I suppose I’ve learned flexibility most of all theses last few months, and I approach the next few months the same way. I’m learning that life can change at any moment. I’m learning that your plans won’t always work out, even the ones you spent so long forming. Flexible living invites an expectation that unknown, uncertain events don’t necessarily threaten you; they instead create opportunities to grow and depend more on God. Flexible living enhances this life of faith. It catalyzes creative moments. I’m amazed at what confined living produced during COVID-19 isolation. I grew a garden. I learned new technologies. I developed relationships.
In practice, flexibility means I build a fall semester syllabus that might move to remote learning at any time. I’ll glean the lessons and the joys while persevering through difficulties. It also means I loosen my hold on what my oldest daughter’s freshman year of college might look like. There are many ways to live a wonderful, abundant life, and just because hers might look vastly different from my own college years, it doesn’t lessen the joy and personal growth she can find right where God has placed her.