my friend emily bruce... you know, the "other one" who writes this blog? well if you didn't know, she has a pretty sick taste in music. she sent me some mixed cds and i literally cannot stop listening to the tracks.there is something that moves me within music...i have literally sat on my bed all day today listening to music, buying music, wishing i had talent to create music... just because it gets me thinking about all sorts of things. i love the abstract, i love to think, i love to listen to the blend of harmonies and meanings and have it explode in my ears. there is just something about it. i love not exactly knowing what the author meant, but finding meaning in it for me. for some reason, i have been in an upbeat, dance, pop phase of my music life right now. there is just something about dancing and letting things go (emily can also attest to her dancing skills.. mad props girl.)anyway, on my breaks of, in all honesty, really bad pop music (im sorry, it really is, and im not so sure why i am so into it right now...) i keep listening to good music, and this song that, may i add, actually has meaning, is by the rocket summer.
i have been doing lots of reflecting this summer...and by a lot... i mean a lot. i had this huge plan for my life and it was laid out all nicely. go to college, meet a handsome man that just so happened to be a youth pastor, fall in love, get married, and then live the rest of my life tending to the spiritual lives of young women everywhere.... and as i interned this summer, i ran into people. specifically 3 people. they were my fellow interns that were struggling right there along with me, trying to figure out what to do with their lives and how to follow God with all of their passion. i remember one conversation with chris. we were outside on a warm night in utah and got to talking and i remember voicing my fears about graduate school and how i felt like i couldn't do it...and i remember him saying, "katie, you can go anywhere (to any university) you want if you just put in effort and work really hard."
now to some of you it may seem foolish that this one sentence would hit me as something magnificent and life-altering. but it was....
i am tired of taking the easy path in life. and as i saw chris this summer and his quiet confidence, i realized how much i can do, but don't. every time i do something difficult and challenging its the best feeling in the world for me and yet i continually try to find the easiest path... i have finally declared to myself and now to the world (or the few who read this blog).. that i will not take the easy road this time. this time graduate school looks like wheaton. one of the most rigorous christian schools in the U.S. this time i will be a TA for one of my favorite profs for his statistics class...not because i get money, but because its a challenge. this time i will find ways to go above and beyond and research human trafficking... finding more information on things that really interest me. this time i am not taking the easy way out. we have one life to live. i want to be a therapist...so i am going to plan on being the best therapist i can be...until i die or am directed otherwise.
for so long i thought it was bad to have a plan...the question would always come up, "what if i am not following God's will?" i think we are too busy asking that question instead of asking, "how can i best follow God's will where i am right now?"
and when it comes down to it, if or when i am not following God's will...i think he will let me know.
"save me, cause i need it, and i can't help but feel desperate, my desires they seem to be coming to their endings, but i will trust its not the end, but a great beginning."
could rocket summer put it any better?
nope. i don't think so.
(check out the song from youtube) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFdbqGQkt1Q
I love The Rocket Summer. One man band, He's a Christian, and his music is just fun. :]
ReplyDeleteKatie - Such a good post. "How can I best follow God's will where I am right now." Such a rich statement, and true. I think that's really what God wants of us. And as long as we allow him to use us where we are, the rest will work itself out. But like you said, its not always (or rarely ever is) the easy road.
Looking forward to this next year with you dear! And Wheaton? That will be awesome. I'll even be able to visit you!