Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 9
Joy argued young adulthood should prioritize “learning, serving, and building,” including doing tasks you “don’t know how to do and possibly don’t want to do,” and serving “in relative obscurity” to form character; what does that challenge in the modern pursuit of platform, visibility, and self-actualization, and where do you see resistance in yourself to being “unremarkable” for a season?
Another way to ask: Joy says young adults should focus on learning, serving, and building—even doing hard or unwanted jobs without being noticed. How does that challenge today’s push for attention, influence, and self-fulfillment, and where do you resist being “unknown” for a while?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
Joy challenges the modern impulse to chase visibility and personal fulfillment first; she argues that young years should be spent learning through hard tasks, serving humbly without reputation, and building disciplines and character. Her approach confronts the desire to be noticed and the resistance to slow formation in obscurity.
- She organizes young adulthood into three priorities: “learning, serving, and building.”
- Learning: growth comes from being asked to do things you “really don’t know how to do and possibly don’t want to do.”
- She says you should want challenging requests: “hope that people ask us to do things that are challenging and hard… this is your time to learn.”
- Serving: using Philippians 2, she stresses Christ “made himself of no reputation… bondservant… humbled himself,” saying we must learn this before leadership.
- She emphasizes obscurity: “serve for a while in relative obscurity,” and suggests a time of being “unremarkable” may be necessary.
- She quotes David Brooks against self-actualization: the emphasis on “individual success… self-fulfillment… self-actualization… is a catastrophe,” contrasting it with giving yourself away.