Post college graduation life is interesting. Not having finals has been amazing, not having homework, and actually having some money have all been fantastic. But there are also a lot of things that you don't learn about in school, that are new and surprising and just plain weird about being done with school. Like not seeing your friends every day. Or having to manage multiple projects at the same time that all seem equally important. Budgeting. Paying bills. Figuring out how to de-compress stress from work while still keeping up housework and laundry and not becoming a Netflix zombie-sheep. How to keep pushing yourself to learn and grow your mind while being dog tired at the end of the day. And, hardest of all for me, figuring these things out without a group of peers going through the same thing and supporting you. Oh yeah, and not having any grades to tell you if you are doing ok, bad, great, horrible, or whatever. Which is why I was really glad to see this video:
( It's ok, go watch it. I'll wait)
( It's ok, go watch it. I'll wait)
You see, the biggest thing I want to fight about adult life is the weird monotony. I can feel myself getting comfortable, and sometimes slightly cynical. The awesome newness of the whole thing is wearing off a little, now that I have been at it for just over 6 months. But I still get moments of magic - especially when I choose to see the things going on around me as more than just circumstances. I "penned" (typed a note in my iphone) these words recently while eating breakfast in a McDonalds, in the middle-of-nowhere rural Tennessee.
" While traveling for work, I am always struck by how big the world is, and how many people are in it. Every person is a product of all their experiences and relationships. Every person is living a story. Some stories started hard. Some stories are filled with hurt. Some stories are barely begun, and some are on their final pages. For just a moment, when I meet, speak to, or see a person, my story converges with theirs. And then it converges with another story, and another, and another, infinitely. It makes me wonder, how does this collision with my story shape theirs? How does my introduction to the story affect that persons day? I only get the breifest of moments in their story, so I hope that it is a good part. It makes me want to be just a little more patient, kind, and friendly to everyone I meet.
One of my favorite things about my job is the way that it helps young people find their stories. Choosing a college is a big plot shift, and an important decision that will shape what fills the pages that follow. The introduction to MCA I received from the Admissions office drastically shaped my story, so it gives me a little thrill to think of how my presence at a school or college fair or phone call might shape someone else's story.
For me, the coolest part of this whole idea is how the Author converges all our stories for The Story. Woven together, it creates a beautiful image that reflects back who He is. I wish sometimes that I could see things the way God does - how it all works together, how one thing leads to another, how everything comes together to make the whole. I think this is why I love to study history and art history - I can't look forward, but I can look backwards, and see how things came together to make both my story and The Story where they are today."
So all that to say, be nice to people. Being pleasant costs you nothing, except your self-centeredness. Being nasty makes you spew death to everyone around you. Realize your own smallness once in a while. Notice people, and make this time we all spend here just that much better. You never know what a difference it can make in someones day, life, or story.
(And if that sounds preachy, it is. Part of the reason I keep this blog is so that I can remember sermons I have preached to myself that I am sure I will need to hear again, and I thought maybe someone else might want or need to hear too.)
Proverbs 16:24
Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
(Also, this post is heavily influenced by A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller. If you haven't read it, go read it . Now.)
" While traveling for work, I am always struck by how big the world is, and how many people are in it. Every person is a product of all their experiences and relationships. Every person is living a story. Some stories started hard. Some stories are filled with hurt. Some stories are barely begun, and some are on their final pages. For just a moment, when I meet, speak to, or see a person, my story converges with theirs. And then it converges with another story, and another, and another, infinitely. It makes me wonder, how does this collision with my story shape theirs? How does my introduction to the story affect that persons day? I only get the breifest of moments in their story, so I hope that it is a good part. It makes me want to be just a little more patient, kind, and friendly to everyone I meet.
One of my favorite things about my job is the way that it helps young people find their stories. Choosing a college is a big plot shift, and an important decision that will shape what fills the pages that follow. The introduction to MCA I received from the Admissions office drastically shaped my story, so it gives me a little thrill to think of how my presence at a school or college fair or phone call might shape someone else's story.
For me, the coolest part of this whole idea is how the Author converges all our stories for The Story. Woven together, it creates a beautiful image that reflects back who He is. I wish sometimes that I could see things the way God does - how it all works together, how one thing leads to another, how everything comes together to make the whole. I think this is why I love to study history and art history - I can't look forward, but I can look backwards, and see how things came together to make both my story and The Story where they are today."
So all that to say, be nice to people. Being pleasant costs you nothing, except your self-centeredness. Being nasty makes you spew death to everyone around you. Realize your own smallness once in a while. Notice people, and make this time we all spend here just that much better. You never know what a difference it can make in someones day, life, or story.
(And if that sounds preachy, it is. Part of the reason I keep this blog is so that I can remember sermons I have preached to myself that I am sure I will need to hear again, and I thought maybe someone else might want or need to hear too.)
Proverbs 16:24
Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
(Also, this post is heavily influenced by A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller. If you haven't read it, go read it . Now.)
