As a New School Year Begins...

there are lots of questions to consider. Questions regarding career paths, major selection, grad school options, friendships, goals and priorities can seem overwhelming. It seems as though they all fall in our lap at once and at times that are rather inconvenient: beginning of the semester, middle of the semester, and end of the semester. Can you sense the pattern? Yeah, just about anytime things get busy and "deadlines" draw closer you can expect an anxiousness. 

One thing I've learned this summer, among quite a few things, is that God is always working. It's just a matter of whether or not we are seeking with our whole self, becoming susceptible to plans that may not be like we imagined, while all the more realizing they are better than what we've planned for ourselves.

I've always thought I needed to have my major figured out so that I can correctly chose a career path that would begin by such-and-such time so I can be earning a living in my young 20s, independent and self-sustaining. Then my mid 20s would be for getting married, followed by my later 20s/early30s for really settling into a home and starting a family. Then comes the excessive involvement, pay-to-much-for-gas phase of life...it was ALL planned out.

Have you done that? Please tell me you've at least pondered when you would like to be officially done with school and what you would like to be involved in as a working adult in the community- perhaps a leader for Habitat or a Sunday School teacher. Then when would you want to buy or build a home and what would be your priorities before and once you've done that?

It's kind of fun to imagine the future. But it isn't something we are to dwell on. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Last fall I wrote a post called Tis Possible to Have Your Cake and Eat it Too. The lessons I learned in that period of time have grown to apply to so many aspects of life. Sometimes I lose sight of all He's taught me and let the stresses of the unknown get to me. So while I can't promise I wont stress and worry, I am resolving to commit more than the unknown to God, but the known, the now. 

Like my research professor told me, the one thing we can do is pursue the talents and interest we have been given today, committing them to the Lord and faithfully wait and listen for the next step. So if you are like me, wishing for some burning bushes, stop. Keep walking with the Spirit, stay at His pace and remember to keep your eyes open so when it does burn, because it will, you will see.

There is something that can be done TODAY. A life is not lived in the future, but in the now. 

This is an interesting perspective to take. But I've been reading some more Elisabeth Elliot and really loved what she had to say 

“Wait on God. Keep your mouth shut. Don’t expect anything until the declaration is clear and forthright.

...We were being asked to trust, to leave the planning to God.  God's ultimate plan was as far beyond our imaginings as the oak tree is from the acorn's imaginings.  The acorn does what it was made to do, without pestering its Maker with questions about when and how and why.  We who have been given an intelligence and a will and a whole range of wants that can be set against the divine Pattern for God are asked to believe Him.  We are given the chance to trust Him when He says to us, "...If any man will let himself be lost for my sake, he will find his true self."

When will we find it? we ask.  The answer is, Trust Me.

How will we find it? The answer again is, Trust Me.

Why must I let myself be lost? we persist.  The answer is, Look to the acorn and trust Me."