Grow Where You're Planted

Grow where you're planted.
It can be so easy to start a new chapter with a romanticized expectancy.
Life after graduation is supposed to be filled to the brim with unexplored possibilities.
The world awaits to be influenced with your new found knowledge wrapped in a diploma.
The garden is tilled and ready for your flower to shine.

Grow where you're planted.
You don't get to choose which plot you land on.
The Gardener picks a forgotten corner in the midst of a cornfield.
The world that seemed so vast is now scrunched into a place that you never thought you'd return to.
The garden is smaller than you expected it would be.

Grow where you're planted.
You refuse to put down roots.
The allure of a more interesting future deters commitment to where you already are.
Only giving seventy-five percent effort doesn't produce a flowering plant.
The garden is more than a temporary placement.

Grow where you're planted.
The Gardener continues to gently prod you to blossom.
He provides you with sun-shining opportunities to get involved in.
He provides you with rain-refreshing relationships to invest in.
The garden is suited for your needs.

Grow where you're planted.
In a moment of painful honesty, the garden seems more important than before.
The wide world may be new and exciting, but the corner in the cornfield has its joys.
In a season of transition, roots begin to intertwine with others in the soil of your story.
The garden is made for more than one flower.

Grow where you're planted.
The Gardener knew all along that this was where you needed to be.
He carefully tilled the soil to prepare a spot just for you to shine.
He crafted the garden to teach you where you needed to bloom better.
The garden is a bed of influence and a training ground.

Grow where you're planted.
Maybe one day you will move to a bigger plot of land.
But for now the corner in the cornfield is exactly where you need to be.
Maybe one day a new adventure will begin but for now I'll
Grow where I'm planted.

Just Here

     "So now that you've graduated from college, what are your plans?"

     This is the question that comes up in most conversations that I have nowadays. I have answered it so many times that my response has become automated.

     "Well, I plan to start my online Masters Program in July and then I would like to move in the Fall. But for right now I am just here, working at Chick-fil-A to save money."

     This response usually gets a nod of approval and the description of how difficult and unpleasant living in the "real world" is.

     This dialogue isn't wrong. It is so nice to have others interested in where my life goes next and it has been great to catch up with people from my hometown. This unexpected return home for a season has brought about some lovely moments and opportunities. Here's my issue.

I keep catching myself saying that I am "just here". 

     I am just here until I can save money. I am just here for the foreseeable future. I am just here waiting for something better to come along.

     In my excited anticipation for the next chapter in my life, I have been downplaying the one I am in. I am eagerly wanting to live on my own and to work in the field that I just learned all about in college. However, the opportunity to do that hasn't arrived yet. Other recent graduates have started to step out on their own. Others have gotten married, or started a career in their major, or moved to a new city, and I am just here.

     Here's the thing. I am never just here. That is not the way God works. The Lord is the orchestrator and organizer of all life! He has His people in specific places so that they can impact specific people. I may be where I am for just a season (and that season may be longer than I would like) but I AM HERE!

I am here because I prayed for where the Lord wanted me to go after I graduated 

college and this was the best option for me at that time. 

I am here because I have a great job at Chick-fil-A, and they were so excited to have me back! 

I am here to spend extended time with my family before time becomes a luxury. 

I am here because I get to serve on my worship team every Sunday 

with the musical creativity that the Lord has given me. 

I am here to learn from my parents about the complexities of the working world 

and how to be wise once I leave the comforts of home. 

I am here to encourage my co-workers and make the monotony of work a little bit more exciting. 

I am here so that I can save money to help ensure that the transition to 

living on my own will run smoothly. 

I am here to influence people in Indiana in unique ways that the Lord puts in front of me. 

     The Lord doesn't make mistakes when He writes His stories of human beings. This transition season of life (which I have humorously called my "Encore Summer") is a special chapter of its own. Just like every other period of my little life, it will be filled with victories, disappointments, lots of learning, and the chance to connect with others.

     I challenge you, my friend. To not be so enveloped with the desire to know what comes next that you forget that you are where you are for a reason. If you are feeling discouraged because your current circumstances are not exactly what you would like them to be, take a moment to pray about why you are here. The Lord can remind you and use you where you are at.

I am here. In a few months, I may be somewhere else. Only He knows. 

But for now, I am here. 

From the Microwave to the Oven

The Road goes ever on and on,

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

~J.R.R. Tolkien

     Four years ago, I didn't want to come to Bryan College. Now, I wouldn't want to change it for the world!

     It is amazing when you look back and see how different your life could have been if you had made a different decision. If I had gone to another college, I would not have had made all the friends that I have made at Bryan. If I had not been a Musical Theatre major, I would not have had the same influence at school or the opportunities to perform in fabulous shows. If I had not gone through specific difficult circumstances over the past four years, I would not be the person I am today!

     Bryan College has been quite an experience! Some of my best days and some of my worst days have been at this school. I have struggled through grief, heartbreak, and stress. I have been given the wonderful gifts of friendship, performances, and victories! These past four years have greatly influenced and shaped who I am.

Yet, all beautiful things must come to an end. This chapter has come to a close. 

     Now a new chapter has begun and I am not quite sure that I am ready for it. The working world is filled with stress, planning, and complications that I now have to learn how to navigate. It can be overwhelming at times.Thankfully, being home has allowed me to have the time to be taught and trained by my loving parents. It has also given me time to save for whatever comes next. This wouldn't have been the case if I had found an internship like I had originally planned.

     Although I am overwhelmed in this new phase of life, I am underwhelmed also. I didn't know that it was possible to feel both at the same time! College life moves at such a crazy speed that the rest of the world doesn't follow. I had gotten so used to the pace of college that the working world seems to move so slowly. My dad fittingly described it as going from "living life in a microwave to moving to the oven"! Changing to fit this new speed has been an adjustment.

To think, it has only been a week since I graduated from college!

     In that week, there have been a lot of learning curves, reality checks, and goal evaluations. In that week, I have come up with dozens of scenarios of what could come next. In that week, I have struggled with the balance of planning ahead and still trusting the Lord with one day at a time.

     Yet, God is good. God is faithful. God is my provider just as He has been throughout all of college. No matter where I am or where I go my relationship with Him will always be my constant in the midst of life's transitions. This transition from "the microwave to the oven" will be confusing and rocky, but it will also be filled with new adventures, new explorations, and the promise of the Lord's faithfulness no matter where I am! Here we go on a new Road!