15 Lessons I Learned in 2015

1. All humans are image-bearers of God, and this idea must impact how I interact with and mentally perceive others, whether it's a kid begging for something in a store, the self-effacing cashier, or the gaggle of Snapchatting teenagers. They have inherent worth and significance regardless of their behavior or my opinions, and I must actively seek to affirm their humanity instead of viewing them like tools or extraneous presences.

2. This concept also applies to people I hear about often but don't personally encounter. When I am caught in a conversation where people are talking about strangers' antics and relationship drama, it is easy to lump the subjects together and dismiss them as if they were less than human, but even though their boy problems and social activities last weekend are irrelevant to me, they are still persons deserving of respect.

3. Just because someone uses slang words and abbreviations does not mean that they are insincere. It is natural for me to use big words, but other people are inclined to modern slang, and since I don't want them judging my motives and thinking I'm pretentious, I shouldn't judge theirs and assume that their speech is contrived.

4. Speaking of big words, I learned from listening to a sermon that I have been mispronouncing 'irrevocably' for several years. Nobody ever corrected me, so I guess my hearers were never sure how to say it either.

      5. The idea of forgiveness can be complex, but in the context of everyday offenses, it is quite simple: just stop thinking about the offense, don't bring it up, and move on. Denial is not forgiveness, but once you have evaluated the situation and learned all you can, forgiveness is a choice, not an external experience you wait for while letting bitterness fester in your heart.

6. Despite my obsessive sentimentality in earlier years, I am capable of letting go of material objects without the sense that I am letting go of a memory.

7. I'm capable of concocting murder mystery plots!

8. One of the best things about being a Christian is defying the world's chaining, suffocating insistence that you have to embrace and celebrate everything you feel.

9. Music becomes part of who you are, so choose wisely. As I revisited Switchfoot albums this year, delighting in the nostalgia I felt and the awareness of how much these songs shaped me, I became grateful that I listened such to good music as a young teenager. Instead of feeling a rush of memory and happiness when some vapid and/or immoral song comes on, I experience that giddy excitement with songs full of profound meaning.

10. "My sins are stories of grace to recall."

11. Jesus took on human experience, and that included loneliness, something He had never had to suffer before. His friends misunderstood Him, abandoned them when He needed them most, and never offered the lasting, meaningful support we desire in our own companions. Then, when Christ hung on the cross bearing the sins of the world, the Father forsook Him: perfect unity and communion were severed as the Son staggered under the weight of human depravity, no longer clean and accepted. Christians talk often about the sufferings of Christ, but we don't adequately emphasize that when Jesus bore our sin, He was also rejected by the only person in the universe who understood Him.

12. I don't get credit for being right about things. If I have a good, true idea about the world, it's just because someone taught me or I read it in a C.S. Lewis book. 

13. Times of life transition are not blank spaces between important events. If you prioritize human experience and life lessons instead of only caring about big milestones, there is no such thing as a mere waiting period in life.

14. When I resent painful circumstances and feel that there could have been a different, better way to create the same character in me, I am rebelling against God. Rather than validating my past struggles as truly awful, bitterness just displays my arrogance in believing that my circumstances ought to have been different, as if I'm the one who gets to decide.

15. I am also made in the image of God, so I should treat myself properly. Instead of getting furious over my failings and berating myself in a way I would never speak to another person, I can diffuse issues by changing my mental narrative and being kind instead. "You're stupid, and I can't believe you'd get worked up over something like this. Stop being idiotic and think" only fuels the problem, but "it's all right, you'll be fine, just take a deep breath and think rationally" is the kind of thing I might actually say to someone else in distress. It is possible to love someone else without delighting in their failings, and the same holds true with having compassion on yourself.