

What are you learning from life’s curriculum right now?
I am asking myself, in this moment of alarming and rapid change, “what is it that I need to be learning?”
Goshen College President Rebecca Stoltzfus offers regular and intimate reflections on campus, interesting people she’s met, conversations she’s part of and higher education today.
Email her: president@goshen.edu
I am asking myself, in this moment of alarming and rapid change, “what is it that I need to be learning?”
The violence unfolding in Israel/Palestine is horrifying and heartbreaking. As a follower of Jesus, I stand for peace and am opposed to killing. And as Dr. Martin Luther King said, “There can be no justice without peace and there can be no peace without justice.” The tensions between peace and justice makes this conflict so heavy and morally disturbing.
One of the great things about gardening is that the garden talks back. I am constantly learning what works and what doesn’t work, grappling with the realities of my garden and myself, and yielding to them.
The word I’ve kept circling back to is “Grounded.” 2020 knocked me around. I want to stand this year with two feet on the ground, knees slightly bent. I want to feel the earth supporting me; to know the firm and gentle force of gravity. I want to be steady.
Wonder is not found in what we know. It is found at the edges of our knowing, with one foot in and one foot out.