97 | Are You Rooted or Blending In? The Values Practice that Changes Your Next 90 Days

When you're standing in a room full of people who live nothing like you live — different values, different choices, different priorities — what happens to you?

Do you blend in? Do you bend? Or do you stay rooted?

Today's Sunday Solace is about exactly that question

Hey friend, welcome back to Midlife Transformation. It's time for Sunday Solace — that space we carve out each week to slow down and let God meet us right where we are.

Before we get into today, I have to tell you something I am so excited about. Next Sunday, you are getting a very special episode — about an hour and a half long — with a phenomenal guest, Suzy McNamara. Suzy recently published her book, The Silkworm, the Magician, and the Sister Tree, and this conversation is one you don't want to miss. Mark your calendar for next Sunday.

Here's the question I want to sit with today: what is your character like on a daily basis?

Not on your best day. Not on a Sunday morning with your hands raised in worship. I mean on a random Tuesday, when you're standing next to people whose values look nothing like yours.

Do you blend in? Do you soften what you believe so you're not the odd one out? Or do you stay rooted — rooted in Christ, rooted in who you actually are — even when it costs you a little comfort?

That word, rooted, isn't just a nice image. A plant that's rooted doesn't get knocked over by every wind that blows through. It bends sometimes, sure — but it doesn't uproot. It doesn't get carried away by whatever's around it. Your character, your walk with Christ, is meant to work the same way. Rooted people don't need everyone around them to validate their choices. They already know what they stand on.

And here's the thing — you can't stay rooted in something you haven't identified. You can't live out values you've never actually named. That's where the real work starts.

This is exactly what we do in that very first coaching session together. We sit down and we go through a full list of values — and it's a lot at first. It feels like too much. So we narrow it down. From that full list, we get it down to ten. Just ten things that actually matter most to you.

And then — this is the part that changes everything — from those ten, we pick your top three. The three values you're going to build the next ninety days around.

Here's my promise to you, whether you ever work with me one-on-one or not: if you do this work — if you sit down and actually narrow your values down to your top three — you will get a plan. That's what your ninety days looks like. Ninety days of small, weekly decisions, all rooted in those three things you said matter most.

And at the end of the ninety days? You will see it. You'll look back and see the shift in yourself — not because of one big moment, but because of the weekly decisions you made, over and over, out of your values instead of out of whoever happened to be standing next to you that day.

That's what rooted looks like. Not loud. Not perfect. Just steady, week after week.

So this week, I want you to ask yourself: when you're around people who live differently than you, do you blend, or do you stay rooted?

And if you don't know your top three values yet — that's okay. That's exactly where the work begins.

Colossians 2:7 says it this way: "Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving." That's the picture. Rooted in Him first — and everything else, your values, your character, your ninety days, all of it gets built up from that foundation.

And if you're hearing this and thinking, I need help finding my top three values, I need a plan for my ninety days — reach out to me. Message me at 970-279-1818, and let's set up a coaching session and get you started.

One more time before I let you go — next Sunday, don't miss my conversation with Suzy McNamara, author of The Silkworm, the Magician, and the Sister Tree. It's a rich one, and I can't wait for you to hear it.

Until then, stay rooted, friend. I'll see you next week.

Suzy McNamara    https://suzymcnamara.com/

The Silkworm, the Magician and the Sister Tree: A Tale of Love and Loss        https://amzn.to/3R5X6gV

Rachael D. Arnold, M.Ed., Certified Transformation Life Coach
970.279.1818

https://ggtlife.com/