Leah Hollingsworth, G’14
“I’ve learned that brokenness is to be expected, and it’s okay to grieve it.”
I grew up in Texas and loved NYC as a kid. I had been living on the East Coast for 8 years before moving to New York. I was attracted to the energy of the city and moved here for a two-year fellowship organized by Carnegie Hall, Juilliard, and the NYC Department of Education. I intended to stay for a few years and then move somewhere “real” to live and start a family.
I am currently a full-time mom and a part-time freelance musician, writer, and arts administrator. Very few of my colleagues in the music world are believers and equally few who are my age have kids. Their careers come first. When I applied to Gotham, I was looking to grow in my faith, be challenged, and think about God in my work in and outside of my home in a deeper way. My husband really encouraged me to do it and was incredibly supportive. I was new at getting babysitters for things other than work, and my husband encouraged me that this was “important enough.”
I loved how intentional every single aspect of the program was, the depth of perspectives offered, and the intellect that drove the program. Gotham profoundly shaped my worldview and shifted it 180-degrees from how I had previously thought about work, brokenness, and the hope that we have. Gotham was my first introduction to the idea of the “already but not yet” worldview, that we are living in a broken world that will someday be redeemed.
Having gone through Gotham, I’ve learned that brokenness is to be expected, and it’s okay to grieve it. Just as God honors and values all work, I also now strive to do the same — to treat the mailmen and trash collectors with as much respect as I do our pediatrician, for for example. I also have to shift how I view my own work that feels mundane or menial — like changing diapers or cleaning dishes — and see it as valuable, respectable, godly work. My job is to be faithful with the work that I’ve been given, and I tell that to my kids all the time. One of my kids has been given an intense but wonderful school, and sometimes he complains about the workload or the discipline necessary. I tell him, “this is the gift – and the work – that God has given you.” I have to remind myself of that in my daily life, especially when I’m in a season that feels like my own intellectual and vocational desires are a bit dormant while I serve my family.