Dr. William Orr was Fred Rogers’ favorite professor at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. From Orr, Rogers learned a principle for life called guided drift. Embracing this principle, Rogers allowed guided drift to shape his own life and taught it to others. Guided drift proposes that one should be open to change, serendipity, and hidden possibilities in life rather than adhering to a strict and rigid set of rules. Orr used the image of standing on a raft going down a stream holding long poles to guide you. You occasionally need the poles to keep you from bumping into the banks but most of the time you allow yourself to drift where the stream leads you, even though you might be moved in unexpected, unanticipated ways. In his biography of Fred Rogers, Maxwell King claims the principle of guided drift influenced Rogers’ willingness to experiment and take chances with his career. Christian principles gave his life a clear direction, even as freedom and love invited him to be flexible and open to change.
In many interviews, Fred Rogers points out that he had many diverse interests in his life: music, language, ministry, and television. He recalls how for a long time he allowed himself to follow these interests even though he did not know where they might lead or how they might come together. These varied interests did flow together when Rogers heard a clear call to serve children. Through his vocation to serve the needs of children, the many threads of his life were woven together in a simplified direction full of life and energy.
I am inspired by my mother-in-law, Evie Sharbaugh. She is 95, lives independently and thrives. The last time we visited her, she showed me two new beautiful paintings she completed. Her life lived for her family, open to others, flexible, serving others before herself, inspires me. While giving herself in service to others, she never lets go of her creativity and continues to paint. Her expression of creativity makes her who she is and her paintings brighten the lives of many.
My mother-in-law inspires me to follow the path of my creativity, to write without worrying about the purpose and value of my writing. To write because writing helps me to know who I am and to live more deeply connected to God and others. Writing informs all that I do. It informs my teaching, my friendships, my parenting, my grandparenting, my relationship with myself, and my relationship with John. It is vital and life giving, essential.
In many of his writings, Henri Nouwen includes a quote from the founder of humanistic psychology, Carl Rogers,
What is most personal is most general.
Carl Rogers
Carl Rogers explains how this understanding has shaped the way he views creativity,
It has led me to believe that what is most personal and unique in each one of us is probably the very element which would, if it were shared or expressed, speak most deeply to others. This has helped me to understand artists and poets as people who have dared to express the unique in themselves.
Carl Rogers
I have found nourishment from writers who focus on learning from vulnerability, struggles, and the small dramas and challenges of life. For me, writing is a way to continue the conversations of meaning I enter through reading others. By writing, I connect my life journey to theirs and hopefully to those interested in reading what I have written. I am grateful for all the time and space I have been given to express myself creatively. I am grateful for the adventurous inner journey that has unfolded as I drift along waters taking me in unexpected directions, for how clearly I hear God speak through my intuition, and for how much I allowed guided drift to shape my life, even before I knew what it was.
