Exploring Your Metaphors
Photo on Unsplash by Roman Synkevych
The metaphors we have for God, church, and mission influence our calling in ways that we mostly are not aware of. We encourage you to take a writing pad or your journal to uncover and map these metaphors, paying attention to their influence on your calling as you consider distinct second half of life contributions. Let the questions below prompt your honest reflection and writing.
What metaphors (and accompanying stories or scripts or even song lyrics) have shaped your view of God, church, and mission? You might want to recall first some metaphors that are commonly used (e.g., God as a shepherd, church as the family of God, mission as building the Kingdom). What other metaphors come to mind?
Which of these metaphors have particularly influenced your calling? Take your time to identify the ones that have really shaped your calling and life journey.
Next, place these metaphors on the spectrum of mechanical (e.g., developed since the industrial revolution, involving machines, digital devices or anything that needs electricity or battery power) to organic (formed in nature, agricultural, or involving human life)
Mechanical.......................................Organic
Some ways to describe the 2nd half of life are: seasonal, not linear or straight, emergent, latent. The things we are certain about today are not the exact same as when we began, but there is a revisitation of what is core and an unpacking of the center. It is characterized by a growing awareness inside us, around us, and along the journey we name “calling or mission.” The 2nd half of life can’t be switched “on” or “off.” It isn’t manufactured but cultivated. The Scriptures, although constantly relevant across history, were written to agrarian, farming-centered communities. Even the people of cities in the ancient world would have had gardens, and their worldview was shaped by non-mechanical, non-technology lenses. The 2nd half of life is inherently organic. The 2nd half of life asks, “Who are we becoming?” For 2nd half of life deepening, there is a limitation to a mechanistic framing of spiritual realities.
“Our scripts or narratives for God, church, and mission have a huge impact on the soil of our soul. Many very gifted people, filled with passion and ideas, flounder in their second half because the soil of their soul isn’t a generative place.”
Exploring our metaphors is deep work. It is also important work, for we recognize the ways that our metaphors, stories, and scripts have shaped us and our communities. The soil of your soul is just as important as the seeds you sow. If you are planting in soil that doesn’t have the essential elements for growth, it doesn’t matter how amazing the seed of your idea or calling is, because your soil is your limiting factor. Our scripts or narratives for God, church, and mission have a huge impact on the soil of our soul. Many very gifted people, filled with passion and ideas, flounder in their second half because the soil of their soul isn’t a generative place. In a very real sense, our soul is the soil of our life.
Take some time now to consider honestly how have you been shaped or misshaped by the metaphors that have influenced your view of God, church, and mission. Give thanks to God for His presence and guidance throughout your whole life.
Consider now what Bible metaphors seem important for your second half of life. Take time to thumb through your Bible, exploring important passages that have been meaningful from different seasons of your life. Don’t be afraid to dig into a new metaphor that you may have overlooked.
Finally, let these metaphors invite you to consider legacy – your unique, special, even ultimate contribution...the natural outflow of your life on earth...the seed of your 50, 60, 70, or 80 years or more on earth. This will take some time as well as some probing and strengthening help of friends that are committed to your ongoing growth. May God keep nurturing the soil of your soul.