A Powerful Lesson From Mom

Last week, I took my Mom out for lunch.

I couldn’t remember the last time we had 1-on-1 time together, and I missed that. I’ve written about my Mom a little before – she’s one of the most inspiring people I’ve met.

In June, she graduated with a Masters in Theology. She’s 63, recently retired and had been pursuing this degree for a decade. That decade included working a full-time job, helping out with grandkids and a health scare that nearly killed her.

I asked her several years ago what she wanted to do with her Masters. “I have no idea!” she’d say with a big smile. 

Unlike her younger classmates, she was not looking for a new career. She simply loves learning and deepening her faith, and the joy of growing as a person was enough.

At lunch, we returned to the topic of what she’s “doing” with her Masters.

“People would ask me that in class – what my plans are after graduation,” she said. “And I’d think, I’m going to walk out my front door.”

I’m going to walk out my front door.

I asked her what she meant by that exactly.

“When we leave our front door every day, we come across people – at the grocery store, out to eat, wherever,” Mom said. “Every one of those people is an opportunity to ‘do’ something – we can represent Christ. I call it Everyday Mission.”

Everyday Mission.

What a beautiful phrase.

And therein lies the lesson I want to share with you.

All of us can relate to the question of what we will “do” with our lives. That question is usually asked in the context of work or career.

And I think we all can relate to the feeling of not knowing the answer to that question. There are times where we can feel aimless, at a crossroads, mission-less. I’ve certainly felt that way before.

In those moments, we lose sight of the truth.

The truth that everyone has an everyday mission.

Sometimes our mission may not feel special or important or big. 

But it is still there, hidden in the people we come across when we leave our front doors each day, and it is meaningful.

One Quick Thing

Switching gears here.

A few months ago, I started a training business helping people write and work with AI. It’s called Simple Writing. I run monthly group cohorts and also work directly with teams.

If you’re interested in AI training and enablement for yourself or your team, reply to this email and let me know.

Here’s what a VP of Marketing said after an in-person workshop with his team a couple weeks ago in Chicago:

Have a great week, y’all.

Cheers,

Teddy

Teddy is the author of The Process. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with his wife and kids. Feel free to reach out on LinkedIn or X, or reply to this email.

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