Hoodies, college football, hot apple cider, pumpkins, beautiful leaves, and time to turn on the fireplace again! I love this season in Ohio!!! I think I could live in it all year long…
And this year, for only the second time in my life, fall did NOT mean the start of another school year…oh what a blessing to spend my time void of studying, classrooms, and reading endless textbook pages.
This fall season is a new chapter of fall seasons for me. I’m finally settling in to a contented routine of ways to fill up my time post-school, and I’m pretty happy about it!
And, although this season is a time to prepare our Ohio world for the quiet, resting period of winter with no life and no movement, I am looking forward to all of the ways my very much alive Lord will move in my life throughout this season and those shortly to follow.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Becoming...
Lately I’ve been thinking about who I am and who God wants me to be. I wonder how others see me, and I can’t help but think the impressions others have of me are probably wrapped up in the roles I play and the way I spend my time/where I spend my time. So what does that make me?
All signs point to the following: I am a daughter, a granddaughter, a niece, a cousin, a friend, a children’s church worker, PDHC volunteer, CJ kitty owner, condo-owner, alumni leadership team member, and Sr. IT training analyst. I am single and well-educated. I am purely city and fairly crafty (as in making crafts not evil plans). Above all, I am a Christian, and who people see me as is very much dependent on the roles I play that interact directly with them.
However, when I think of what I will be 10 years from now, I’ve determined I do NOT want the exact same roles and adjectives to describe me. While some of the pieces of who I am are set in stone…others are fluid. And, while there is certainly something to be said for being faithful to a role or responsibility over time, I also recognize the value in growing as a person by changing up responsiblities, roles, and environments when possible. Thus I become frustrated when people stereotype me as if I will never be anything other than what I currently am.
I also recognize that sometimes I allow who I’m NOT to define me. For example, I am NOT a sister, wife, mother, Bible study leader, or manager, and some of the things I’m not, I won’t ever be…I might not even want to ever be. But when I focus on who I’m not or long to be who I’m not, I tend to miss out on being who I am.
I believe that when we dig in our heels and decide “I’m comfortable now, and I’m staying RIGHT HERE,” we give up the opportunity to move forward in who God wants us to be, so 10 years from now I hope I can look back and see movement and growth in the right directions…that instead of becoming stagnant, or stubbornly insisting that “This is just who I am,” I will have been obedient to follow Him into the new, different roles He has laid out for me. I never want to stop becoming the next more well-rounded, passionate, valuable, version of me.
All signs point to the following: I am a daughter, a granddaughter, a niece, a cousin, a friend, a children’s church worker, PDHC volunteer, CJ kitty owner, condo-owner, alumni leadership team member, and Sr. IT training analyst. I am single and well-educated. I am purely city and fairly crafty (as in making crafts not evil plans). Above all, I am a Christian, and who people see me as is very much dependent on the roles I play that interact directly with them.
However, when I think of what I will be 10 years from now, I’ve determined I do NOT want the exact same roles and adjectives to describe me. While some of the pieces of who I am are set in stone…others are fluid. And, while there is certainly something to be said for being faithful to a role or responsibility over time, I also recognize the value in growing as a person by changing up responsiblities, roles, and environments when possible. Thus I become frustrated when people stereotype me as if I will never be anything other than what I currently am.
I also recognize that sometimes I allow who I’m NOT to define me. For example, I am NOT a sister, wife, mother, Bible study leader, or manager, and some of the things I’m not, I won’t ever be…I might not even want to ever be. But when I focus on who I’m not or long to be who I’m not, I tend to miss out on being who I am.
I believe that when we dig in our heels and decide “I’m comfortable now, and I’m staying RIGHT HERE,” we give up the opportunity to move forward in who God wants us to be, so 10 years from now I hope I can look back and see movement and growth in the right directions…that instead of becoming stagnant, or stubbornly insisting that “This is just who I am,” I will have been obedient to follow Him into the new, different roles He has laid out for me. I never want to stop becoming the next more well-rounded, passionate, valuable, version of me.
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