what your five life values are or what you would want them to be. Reflect on if you are living by them or if you need to pursue them more. Feel free to let me know what yours are too. I would love to hear them!

The first value I am going to write about is EXPERIENCE.

I constantly want to be experiencing new things, hence going on this trip. It often scares me, but experiencing new things is what makes me feel like I am living. 

Experience is a pretty broad value, because for me this means experiencing nature, new cultures, learning new things, and getting to know different people. I could go even deeper and talk about experiencing God more in different ways.

I danced between the word adventure or experience for a while but I like that experience encompasses more things. 

I don’t always live by this value perfectly. I often get comfortable and stray away from trying to experience all of these new things. 

This trip has satisfied this value in every way that I have listed. Getting to see new parts of the world and take in God’s creation. Quite possibly my favorite way to connect with God is through nature. To be able to rest in God’s presence and take in the beautiful things that He has made. Appreciate the creation, celebrate the Creator.

Then getting to experience new cultures and see how people live outside of where I live offers a ton of perspective. My mission trip in first grade to Nicaragua has continued to offer perspective on life. Experiencing the culture here in Guatemala has been such a blessing, and am going to take a lot away from this time here. I already wrote some about it in a previous blog. 

I am certainly learning a lot in many different ways. Learning a lot about myself, how to reflect better, how I can connect with God (how I can experience God if you will), areas I want to grow in, very slowly learning some Spanish, or how to connect with people better. There could be a sub value here with growth. Growth is something that I value a ton and I hope everybody values. To always want more. To want to learn more, to know more, to experience more, to push yourself more.

The last of the areas I listed is one I think we all need to work on. Experiencing people. Understanding that there is so much to learn from people that are different and don’t have the same opinions. To learn to respect others and where they come from. Love on them even if you disagree, maybe even see if there is something to learn from them, because I guarantee there is.

So there is value one of five. Let me know what you think. Maybe even drop one of your values in the comments or message me. Excited to put out my next value, as it has pertained a lot to what has gone on here in Guatemala for me. Also a topic that needs to be thought about.

Love you all a bunch! Jesus loves you a heck of a lot more! Go experience more of Him!

JD