The Power of Spoken Word | a conversation with Quina Aragon

To contribute to the Bening Family https://gofund.me/81f75f48

 During this season of Lent, I wanted to introduce you to a new friend with a beautiful resource for your heart and the whole family to prepare for the celebration of Easter. 

Quina Aragon was born in the Philippines but raised in FL where she became friends with a family who introduced her to Christ. It’s this relationship with her Savior that freed her from the exhausting pursuit of significance- and has been the motivation behind her work as a spoken word artist, children’s author, and poet. She’s also the mama of an adorable five year old and she and her husband serve in their local church ministry. 

In this episode, we dive right into a conversation about the Enneagram and her two books Love Made and Love Gave. 

Download the free Enneagram for Moms Guidebook.

Say "hi" on IG and check out the Enneagram conversation.

Be sure and hear more from Quina ( @Quina_Aragon) on IG and thank her for sharing on the podcast. 

Transcript

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SPEAKER_03 0:00

That's one of the things I like about it. So in Love Gave, it basically talks about God giving us his sons, that Jesus died and rose again to take away all our sins and make us his forever friends. And imagine your kid is hearing that over and over again, and all of a sudden they're quoting this poetic rhyme scheme that is sharing the gospel. Imagine them going to school or to their maybe their homeschool group or something or their neighborhood friend and saying, Jesus died and rose again to take away all their, you know, and Lord willing, hopefully that internalizes.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Hi, my name is Amy Wicks, and I help you navigate the overwhelm and frustration of motherhood through faith, Enneagram, and simple plans. As a faith-based Enneagram coach, I champion you to love your mothering style because you are the mom your kids need, even when you don't feel like it. I'm a mountain mama who somehow ended up on a cul-de-sac in the Midwest, overwhelmed and frustrated by motherhood. But the Lord didn't let me stay there. He helped me turn the challenges of motherhood into a wholehearted decision to get intentional with my faith, my self-awareness, and my family. Each episode of this podcast provides perspective through story, wholehearted purpose, and simple plan so you can discover how to love your mothering style and be confident that you are the mom your kids need. Think of this podcast as your on-the-go mom pal and friend who can't help but talk about Jesus and the Enneagram. So get to that pile of laundry, or hit the treadmill, or load up the kids in the car for that grocery run. Get ready to be encouraged and empowered while you listen. This is the Simply Wholehearted Podcast. During this season of Lint, I wanted to introduce you to a new friend with a beautiful resource for your heart and the whole family to prepare for the celebration of Easter. Kina Aragon was born in the Philippines, but raised in Florida where she became friends with a family who introduced her to Christ. It's this relationship with her savior that freed her from the exhausting pursuit of significance. And it has been the motivation behind her work as a spoken word artist, a children's author, and poet. She is also the mama of a beautiful little girl, and she and her husband serve in their local church ministry. Today we're going to dive right into a conversation about the Enneagram and her two books, Love Made and Love Gave. Well, I think if I understand correctly, you're newer to the Enneagram. So you're just kind of dipping your toes in the water of what this Enneagram thing let us know so far what you know, what you think you know. I think it's always fun to hear.

SPEAKER_03 2:58

Well, I'm excited to talk to you because I know I I'm almost like, ooh, I got a little, hopefully get a little free advice here.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

That's right, free attention, right? Coming right up.

SPEAKER_03 3:07

Um, no, a few years I I can't even remember, maybe it was a couple years ago. Just saw stuff about Enneagram. I think my friend told me about it and said, Oh, you need to take the test. I was like, okay, that's fine. I took the test and I scored uh as a two. Okay. And then I was like one point below that though, was a six. I really resonated, especially at that time with the Enneagram too. And I still obviously do, but since then I have kind of looked into the six, like, you know, just what it means to be a six, and I definitely resonate with that as well. So it's kind of a weird, like, yeah, I can kind of relate to both, but I think that core, yeah, I forgot the verbiage, but like the core uh motivation, yeah, like to be love, to belong, that sort of thing of the two, I really resonate with that in general, and I could see that from since I was a little girl. So the two is where I land. And I think when I took it, I was like either coming up to a point of ministry burnout or something. So it's actually very clarifying for me. I was like, wow, like I over, I do sometimes overdo it to where I'm not even taking care of myself or my regular, you know, work responsibilities because I need to make sure this person's okay or that person has needs.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

So yeah, that is an oftentimes the the claim to burnout for a lot of Enneagram twos who lead in that way because in the two and the six hold a lot of similarities. So it's not uncommon to go, what is the more dominant type? And I think you hit the nail on the head by going, okay, what was the core motivation for you? Was it to be safe and secure, or was it to be loved for just who you are instead of what you do and what how you help? And I think those are some of the biggest things. And I always talk about too a great way is to reverse engineer and look at the lines of stress and growth and figure out, okay, what is it, what do I look like when I'm stressed? And for a two, when you're stressed, you look more like an eight. And you kind of like have those surprise challenge outbursts. Yeah, you're nodding your head. Yep, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_03 5:16

I think my husband, if he were on here, he'd be like, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Yes, this is it, this is it. And then the line of growth for you is to the fore. And that is you embrace the, you know, expressing your needs, expressing your desires and what you really want to do. And I think that creative piece for you, where you have just so much depth and breadth of creativity to express, I think that shines through a lot in what you do. So it seems like I think you figured it out, which is really awesome.

SPEAKER_03 5:47

Yeah, that especially that healthy side going towards the fore. I can definitely, definitely see that.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

It's just so helpful, like you said, especially in key areas. In fact, I have a 12-week group that opens up a few times a year. And right now we're on the lesson of that line of stress and growth. And I talk about it. Are you red, blue, or green? And it's understanding. I liken it too. I drove the wrong direction home one time, like the wrong way, 45 minutes, and I've done it twice now. Um, it's terrible. And I've driven that route like a hundred times at least. No kidding. You know, it's one of those things that I just liken it to. This is what the Enneagram is for. That's what the word of God is for, you know, not to equal the two at all, but just to have awareness of this is what I look like when I'm stressed and I'm going the wrong direction. And so turn on the GPS, ask the Holy Spirit to help you self-correct and get going the right direction.

SPEAKER_03 6:42

Right. No, totally. Having that a little bit more self-awareness through the Enneagram has been helpful because it's like, yeah, I mean, sin is sin. We want to call sin what it is when we do.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

Amen.

SPEAKER_03 6:54

But it does help to get clarity and to understanding where where is that coming from and and even to be able to do battle with sin to be able to put it to death. It helps to understand what's going on. Why am I reacting this way?

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Yeah. My coaching program really focuses on there's the awareness piece, but then there's the practical piece. And the practical steps are always rooted in soul transformation and soul growth practices and taking that time for soul care, not self-care, not in a selfish way where you're binging on Netflix, which doesn't do any of us any good, but feeding on the word of God and participating in practices that He made us uniquely to grow in doing. And that's where we can see the growth. And for you, where obviously you've got some great spiritual growth happening because I'm seeing that for all over the place and displayed in a beautiful way. Thank you. I can't even remember how I came across your account. It was probably a friend giving you a shout out for um, it's love gave, right? All of a sudden.

SPEAKER_03 7:56

So the first book is Love Made, and the second is Love Gave. And totally understand if that's confusing.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

Yes, yes. All of a sudden I was like, wait, okay, so Love Made and Love Gave, and I think it was near the release of Love Gave, and I saw this beautiful book, and I'm like, I have got to check this out. And so I ended up just finding you and reaching out. I'm like, could I have a sneak peek? And I'd love to share your book with my friends. So tell us, give us a little bit more story of the creation, the process. You're obviously a woman of many talents doing a lot of things. How did you find time and how did you do it?

SPEAKER_03 8:34

I've been doing spoken word poetry for a long time. Uh I came to know the Lord when I was 16 in high school through a volleyball friend. Yeah, her family kind of took me under their wing. I kind of they almost like unofficially adopted me in high, you know, in high school, I was always there. I love that. And her older sisters would do spoken word poetry. And so I saw that and I was like, hmm, that's cool. Not that I could ever do that, but that's cool. And as I began to grow my relationship with God, creative writing was just sort of an expression of what I was learning and and what I was processing. And sure enough, you know, in my journal, it would just kind of come out as poetry, which was would have never happened before. I mean, I was good at academic writing, you know, for school and stuff, but anything creative, I was never any good at. I've always seen it as a gift from the Lord, really, when I came to know him. And through the encouragement of an English teacher who uh was putting together a poetry slam, which was like, you know, performance, uh poetry to do, you know, spoken word, she encouraged me to memorize one of my poems to perform it. And that was really my introduction into, and this is a big, big public high school. And for me, only being known as the athlete or the good student, you know, to come out through my poetry in front of, you know, 300 plus students had uh multiple shows of that and say, I'm a Christian and through my poems explain what that means, it was a huge step for me as a new believer. And really since then, people have, you know, encouraged me and I've grown in that craft. So fast forward to when I'm already married and I'm pregnant. And uh my friend who happened to be pregnant at the same time as me asked me to do a poem for her baby shower. She said, Do you have anything, you know, related to children? And uh, hey, I'm a new mom. So I was like, no, I don't think I have anything related to that. So I just told her, No, I'm not gonna do it. And then the day of the shower, I just happened to be praying, you know, just spending time with the Lord. And what I was praying was just dwelling on the nature of the Trinity and that the Father has always loved the Son, and the Son is loved and back, and the Spirit has been rejoicing in it all throughout all eternity. That fact that God didn't need us, but He wanted to make us and that creation, when you think about the Trinity, creation is really just an overflow of that love that God has eternally shared within himself. That love overflowed to make us. And so I connected that as I was praying to the joy of being a parent. You know, if you're in a healthy, you know, loving marriage, you can relate to that. You know, you and your husband are a unit, you are one, you're a family, but that love, in a sense, can overflow into the creation of a new child. So it's not a perfect analogy, but as I prayed that, I was like, man, I finished praying and then I just wrote a poem and that was it. And so I texted my friend and was like, Hey, I think I actually have a poem I could read. Uh, I can't perform it, but I can read it. And I read it for her shower, and like everybody was crying. I was like, Oh, okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 11:44

That long story short, that turned into a book, the my first book called Love Made, and that's really the premise of is retelling the creation story poetically through a Trinitarian lens. And the second book, Love Gave, is really just the continuation of that story, maintaining that Trinitarian lens, still doing it poetically, but now we're introducing the problem of sin. Now we're introducing the savior who's come to rescue us and to bring us back to God. And the paradigm I I use in Love Gave is friendship, that God, because you know, kids, that's what my daughter at least is always, oh, so-and-so is my best friend.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

I'm like, You just read them two seconds ago. They're my best friend. Yeah, they're my best friend.

SPEAKER_03 12:26

So I use that paradigm of friendship to say God wants to be your friend, but your sin makes it impossible. But Jesus came so that you can be friends with God. And so that's what love gave is about. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

And the best thing about some of these children's books is that they speak to us as adults in such powerful ways. It's the simple message of the gospel, it's the beauty, the the words that are just woven in a the poetic way, as you talk about, but then also with the beauty of the illustrations and the most simplistic terms yet have eternal ramifications and eternal meaning that are so powerful. I love it. So you do this for a friend, you know, you're getting to share it with the world. Did you have aspirations? Obviously, you know, doing some editing work and things like that. That's a big leap. Doing it for a friend and then getting to share it with the world. There's a big leap.

SPEAKER_03 13:27

Yeah. The fun part about that story is really connected to what I've learned and I am learning just as a writer. And I still consider myself a novice in general with writing. But anything great that I've created, whether that's a spoken word video, short film, book, whatever it is, has always been birthed in prayer. I mean, the Love Made itself was a prayer and then it turned into a poem. But prior to that, I had, you know, the new year was coming up that year, and I was just reflecting on the year and praying and thinking about goals and things of that nature. And uh one of the things I prayed about and wrote down was, you know, Lord, I'd like to look into children's literature because I per, you know, I didn't have any kids at the time. I was like, I just personally enjoy it. And I'd like to look into that. And sure enough, once I created that poem for my friend's baby shower, I connected with my friend, uh Chris Powers, who does this ministry called Full of Eyes, where he animates usually Christian music and he does these animations to it to show the gospel. So I asked him, Would you be willing to do spoken word? Because that's a little different. And he was like, Yeah. So he did a video that kind of blew up a little bit on YouTube. From there, the gospel coalition picked it up. And then from the gospel coalition, a literary agent picked it up and reached out to me and said, This should be a children's book. And I thought it was a scam just because you know, when people write you on Facebook. I don't know. Yeah. And I don't know anything about publishing. So he reached out and looked into it. I was like, Oh, he's legit. Yeah, he's the one who kind of then assisted me from there in getting a book deal and and so on and so forth. So it all really started with God, I think I'm interested in children's literature. And then I was like, wow, okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

I love it. I think the writing journey is so fascinating. I mean, this is out, it'll be four years on March 17th of doing this podcast. And so I've gotten to talk to hundreds of, you know, women who have such a unique journey in this writing process. And for some it's short, for some it's decades, but just the piece of God doing above and beyond what we could ask for or imagine, about his timing being perfect and him carrying the story. If it's his message that you're looking to share, that he will be faithful to complete it and complete that work in you and through you. And I think it's so fun. It's so fun to hear story and be reminded, whether it's writing a book or waiting for that child or waiting for marriage, all the different things that we long and wait for to be reminded through story to have the perspective of, oh yeah, God is always in it, even in the even in children's literature, which is so cool. Yes, yeah, love it. Well, I want to hear too, because one of the things we're doing, we're sharing this conversation during the Linton season, which I don't know about you, but the Linton season are like it was just Christmas, right? I mean, we were just we were just gearing up to finish 2020 and try to finish it well. So here we are. A couple of years we've focused in on specific Linton conversations and preparing our hearts for Easter. And we kind of deviated a little bit from that this year, but I was loving getting to have you on so that we could talk about that, preparing our hearts for Easter, helping prepare our kids' hearts, and especially through literature like this.

SPEAKER_03 16:51

That's so good. I mean, obviously, I could recommend other children's literature as well. I've been, and I think so many people have been impacted by like Sally Lloyd Jones, the storybook Bible. I mean, when I was single, I was reading that and crying. The beautiful thing with children's literature is that, like you said already, it takes something that can feel really complex and simplifies it and shows the beauty of the simplicity of the gospel, the fact that you can be a scholar and have five PhDs, if that's even possible, in just studying the word of God, you know, understanding it. And you can also be my five-year-old daughter and get the gist that God wants to be your friend.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:34

And that He took care of your sin problems so that that could happen. So, one of the things, too, that I love just about my books is that it's taking the kids on a journey through the story of Scripture, a very simplified version, but still, you know, the story of scripture, the fact that they are love-made, the fact that love God, who is love, gave us his son, and that was the greatest expression of love that Christ would die for our sins. And so it's helpful because we are all people that are drawn to stories. That's a part of being human. We're drawn to stories, and kids are no different. I mean, just simply reading the books, obviously, but then the fact that they're poetry, so it makes it, it's not necessarily as um maybe simplified as like a Dr. Seuss type, you know, poetry. It's a little bit more complex, but you can catch the rhythm as you're reading my books. And kids, as the more, you know, as you know, the more you read, or the more kids watch a movie, all of a sudden they're quoting it verbatim, and you're like, That's right. I wasn't even trying to help you memorize this. Um, that's one of the things I like about. So in Love Gave, it basically talks about God giving us his sons that Jesus died and rose again to take away all our sins and make us his forever friends. And imagine your kid is hearing that over and over again, and all of a sudden they're quoting this poetic rhyme scheme that is sharing the gospel. Imagine them going to school or to their maybe their homeschool group or something or their neighborhood friend and saying, Jesus died and rose again to take away all their, you know, and Lord willing, hopefully that internalizes for them. So that's kind of for us as adults, right?

SPEAKER_00 19:17

I mean, right. It's a reminder to you, like I need to hear that. So absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 19:22

Yeah. I mean, that's what I like about it, the story aspect, but then the poetry aspect that allows for memorization to be a little bit easier.

SPEAKER_01 19:29

Yeah. Well, I was hoping we'd get a little spoken word today. So I'm glad we got a little snippet. So tell my friends where they can find you and find more of the beauty that you offer, whether it's these books or spoken word or just all the other amazing things that you offer. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 19:48

Yeah, the easiest place is just to go to my website, kinaaragon.com, and my name's spelled q-u-i-n-a. And then aragon is aren.com, and you'll find all the things the books, the spoken word stuff, the you know, anything. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

Fantastic. I have no doubt my friends are going to want to be your friend and say hey. So be sure as you guys are looking up her stuff and go wave to her on Instagram and look at all the good stuff and follow along on the journey. I'm a little curious to know now, hearing your journey, maybe book number three is that something in the works or in the hook?

SPEAKER_03 20:27

Yes. Yeah. So the children's book series will actually be a trilogy. So we're the first book highlights really uh how when often we think of creation, we're thinking of God the Father's work, even though we see the full Trinity in the creation accounts. But so the first book is about creation and really God the Father's uh work in creation. The second book is really about the sun and redemption through the sun. The third book's gonna be about the Holy Spirit and how he empowers us to love like Jesus. Um so look out for that sometime next year.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

Yeah. This is amazing. Yeah, um, you're gonna be my new BFF and I love it. I'm gonna be cheering you along and uh just so excited to see what the Lord's gonna do and the impact that he's gonna have through your gift. So thank you.

SPEAKER_03 21:17

Thank you, thank you, Amy. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

Well, friends, I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I did. And if you did, would you give a shout-out on the socials about this episode? We want to share it with your friends. Just tag simply wholehearted Ankina Aragon on Instagram or Facebook so we can give you a proper thank you. I know you're gonna want to dive into Kina's spoken word videos that are there on Instagram, and you can learn more about her books. Of course, you can always order your copy of Love Made and Love Gave on Amazon, and you'll have it in your hands in probably less than two days. These are beautiful books, and you'll want these words to read through during this Easter season. And by the way, the fourth anniversary episode of the Simply Wholehearted Podcast is coming up on March 17th. I can't believe it. I don't want you to miss it, so subscribe to this podcast, and you'll be sure to get the incredible story of Kowani as soon as it's live. Kowani was a young woman who was born into abject poverty in the Philippines. And she had a heartbreaking childhood. But that is just part of her story. Trust me, you're gonna want to hear how Christ and the loving work of Compassion International made all the difference in her life. Now remember, you are the mom your kids need. Continue to pursue perspective, purpose, and plans for the wholehearted life you desire.