hard-knocks etc.
It is a towering responsibility to help someone sort out the question,"What am I supposed to do with my life?"
Friend #7 is here for a month, fresh from her intense studies at Lee University in Tennessee. She graduates next summer with an undergrad English degree. Together we have pored over stacks of grad school brochures. Each shiny and inviting packet looks like a winner until I learn a) the tuition b) the location c) the academic world-view (which would be mostly outrageously liberal). We have surveyed web sites that offer fellowships and internships. Applications, transcripts, recommendations, GPA, financial aid: these are the the bywords of the day. My heart leaps with excitement for all the possibilities before her; the very same possibilities that make her head hurt and eyes swim with tears.
"What am I supposed to do with my life?" moans she as her laptop hums companionably on her lap. The multitudinous giftings and talents that reside in this curly-headed girl's head and heart only make this decision more complicated. We sit and wonder which way God wants her to go. Grad school? Fellowship? Internship? Work for a year to pay off college loans? How about send some stuff to publishers? Maybe study here? Maybe not. I innocently assumed that a college degree would fine-tune her life's path like the ridged wheel on a pair of binoculars. Instead, like a child's toy kaleidescope, a thousand-faceted vista has bloomed before her, knocking her breathless with its breadth and scope.
So we explore with open hearts. We step back from the screaming details and squint quietly with bated breath. We listen expectantly with cupped ears pointed heavenward. We politely ask God to take His time and hurry up. Because these papers have deadlines on them.
But really. We think He already knows that.
Friend #7 is here for a month, fresh from her intense studies at Lee University in Tennessee. She graduates next summer with an undergrad English degree. Together we have pored over stacks of grad school brochures. Each shiny and inviting packet looks like a winner until I learn a) the tuition b) the location c) the academic world-view (which would be mostly outrageously liberal). We have surveyed web sites that offer fellowships and internships. Applications, transcripts, recommendations, GPA, financial aid: these are the the bywords of the day. My heart leaps with excitement for all the possibilities before her; the very same possibilities that make her head hurt and eyes swim with tears.
"What am I supposed to do with my life?" moans she as her laptop hums companionably on her lap. The multitudinous giftings and talents that reside in this curly-headed girl's head and heart only make this decision more complicated. We sit and wonder which way God wants her to go. Grad school? Fellowship? Internship? Work for a year to pay off college loans? How about send some stuff to publishers? Maybe study here? Maybe not. I innocently assumed that a college degree would fine-tune her life's path like the ridged wheel on a pair of binoculars. Instead, like a child's toy kaleidescope, a thousand-faceted vista has bloomed before her, knocking her breathless with its breadth and scope.
So we explore with open hearts. We step back from the screaming details and squint quietly with bated breath. We listen expectantly with cupped ears pointed heavenward. We politely ask God to take His time and hurry up. Because these papers have deadlines on them.
But really. We think He already knows that.
posted by thisrequiresthought at 5:09 PM
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