Ever experience what you're convinced was the "still, small voice"?
This year has been a rollercoaster. Health issues for both my wife and I. A company I started and co-ran fully closed down. New highs and new struggles as parents. Questioning identity and fulfillment. New opportunities needing discernment. Reflection and some healing.
The last few months and weeks have also given plenty of opportunities to be fully present. Heavy, personal circumstances for every single member of the NeighborLink team, paired with unique joys and discovered callings. Tough conversations with my grandfather, who is in hospice and declining. Close friends working through their marriages, sitting in dark places, injuries, struggling with extended family, total burn-out from work, or fighting to find balance.
The initial reaction is that it seems like A LOT is happening, all at once.
But I'm realizing these types of highs and lows have always been there -- I just wasn't perceiving them. This is the first time in my adult life when I feel like I have real margin and actually mean it when I say it. It's not that a large amount of situations came up all at once. It's that I had worked so hard to be busy and distracted, chasing what felt important, to the point where I missed everything else. For two decades.
That margin seems to be suddenly exposing the lows, but it also surfaces the highs in new ways. It's impossible to deeply experience joy, both your own joy and the unique joy in others, without the margin to truly be perceptive.
Yesterday, Robert and I were talking about the well-known distinction between "hearing" and "listening", while not enough attention is given to simple "sight" vs. truly "seeing". Seeing people and situations around us for what they really are, rather than missing 99% of it as we normally do.
So that "still, small voice"? This morning, I woke up earlier than normal. First thing, I heard a quiet voice in my head that simply said: "Admire the Kingdom." It wasn't from a dream and wasn't from something I had recently read or heard.
I've been sitting with that all day. At NeighborLink, we talk so much about the transformation we see in volunteers and groups as something experiential that happens while they serve neighbors and learn their stories. Cracks form in your own identities and assumptions. But only recently has it felt like I've had the margin to experience that myself, even though I've been involved in this work for over fifteen years. And for me, that transformation seems to be more about the ability to experience joy and perceive others like Jesus sees them. To the point where some of the really tough recent situations display a kind of beauty and peace I haven't truly experienced until now.
I don't know where I'm going with all that, other than I'm admiring the Kingdom this week and want to intentionally maintain the margin I've been given. And our prayer is the same for NeighborLink: that it continues to be a transformative vehicle for experiencing fulfillment in ways nothing else can.
Admire the Kingdom.
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Brett Meyer
CEO, NeighborLink Foundation Inc
I'm on my Second Mountain.
I'm a (recovering?) technologist that loves amplifying humans, solving big problems, and building with purpose. I gained a breadth of software engineering and leadership experience in multiple industries, including roles at Twilio, Disney, Red Hat, Raytheon, NBC Universal, and regional companies. I was also the the founder and a partner at Impact Upgrade, a software/integration/data agency that served many nonprofits and mission-driven businesses.
But now, I get to focus on redemptive tech, discipleship, and NEIGHBORING. NeighborLink's ministry has been ingrained in my family's life for a long time. And the road leading to this particular spot has been a wild one. Through the journey, I've witnessed the organization evolve multiple times and in many different ways. But the mission God has placed in front of us has never been more clear. I'm grateful for the opportunity to simply be a part of it.