New Eyes: The Gift of Being a Walking the Walk Group Leader | by Marilyn Berberich
I love to collect quotes. Maybe it’s hereditary. My father kept a folded piece of paper with favorite quotes in his wallet. I stitched a quote quilt and hung it by my desk. One of my favorite quotes is by Marcel Proust – “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” When I stepped into the role of Walking the Walk Group Leader seven years ago, I envisioned wonderful afternoons of dialogue, meaningful service experiences, plentiful opportunities to learn about other faith traditions, and happy times building community with the amazing teens who had signed up for the program. What I didn’t realize was that I would also be getting new eyes. I would never see the world the same way after each Walking the Walk journey. So what does it mean to have new eyes? For me, it meant some consequential exchanges. I traded assumptions for surprises. There was no “one way” for just about anything. Each faith community was unique, each student was uniq...