A View From A Pew: Some Things Take Years to Understand

Some lessons don’t come from schoolbooks or Sunday sermons. They come from scars. From silent battles. From standing when everything inside you wanted to quit. And the older I get, the more I realize—wisdom doesn’t always come with age. Sometimes it comes with pain.

Here are a few truths it took me years—years of missteps, miracles, and midnight prayers—to finally understand.

Speak less. Mean more.
There is power in restraint. We live in a world where everyone is talking, but very few are being heard. When you learn to listen more than you speak, your words become weighty. Purposeful. People start to lean in—not because you're loud, but because your silence taught you what matters. And let me free somebody today: not everything is about you. Most people are so caught up in their own mess, they barely have time to critique yours.

Shift your focus, shift your life.
When you dwell on problems, all you see are walls. But when you focus on possibilities, you start seeing doors. Your mindset is the thermostat of your destiny. If you keep feeding fear, doubt, and defeat—don’t be surprised when that’s all your life produces. But shift your focus to purpose, to promise, to power—and watch how God moves.

The pain you're feeling today might be the foundation of your breakthrough tomorrow.
Yes, it hurts now. But one day, you’ll look back and realize that struggle didn’t come to destroy you—it came to develop you. The most beautiful transformations happen after the greatest storms. Your story isn't over. It's just getting good.

God sends people for a reason—either to change your life or to change theirs.
Every person you meet is part of the plan. Some will bless you. Some will test you. And some will push you into the purpose you were too scared to chase on your own. Don't be so quick to label folks as distractions; some are divine assignments in disguise.

Comfort zones don’t produce calling.
Never be afraid to try something new. Life was never meant to be lived in neutral. You weren’t created to just exist—you were built to expand. Grow. Risk. Faith doesn’t work where there’s no need to trust. Go where God leads, even when the map isn’t clear.

And at the end of the day, you only answer to one person—yourself.
Not your followers. Not your haters. Just the soul staring back at you in the mirror. Can you look that person in the eye and say, “I lived with integrity. I loved deeply. I gave my all”?

Some things take time to understand. Some things require life to make sense. But once you know better, do better. And when you get wisdom, don’t hoard it—pass it on.