Becoming the Role Models We've Always Wanted
a hopeful invitation to personal formation in a time of loneliness, cynicism, and stagnation
Hello, my lovelies!
Technically, I’m on a rest week.
But, I thought that sharing a refocus of this newsletter’s purpose1 was a good way to mark the summer solstice, and the slide into the second half of the year.2
Without further ado, I give you the raison d'être behind R21.5 x Megan J. Robinson.
In this issue:
What haunts us?
Everything is broken.
In politics, religion, business, and society, we see failure after failure: of leaders, organizations, systems, and narratives.
We look around for people we respect, people who seem trustworthy, gracious: the best kind of human being.
And we wonder where they are.
We're not sure what stories to believe about ourselves or about the world. We don't know who to trust, or even why we should trust anyone.
We're frustrated, disillusioned, and burned out. Everything we knew or trusted is devolving and deconstructing more every day.
The more we look, the less we seem to find.
It's time to become the kind of people we want to admire.
We have a unique core identity, a self that exists beyond a job, TikTok, or the latest trend. But that self requires attention, effort, and care in order to become its fullest expression: our character.
Our identity is permanent; our character can be transformed.
But, we're too distracted by social media, by toxicity, by busyness, by disappointment and discouragement to attend to that self. We have no idea how to shape our own character.
In order to connect with our self, with the person we want to become and admire, we need equipment for living.
We need to seek out, and become, role models: those people who help us answer the question, “Who do I want to become? What’s possible?”
I want to help each of us become the role model we’ve always wanted.
What does this becoming look like?
To do this, I introduce the concept of personal formation as a deliberate, embodied practice that builds a specific kind of character on the foundation of our unique identity.
Personal formation invites us to become hopeful, creative, and wise by:
reorienting our desires to move toward ultimate meaning and purpose, and beyond simply satisfying our appetites,
discerning “equipment for living” that helps us make decisions about the kind of life we wish to lead, and
changing our behaviors to do what matters most for ourselves and for others.
My work is rooted in the Christian tradition and draws from historical and theological concepts of spiritual formation and discipleship.
I am guided by Dallas Willard’s definition, which describes spiritual formation
“in the tradition of Jesus Christ [as] the process of transformation of the inmost dimension of the human being, the heart, which is the same as the spirit or will. It is being formed in such a way that its natural expression comes to be the deeds of Christ done in the power of Christ.”
Spiritual formation invites us to transform the heart and will to the extent that our instinctive desires, choices, and behaviors mimic those of Jesus Christ. In the Christian understanding, this is the fullest expression of the human being.
In the deliberate practice of formation, we study, question, listen to, and follow those teachers whose character and behavior consistently demonstrate this expression throughout their lives.
By imitating these teachers, we learn from their successes, failures, and wisdom, in the process becoming more like them and more fully ourselves.3
You can learn more about me, this newsletter, and the publication schedule on the About page.
Let’s be hopeful, creative, and wise—together.
Shalom,
Support
Want to leave a tip? You can do that here.
You can also support my work through annual or monthly patronage subscriptions.
Let’s work together!
I offer practice-based workshops, designed to empower participants to improve their mastery of the chosen topic and skill beyond our time together. My goal is to help individuals and groups cultivate priorities, practices, and structures that are purpose-focused, replicable, and sustainable over a lifetime.
In working with me, you’ll encounter a human-centered and outcome-focused approach that emphasizes improving internal communication for the sake of better communication and relationship with others.
Visit me online to learn more!
And the purpose for all my work, actually.
Like, how is almost July.
And ultimately, more fully like Christ.