Everything I Know for Sure?

We are the star of our own personal movie called Life, but everything we know is not ours alone, for us alone, or discovered all alone. Everything I know is bound up in the people who make up the We, the Us, of my life. I know what I know because of who they are, what they have modeled for me, what we have experienced together. I can reflect alone, but my reflection is always in conversation with the living world and people that fill my days. The things I know for sure are played out in my daily life, exemplified not by things I know or believe, but by the way I live these beliefs out in relationship with others.

I recently watched the following Ted Talk from Anne Lamott. Besides enjoying all she had to share, I was also struck by how intricately connected the 12 truths that she shares are to the people in her life. What would these truths be if not for the people who embodied them and experienced them with her? What would they be if she kept them to herself, as though these truths were for her alone? Take 15 minutes and listen to Anne Lamott’s words. Consider the people who have filled your life and the truths you’ve learned from them. What knowings rise up for you? How will you share them with the world?