Widen Your World

Sometimes the people and conversations around us help us see possibilities we could not see for ourselves.

This week, I met up with some friends and, as you do when people get together, our conversation moved from one subject to another. At some point, we began talking about investments and the different ways people had approached them.

I found myself listening with real interest.

Some of what was being discussed was outside my current reach, but other things weren’t. In fact, there were things I already had at my disposal that I had simply never thought about using in that way.

I remember thinking, Wow. There is so much more out there that I haven’t explored.

I left that conversation feeling a mixture of excitement, curiosity, urgency and possibility.

But if I am truthful, there was something else too.

Why haven’t I thought about this before? Am I behind? Is there something I’m missing?

It would have been very easy to turn what I had heard into comparison. Instead, I found myself asking different questions:

What have I learnt from this? What does it mean for me? What could I explore?

What stayed with me wasn’t necessarily the investment conversation itself. It was what the conversation awakened in me. I began thinking differently about what was possible, what I already had access to and what I might have overlooked simply because I hadn’t known to look.

Sometimes We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know

That conversation has remained with me because it reminded me of the importance of relationships in our journey of purpose.

We naturally gravitate towards people with whom we feel comfortable. People who understand us. People at similar stages of life. There is nothing wrong with that, as we need relationships where we can laugh, belong, be ourselves and simply enjoy one another.

But I am also learning that we need to widen our world.

Different relationships bring different things into our lives. Different people carry experiences, wisdom and perspectives that we may never encounter on our own.

Sometimes our world can quietly become our measure without us realising it. What we regularly see begins to shape what we believe is possible.

That doesn’t mean someone else’s way is better than ours. It simply means that if we are never exposed to anything different, we may never discover possibilities that could have been available to us too.

Sometimes we think we need more resources, more confidence or more opportunities, when what we actually need is greater awareness.

I’m beginning to think that awareness is an important part of purpose.

We can have ability. We can have resources. We can even have opportunities within our reach and still not recognise them for what they are.

Because you cannot pursue a possibility you haven’t yet imagined.

Sometimes widening our world doesn’t change who we are or what we have. It simply allows us to see more clearly what might already be possible.

Pause & Reflect

Who is helping you see beyond what you already know?

And perhaps an even more uncomfortable question:

Have you become so comfortable with your world that nothing within it, is stretching your thinking anymore?

This isn’t about replacing friends or choosing relationships according to what people can do for us. Relationships should never become transactions.

However, it is about remaining open.

There are people we can learn from everywhere when we are curious enough to listen. And just as relationships should add something to our lives, we should also be asking what our presence adds to the lives of others.

Growth flows both ways.

What I’m Learning

One of the things I’m learning is that confidence doesn’t always mean walking into a room knowing everything.

Sometimes confidence is being secure enough to say:

I don’t know this yet, but I can learn.

There will always be rooms where someone knows more than I do. People who have travelled further in a particular area. People whose experiences expose me to things I haven’t considered.

I don’t want to be intimidated by those rooms.

I want to enter them curious.

Because perhaps the room that initially makes me feel as though I am behind could be the very room that helps me move forward.

But there is something else I am learning too.

Exposure doesn’t mean imitation.

Hearing what someone else is doing doesn’t mean I need to do it. Before turning a new possibility into action, I need to ask whether it fits with who I am, what matters to me and where I believe my life is going.

For me, curiosity must sit alongside discernment.

The question isn’t simply, how can I do what they’re doing?

It is:

What has this shown me? What can I learn? And what, if anything, belongs in my own journey?

A Small Step This Week

Have one conversation that widens your world.

Speak with someone whose experience, knowledge or perspective is different from yours. Ask a question about something you are genuinely curious about — and listen without feeling the need to demonstrate what you already know.

You may be surprised by what one conversation allows you to see.

Reflection Question

What have I already been given that I have not yet recognised the potential of?

Faith Reflection

As I reflected on this, I thought about Moses and Jethro in Exodus 18.

Moses was already walking in his purpose. God had called him, equipped him and entrusted him with leading the Israelites. Yet Jethro observed the way Moses was carrying the responsibility and saw something Moses couldn’t see for himself.

He offered him another perspective.

What strikes me is that Moses listened.

His calling didn’t mean he had all the answers. He was humble enough to receive wisdom from someone who could see the situation differently.

Jethro didn’t give Moses his purpose. He helped him see a better way of carrying the purpose he already had.

Perhaps that is part of what Scripture means when it tells us that “iron sharpens iron”.

Sometimes God doesn’t give us something new. Sometimes he uses the wisdom, experience and perspective of people around us to help us recognise what we couldn’t see before.

Maybe some of the answers we are asking God for are closer than we realise.

A Prayer for You

Lord, I pray for the person reading this today. Open their eyes to the possibilities, wisdom and resources you have already placed around them. Bring relationships into their life that encourage, challenge and stretch them, and help them also to be that person for someone else.

Give them the confidence to enter unfamiliar rooms with humility, the curiosity to keep learning and the wisdom to discern what belongs in their journey. May they never allow comparison to diminish them, but instead recognise opportunities to learn, grow and become more fully who you created them to be.

Amen.

Confidence Mantra

I don’t have to know everything to move forward. I am open, curious and confident enough to learn.

A Gentle Invitation

Perhaps this week isn’t about doing more.

Perhaps it is simply about paying closer attention — to the conversations you are having, the people around you, the rooms you enter and the possibilities you may previously have overlooked.

Sometimes our purpose doesn’t need to change. Our awareness of what is possible needs to grow.

So, keep learning. Keep asking. Stay curious.

And don’t be afraid to widen your world.

You are born to shine.

I. Arise & Shine | iarisenshine.com