My life since graduating high school looks something like
this:
Fall semester
Spring semester
Camp
Fall semester
Spring semester
Camp
Fall semester
Spring semester
Camp
Fall semester
Spring semester
Camp
Fall semester
Spring semester
Camp
Student Teaching
Yes, that’s five and a half years (yikes) of living life in three-month chunks. That’s 16 chunks of life, right there.
How much repetition does it take to learn a habit? I read somewhere before (thank you, the internets) that it takes repeating an action such as a routine 40 times until it becomes a learned behavior. Maybe if I had 24 more three-month chunks under my belt, I would know by now how to handle the change that comes when seasons of life come and go. Maybe life would be easier. I’d probably cry a lot less.
Is change ever something we can get used to? I guess it would be a contradiction, wouldn’t it? All I know is that 16 is not enough, as evidenced by the pansy-like tears that fell on little heads as I hugged students goodbye yesterday on my final day of student teaching.
As I am graduating from college in two days, in that classic state of wonderment about where life might take me, it frustrates me that I am so bad at walking away from situations that I know are good (or even average.) The point is: they are known. In one of these three-month chunks, I establish an understanding of my surroundings. I know what to expect, how to behave, what my role is in a certain environment, and whom I can rely on. With every seasonal change I find that I have to start over, in a sense. I settle down, letting my roots grow deep into the ground only to be plucked from the Earth time and time again.
Being a 20-something college graduate (almost), I find that not much in life is constant. While this is a huge struggle for me at times, I am thankful for the adventure. I know that each of those seasons taught me something unique that has helped to make me the person I am and will be.
Don’t get me wrong, I am perplexed by the cultural change that has been occurring, where children used to become adults at age 12 and children now become adults… when? Around 25? 30? Is this whole concept of “finding yourself” a sham? Is it actually important? Is it ascertainable, or do we just give the whole idea undue fame? I don’t know the answer to these questions.
I think the point is that what matters is not what (specifically) we’re doing, rather who we are when we’re doing it. I have spent a handful of those college semesters feeling like I just need to get through that season of life. College is a time to prepare a person for a career as well as parts of life, but I think us college students forget how to live during each preparation stage. Like an extra in a movie, they’re needed, but still feel unimportant.
Here’s what I have learned. Life is not always exciting, and it’s definitely not always predictable. The mix of these two elements ultimately makes life a mystery. What I do know, is what I feel we are called to do as a result: thank God and glorify him by trusting him throughout the mystery of it all.
I look back on 16 three-month chunks and ahead to three more of them, while I prepare to go to YWAM, participate in a three-month(ish) discipleship training school, and a three-month(ish) outreach. I think I will have plenty of time to settle down later in life. For now, I am going to enjoy the adventure that God is leading me through, soaking up as much as I can learn from every experience and pouring out as much as I can by loving those around me and using my gifts, talents and worship as a means of bringing glory to God, the one who gives each set of three months of life meaning.
Yes, that’s five and a half years (yikes) of living life in three-month chunks. That’s 16 chunks of life, right there.
How much repetition does it take to learn a habit? I read somewhere before (thank you, the internets) that it takes repeating an action such as a routine 40 times until it becomes a learned behavior. Maybe if I had 24 more three-month chunks under my belt, I would know by now how to handle the change that comes when seasons of life come and go. Maybe life would be easier. I’d probably cry a lot less.
Is change ever something we can get used to? I guess it would be a contradiction, wouldn’t it? All I know is that 16 is not enough, as evidenced by the pansy-like tears that fell on little heads as I hugged students goodbye yesterday on my final day of student teaching.
As I am graduating from college in two days, in that classic state of wonderment about where life might take me, it frustrates me that I am so bad at walking away from situations that I know are good (or even average.) The point is: they are known. In one of these three-month chunks, I establish an understanding of my surroundings. I know what to expect, how to behave, what my role is in a certain environment, and whom I can rely on. With every seasonal change I find that I have to start over, in a sense. I settle down, letting my roots grow deep into the ground only to be plucked from the Earth time and time again.
Being a 20-something college graduate (almost), I find that not much in life is constant. While this is a huge struggle for me at times, I am thankful for the adventure. I know that each of those seasons taught me something unique that has helped to make me the person I am and will be.
Don’t get me wrong, I am perplexed by the cultural change that has been occurring, where children used to become adults at age 12 and children now become adults… when? Around 25? 30? Is this whole concept of “finding yourself” a sham? Is it actually important? Is it ascertainable, or do we just give the whole idea undue fame? I don’t know the answer to these questions.
I think the point is that what matters is not what (specifically) we’re doing, rather who we are when we’re doing it. I have spent a handful of those college semesters feeling like I just need to get through that season of life. College is a time to prepare a person for a career as well as parts of life, but I think us college students forget how to live during each preparation stage. Like an extra in a movie, they’re needed, but still feel unimportant.
Here’s what I have learned. Life is not always exciting, and it’s definitely not always predictable. The mix of these two elements ultimately makes life a mystery. What I do know, is what I feel we are called to do as a result: thank God and glorify him by trusting him throughout the mystery of it all.
I look back on 16 three-month chunks and ahead to three more of them, while I prepare to go to YWAM, participate in a three-month(ish) discipleship training school, and a three-month(ish) outreach. I think I will have plenty of time to settle down later in life. For now, I am going to enjoy the adventure that God is leading me through, soaking up as much as I can learn from every experience and pouring out as much as I can by loving those around me and using my gifts, talents and worship as a means of bringing glory to God, the one who gives each set of three months of life meaning.
