蜜芽传媒

A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Mariama Ifode-Blease.

Good morning.

I鈥檝e been thinking a lot about learning recently, as this month ends, because June is the month associated with exams, and especially if you鈥檙e between 16 and 23. It鈥檚 a month that can feel heavy. I can really empathise. What an absolute nightmare these periods in my life were!

It鈥檚 true that it can be a tricky time, if you鈥檙e supporting a young person through exam season. While it鈥檚 clear who has been doing the learning, and trying to retain what they have learnt.

Those who have sought to be there for young people during this time, have learnt to navigate around the tension, nervousness and anxiety, that this month often produces. Words have had to be chosen carefully; it鈥檚 not a time for taking outbursts personally. Rather, we the adults have had to be available, to hold tears and worry, in the lead up to summative assessments, and the adrenalin and ecstasy, when the dreaded exams are finally over. It is for such a time as this, that our learning becomes practical. We learn to simply be alongside.

Being alongside without being judgy, or the ability to necessarily make things better, can be hard. Yet we learn, how to do it, because we see what this journeying, can offer others: constancy, a non-judgemental presence, hope, friendship, safety.

So today, I pray for greater insight, to be able to continue learning, and to see how new learning, can shape my being, and how I support others.

Amen.