Uncertainty...

...it runs rampant on this college campus. On any college campus I'm sure. This is the time in our lives when we're supposed to figure out what we want to do, when we're supposed to have a plan. We're supposed to have an answer when we go home on weekends and holidays and people ask, "So, what are you going to do?" Whether it be for the rest of our lives, the summer, or even the rest of the semester, we just don't know! All feel the same, yet few are brave enough to admit it. Everyone envisions themselves graduating, getting a decent job (right after, if not before, graduation), and of course, getting the girl (or guy, as the case may be). Which is then followed by multiple years of babies, soccer games, and family trips to the Grand Canyon. We expect to live in nice houses with master bathrooms, drive the "Swagger Wagon," and be the house with the big TV and Tortino's Pizza Rolls that all the kids want to hang out in. We'll take our kids to Sunday School, pay our tithe, and help out with church dinners. We'll host dinner and Super Bowl parties, have a nice-smelling dog, and have well-behaved children. This, my friends, is success, is it not?

And if your life doesn't turn out like this? Well, you obviously did something wrong. You must have fallen asleep in class too often, or didn't purchase enough Toms. You certainly should have participated in TWIRP week. It's your own fault.

Right?

I actually can't say that I know a single person whose life plan has actually worked out for them. I do, however, know multiple seniors that, while they can't wait to get away from homework, community showers, and all-nighters, are scared to death. They don't know what comes next. Maybe that's why we have Super Seniors haha...

What is the point of all this rambling? Good question...I guess the main point is I don't know what to do. My college experience thus far has been a terrific rollercoaster of learning who I am in Christ and how to genuinely trust him. Do I always fully trust Him with everything? Ha. If I did then maybe I wouldn't be so stressed about the future. I shouldn't be so concerned that I've been trying to get another job since August and it hasn't happened yet. I shouldn't be wanting to immediately turn to student loans in despair. I shouldn't be freaking out about whether or not I'm hired as an R.A., and if I'm not, who I'll room with next year, or if my lack of finances with even allow me to return next year. Or if I'll even be able to pay off this semester. Why is my trust in Lord the dependent on my bank account? If He can handle creating the stars and keeping the universe on the right track, then why do I think He can't take care of one Kansas college kid?

I wish I could say that I fully trusted the Lord and mean it, but I guess for now all I can truthfully say is that I deeply desire to trust in the Lord and not in myself. I'm just not very good at it most of the time. I guess that's why we have the Spirit. Nothing's supposed to be in our own power.

Now to remember that...

Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather in the barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? -Matthew 6:26

To the men.

I would like to say thank you to the men.

The men who, regardless of if they have girlfriends or not, treat us as something valuable. The men who open doors and save us with snacks when we're starving. Who bring us whatever it is we forgot. The men who comfort us when we cry and tease us when we're happy. Who are willing to save us from creepers. Who give us jackets and go on adventures with us. Who aren't afraid to be honest with us. The men who love the Lord.

Thank you. Men like you may be considered rare, and we may not always tell you, but you are appriciated, and you are valued. Even if you aren't the ones we choose to date, you give us hope, and we love you. You don't know it, but when you aren't around we talk about how lucky the girl that gets you will be.

Keep it up.

Are we good enough for each other?

(yay for the first post of 2012 finally making an appearance!)

Why can we never be good enough for one another?

We can't play the right sports, wear the right clothes, sit at the right table, live in the same dorm, have the right major, have the right job, etc.

I don't get it. I really don't. All I know is that the Lord called us to love one another, and stereotyping and discriminating are not ways to accomplish this. I am by no means saying that I'm great at loving other. I'm just really tired of having to constantly defend one friend to another. I understand that no everyone gets along. I just wish people would stop assuming that where someone lives, how they dress, or if they like videos games defines them.

I go to a Christian college. One would think that everyone here is friends with everyone. That we all love one another. That we are all seeking to grow together as a Body. But the more people I meet, and the more friends I make, the more I realize this isn't true. Christians have just as many cliques as everyone else. Maybe more. Why is it that we can't see past the surface, or even the rumored stereotypes, and love people for who they are? The Lord has created each and everyone of them-and us-as unique and valuable individuals. We weren't meant to be defined by our lunch tables, our jobs, or our dorms. We were meant to be defined by who we are in Christ, and we were meant to show that value and that love to the rest of the world. Why should anyone consider following Christ if those who already do are just as mean, catty, and rude as everyone else? Why aren't we different?

Jesus didn't hang out with the cool crowd. Jesus hung out with sinners, taxcollectors, orphans, and widows. The social rejects. So maybe it's time we stopped rejecting them and started befriending them and getting to know them. It's time we stopped forcing people to try and be good enough for us.


It's time to love.