Welcome!
My name is Tanner and here I post stories, reflections, poems, and prayers.
Before you move onto the next thing, hit the subscribe button! Thanks for being here.
Already a subscriber? Today is a great day to become a paid subscriber!
As I celebrate turning 35, I’ve compiled a list of 35 truths, life lessons, and pieces of wisdom shared by others that I’ve gathered over the years. This collection isn’t organized in any specific order. Over the next 5 posts, I’ll be sharing these insights through a blend of stories, poetry, videos, and handwritten notes.
In case you missed Part 1, click here.
Let’s get into it …
9. You can come back to it tomorrow.
Most days I am tempted to believe I have to finish everything I have started.
I often wonder if I am behind (see #3).
From time to time I get caught believing that everyone is doing better than me.
Occasionally I get trapped wondering if what I do even matters.
So, I work and work and work.
I ignore rest.
I believe the believable lie that I am what I do and my value is based on my performance.
But recently I’ve been speaking truth into my own ears:
It's okay if you don't finish it all today, you can come back to it tomorrow.
God taught me this.
It took Him 6 days to create the world.
Need another example?
It took Leonardo DaVinci 4 years to paint the Mona Lisa.
It took J.R.R. Tolkien 12 years to write the Lord of the Rings (but one website said 17 years, so who really knows? But we all can agree it didn’t happen at once).
The Golden Gate Bridge took a little over 4 years and 4 1/2 months to build.
It took Michael Jordan 7 seasons to win his first championship.
Good things don’t happen at once.
You didn’t happen at once either.
Day by day you have been growing and changing and becoming.
Life, like good things, takes time.
And a good life is lived when you give yourself time to enjoy it.
Sometimes I forget that life is a gift.
It is not a competition.
Slow down.
Breathe deep.
Let go.
It's okay if you don't finish it all today, you can come back to it tomorrow.
10. Give what you have.
Open your hands and give what you have. There is no need to worry any longer about tomorrow or yesterday. Put your phone in your pocket or in the other room. Shut off what is keeping you from being present. Leave distractions behind as you trust in the promises of God.
They are beautiful, aren't they?
Rest and peace.
Hope and joy.
Comfort and newness.
Forgiveness and a future.
Trusting is easier said than done, but it has been done.
It began with the stone being rolled away and Jesus walking out alive. Death gave it a good try, but Hope only knows how to survive. Christ opened His hands and showed His wounds for the world to see. His heart beats for us to believe freedom is given by the open hands of unending Grace. And this, what He has done, has changed everything.
Go on, give what you have.
Let your heart, mind, strength, and soul show up as you step into another today. Remember, all of this is a gift. Rip off your band-aids and air out your wounds. Show them to the world, as the world is showing you hers. Hold still as the light meets the darkness. Watch as healing continues to happen, a slow unfolding as the sadness and sorrow becomes untrue.
Crack your knuckles and carry your cross. Walk the road that is ever before you with humility. Clear your throat and sing alleluia. Sing louder, but don't make this a show. Make an extra sandwich for your neighbor and don't forget to give the crumbs to the birds. Sit with the lonely and learn their stories. Join the outraged and offer peace. Do justice, stay faithful, and pray continuously. Plant orange trees and flowers, something we can taste and see and smell and enjoy. Let the hope of heaven live in your heart. Pull away from the noise and live a simple life. It is not underrated. Don't forget to hope and believe and trust and love and open your hands and give what you have, because you have something to give.
11. Miracles Still Happen
Maybe this is another way to say you are not forgotten.
Maybe this is another way to say God isn’t finished.
Maybe this is another way to say look for where God is at work.
Maybe this is another way to say good is on the way.
Maybe this is another way to say in all that is heavy there is still hope.
Maybe this is another way to say change is coming.
12. Change is Coming
The way life is not the way life is going to be.
You’ve been given the gift of life.
We never asked to be here, but one by one we arrived.
We were welcomed into a world full of beginnings and endings, surprises and certainties.
And one of the certainties of life is that change is inevitable.
This is how God designed the world.
He didn’t create it or us to stay the same.
It is one of God’s rules for the world.
There are days when I wish I could return to what was.
I wish I could turn back time and press pause and live in it forever.
Or at least slow time down.
But we go on, learning as we go.
We learn to slow down and lean in and hold fast.
We learn to breathe deep and be still.
We learn to appreciate what is, because what is will not always be.
We learn to hold on because we know today is only today and today will not be tomorrow.
All we know about tomorrow is that it will bring mercy and change.
Let it.
13. You cannot make God hurry up
…but you can join him in the certain and slow.
Click to read the full poem
14. Walk A Little Slower
Did this make the list because I think you should buy my book, Walk A Little Slower?
Maybe ;)
One of the reasons I titled my third collection of poetry and writings, Walk A Little Slower is because I knew I would be looking at the cover for the rest of my life. When I see the cover of this book I am reminded of what I often forget: slow down.
When I sit down to write I often find myself writing the words “slow down.”
I always need the reminder to slow down.
When I am eating …
When I am walking …
When I am writing …
When I am listening …
When I am talking …
When I am in a season of life I wish was different …
When I am in a season of life that feels too good to be true ..
Basically, if I am awake I need this reminder.
It always comes back to this:
For more thoughts and writings about slowing down, grab a copy of Walk A Little Slower.
15. If you’re willing to be bad at something you might just become good at it.
This is what I would tell myself day after day when I first started out as a writer. When I first began writing my work wasn’t good. Some might still say it isn’t good, but let me tell you, it is way better than it was!
My thoughts and words were all over the place. I struggled to find my voice and confidence as a writer, but I knew writing was what I wanted to do. So, I kept at it.
Growth is a long, slow road.
The other day my friend, Dave Connis, shared this on his Instagram.
Dave is spot on.
Life happens one small step at a time.
We cannot rush or skip ahead (see #8).
When I speak to middle and high school students I always get the same two questions:
1 / How much money do you make?
This question always makes me laugh, but I love how honest and curious students are. I tell them I make enough to live a simple life and all of them in that moment decide they don’t want to be a writer.
And then they ask,
2 / How long does it take you to write a poem?
Most of life is waiting and most of the time we are ready to be done waiting.
So what do I tell them?
Well, usually I tell them what they don’t want to hear.
They want me to give them a specific amount of time.
They want me to say 30 minutes or 2 hours.
They want a number, a solid answer, but welcome to real world kids, life doesn’t work like that!
I tell them, “Well, it depends on the poem I am writing.”
I tell them, “The creative process isn’t something that can be rushed.”
And just as they all begin to fall asleep, I say, “Writing is a lot like living and with both we must go slow.”
Once I ask them to wake up I tell them how we are living a BBQ pit life, not a microwave life.
They all give me a weird look, something I’ve been receiving most of my life.
I continue to explain.
A frozen bean burrito heated up in the microwave is not as good as smoked BBQ.
With BBQ we need to wait as we pay attention.
We have to give what’s in front of us our time, love, and attention.
So it is with writing and living.
And we all know BBQ is better than a frozen bean burrito.
16. God don’t make mistakes.
It’s true what they say.
Comparison is the thief of joy.
There are no winners when it comes to comparing.
Don’t get caught up comparing your story to their story, your pain to their pain, your dreams to their dreams, your numbers to their numbers.
I recently heard this quote by Edward Young,
“We are all born originals - why is it so many of us die copies?”
Isn’t that good?
I used to think I had to be someone else to be loved and accepted, but now I know that I can just be me.
I once read on a painted sign hanging from chicken wire in a church kitchen that, “God don’t make mistakes.”
He “don’t.”
He made you and you are not a mistake.
You’ve never been a mistake.
You and I have made mistakes, but we are not a mistake.
His soft and holy hands knitted you together as He sang a song of love.
He picked out your shape and size and skin tone and soul.
He picked out your walk and talk.
He gave you your weird and different and beauty and desires.
He put a heart in your chest, life in your bones, and stars in your eyes.
He filled you with love, tapped you on the nose, and called you very good.
When God made you He didn’t click copy and paste.
What a creator.
What a God.
What a life.
More to come soon.
Enjoy what you’re reading? Become a paid subscriber today!
Website | Books | On Instagram | On Facebook
For more poetry and stories follow me on Instagram and Facebook.
This was such a blessing to me! I am reflecting on turning 35 as well.