Like A Dream

I sit here and I'm stressed. Stressed because I'm behind in several of my classes. My job training consumed most of my last three weekends, having me work eight hours a day. Now, with job training finally over (which is truly a relief), it's all catching up with me. Everything I haven't done in the last couple of weeks has thrown itself at me, all at once.

And then I stop. I sit and I listen. The sun is shining, a slight breeze blows around me, and nature is taking its course. Nature isn't worried. The bees aren't worried. So why do I worry? Shoot, I guess it's a part of being human (see Matthew 6:25-34).

For whatever reason, especially since the beginning of this school year, I've found myself to be in a constant state of awareness, especially in regards to APU: the fact that I'm attending a university with incredible professors, a community that's unlike any other, and the opportunities that exist here. Even now, a quarter of the way through my sophomore year in college, it still seems unreal. I keep expecting to wake up and realize that this is all a dream. Maybe part of it is because I'm 1,000 miles away from home. Maybe part of it is because it's so mutually exclusive from my life back home. All I know is... it feels like a dream. Because it seems like a dream, because it seems unreal, I make sure not to take it for granted. Any moment I find myself in, whether hanging out in the living room with my roommates or listening to a lecture, I take a step back and look at what's going on. Realizing how blessed I am is a part of that process.

When I leave APU I want to feel like I've left a legacy. Leaving a legacy is something that gets talked about often, but I wonder how many people actually take that challenge seriously. It's so easy to get caught up in all the things going on around us that we forget about the bigger picture, the grander scheme of things. Life is more than school. Life is more than mid-terms and homework and lectures. Life is more than social life and school dances. Our purpose and the things we're called to in the grander scheme of life should not be forgotten. We're called to make a difference. To change the world. The challenge the world. To stand up for the broken, the beaten, the forgotten. Whether we do this through teaching six-year-olds in a classroom, janitorial work, or starting a non-profit organization, all that matters is that we're pursuing our calling.

So what's your calling? In the grander scheme of life, what's your purpose? What are you going to pursue? Does it benefit you or does it benefit others?

Questions like these are not bad questions to ask yourself on a daily basis.

And so we face this thing called life, sometimes feeling like reality and other times seeming like a dream. I think it's safe to say that wherever we are in life, whatever we go through, that God has dreams for us and He wants us to be a part of creating His story. If He didn't we wouldn't be here.

God has good things in store for you. He makes all things work together for the good of those who love Him.

And that's the truth.